Archive of the Year Award 2011
Posted by laura@YFH
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Archive of the Year Award 2011 March 01, 2011 01:50PM |
Admin Registered: 2 years ago Posts: 62 |
Firstly, a big thank you to all who came to see us on the Your Family History stand at Who Do You Think You Are? Live in London Olympia over the weekend - it was wonderful to be able to put faces to some familiar names, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable time! We'd like to hear what your highlights were from the show - post them here at the bottom of this thread and we may be able to include them in the next issue of the magazine.
Our highlight has to be the Archive of the Year Award presentation, which was held on Saturday. We launched the competition back in our first issue last April, and since then you've been sending us your nominations. Your Family History magazine is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2011 Archive of the Year Award is the Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre. In what was a difficult competition to judge, given the strength of the nominations and the range of services that had been commended, the panel were impressed by the citations for Medway. The staff were praised for their knowledge and attention to detail, ensuring every visitor was given a friendly welcome and as much assistance as they needed to conduct their research.
Readers who voted for Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre described its resources as ‘vast’, and particular mention was made of the collaborative work with the Kent Family History Society, and the range of exhibitions that were put on at the centre to stimulate local interest. In this era of cuts to public service, Medway has increased its online resources, providing a Medway Images database of local photographs to help open up the archive’s collections to a wide variety of users. Its Facebook site encourages people to engage with the archivists, and is a clear sign that Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre has customers’ interests at heart.
Dr Nick Barratt, Your Family History’s Editor in Chief, commented: ‘I visited the site in 2009 to give a talk, and was very impressed by the facility – everyone was friendly and knowledgeable, and a great deal of care had gone into creating an excellent research environment, with the needs of the user definitely a priority. Medway are a worthy winner of this award.’
Archivist Alison Cable, Lyn Rainbow, Strategic Librarian for Medway Council, and Tessa Towner, Chairman of the Friends of Medway Archives and Secretary of Kent Family History Society, collected the award at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show on Saturday 26 February. Presenting the award with Dr Nick Barratt was actress Miriam Margolyes (whose numerous credits include Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). Miriam and Nick are ambassadors of the Action 4 Archives campaign to save local repositories from cuts and closures.
Three repositories were also ‘Highly Commended’ by the panel - Darlington Library’s Centre for Local Studies, Birmingham Central Library Archives and Wolverhampton Archives. In recognition of the fact that many institutions are struggling to keep their doors open in poor conditions while staff continue striving to excel, ‘Against All Odds’ titles were awarded to Doncaster Archives and the Plymouth and West Devon Archive Service, whose staff are ‘so helpful even though their working conditions are disgusting’, according to one reader.
Nominations for the 2012 award can be made online now at www.your-familyhistory.com, and are restricted to UK national, county or municipal record offices; local study centres; specialist and regional archives; and university or library manuscript collections. Your Family History magazine would like to know about the service provided by the staff; the facilities in the search rooms; the accessibility and quality of the catalogue and finding aids; the range of services provided online, including access to digitised records; the range of documents available for consultation; connections with the local community; and facilities for disabled people.
Our highlight has to be the Archive of the Year Award presentation, which was held on Saturday. We launched the competition back in our first issue last April, and since then you've been sending us your nominations. Your Family History magazine is delighted to announce that the winner of the 2011 Archive of the Year Award is the Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre. In what was a difficult competition to judge, given the strength of the nominations and the range of services that had been commended, the panel were impressed by the citations for Medway. The staff were praised for their knowledge and attention to detail, ensuring every visitor was given a friendly welcome and as much assistance as they needed to conduct their research.
Readers who voted for Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre described its resources as ‘vast’, and particular mention was made of the collaborative work with the Kent Family History Society, and the range of exhibitions that were put on at the centre to stimulate local interest. In this era of cuts to public service, Medway has increased its online resources, providing a Medway Images database of local photographs to help open up the archive’s collections to a wide variety of users. Its Facebook site encourages people to engage with the archivists, and is a clear sign that Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre has customers’ interests at heart.
Dr Nick Barratt, Your Family History’s Editor in Chief, commented: ‘I visited the site in 2009 to give a talk, and was very impressed by the facility – everyone was friendly and knowledgeable, and a great deal of care had gone into creating an excellent research environment, with the needs of the user definitely a priority. Medway are a worthy winner of this award.’
Archivist Alison Cable, Lyn Rainbow, Strategic Librarian for Medway Council, and Tessa Towner, Chairman of the Friends of Medway Archives and Secretary of Kent Family History Society, collected the award at the Who Do You Think You Are? Live show on Saturday 26 February. Presenting the award with Dr Nick Barratt was actress Miriam Margolyes (whose numerous credits include Professor Sprout in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets). Miriam and Nick are ambassadors of the Action 4 Archives campaign to save local repositories from cuts and closures.
Three repositories were also ‘Highly Commended’ by the panel - Darlington Library’s Centre for Local Studies, Birmingham Central Library Archives and Wolverhampton Archives. In recognition of the fact that many institutions are struggling to keep their doors open in poor conditions while staff continue striving to excel, ‘Against All Odds’ titles were awarded to Doncaster Archives and the Plymouth and West Devon Archive Service, whose staff are ‘so helpful even though their working conditions are disgusting’, according to one reader.
Nominations for the 2012 award can be made online now at www.your-familyhistory.com, and are restricted to UK national, county or municipal record offices; local study centres; specialist and regional archives; and university or library manuscript collections. Your Family History magazine would like to know about the service provided by the staff; the facilities in the search rooms; the accessibility and quality of the catalogue and finding aids; the range of services provided online, including access to digitised records; the range of documents available for consultation; connections with the local community; and facilities for disabled people.
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