The purpose of the Archive – which is part of Jersey Heritage – is to collect, preserve and promote access to the Island’s documents, as required by legislation.
‘Jersey Archive is currently underfunded to carry out the governance requirements placed on the service by public-records, freedom-of-information and data-protection legislation,’ said Linda Romeril, director of Archives and Collections at Jersey Heritage.
‘Without additional staff, the Archive cannot fully support public institutions and enable them to meet their obligations. This will result in risk to the long-term preservation of vital records, in particular to the identification, transfer and long-term storage of digital material.’
Mrs Romeril says that four additional permanent members of staff are needed to ensure Jersey Archive continues to meet its governance requirements, and to provide records management and archiving services to public institutions. This week Jersey Heritage released its latest annual report.
A three-year funding agreement with the Chief Minister’s Department that led to a 35% reduction in archive staff numbers, she added, came at a time when the service found itself managing more records, having to deal with increased numbers of digital transfers and more inquiries from both public institutions and members of the public.
In 2017, more than 30,000 catalogue entries were made available online, and staff responded to over 4,000 inquiries and had to deal with a 63% increase in online use following the launch of Jersey records on ancestry.com.
Mrs Romeril’s concerns are shared by the Island’s Records Advisory Panel chairman, Jeremy Harris.
‘In our view, Jersey Archive is not currently provided with sufficient resources to carry out its core functions properly under the Public Records Law,’ she said.
‘These include conservation, cataloguing, digital records and advice and support for public institutions. The advisory panel fully supports the business case for additional staff, and believes a successful outcome will bring many benefits in terms of records management and access to public records.’
Other work undertaken by Jersey Archive staff last year included receiving digital transfers of over 10,000 public domain documents containing redacted versions of the evidence and witness statements seen by the panel of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.
This material is now being preserved, catalogued and indexed.
