Venue: Committee Room 6, Guildhall, Swansea. View directions
Contact: Gareth Borsden - 01792 636824
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Election of Vice Chairs for 2017-2018 Municipal Year. Minutes: RESOLVED that
Councillor R V Smith be elected Vice Chair of the Committee for the 2017-2018
Municipal Year. The election of the
Neath Port Talbot Vice Chair was deferred to the following meeting. |
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Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests. Minutes: In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by both
Authorities, no interests were declared. |
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To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record. Minutes: RESOLVED that the Minutes of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee Meeting held on 17 March 2017 be approved as a correct record, subject to Tracey McNulty being added to the list of apologies. |
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Report of the County Archivist. PDF 109 KB Minutes: Kim Collis, County
Archivist presented a report which outlined the work of the Joint Archive
Service during the period March to May 2017. Use of the Service He reported on the use of the Service for the
quarter and detailed the background behind the quarterly statistics. He reported that certain Archive Service collections had gone live
on the Ancestry website during March and detailed the number of views/hits
received in the first weeks and the anticipated income likely from the
partnership agreement. With regard to the ongoing decline in the number of physical
visits to the search rooms, he explained the causes such as reduction in
opening hours and much greater availability of family history information
online. The various efforts made to engage a wider audience through schools and
outreach work was discussed. The fact
that the Service continues to be the busiest in Wales was highlighted. Service Outreach He reported on the success of the “Our Abertawe: Celebrating
Swansea Together” exhibition that had been displayed at the city centre event
in March. The exhibition had been subsequently loaned to the Josef Herman
Foundation for display in Ystradgynlais. He outlined that the exhibition is
shortly to be displayed in the Civic Centre and National Waterfront Museum in
Swansea and is available for loan to organisations/community groups across West
Glamorgan. He referred to the “Visions of Steel” exhibition developed in
conjunction with Swansea University and created by pupils of Sandfields
Comprehensive School Port Talbot. The
exhibition had been on display in Port Talbot Library, and had been moved to the TATA Steel Academy. A free book had also been produced by Swansea
University and published by the Archive Service as part of the project, a copy
will be distributed to all Members of the Committee at the following meeting. He also referred to the “Exploring Gower’s Ancient Woodland”
project that had finished in March. An
event had taken place in Bishopston involving project volunteers and pupils
from Bishopston Primary School, to launch a walker’s leaflet and teacher’s
pack.. Talks/Education Service He outlined the talks given to groups and schools sessions
undertaken. West Wales Partnership He reported that Carmarthenshire County Council have decided
to progress with the development of their own new archives facility as an extension
to Carmarthen Library, and had effectively left the Partnership. He also outlined that Swansea University had set up a Regional
History Centre Project Board to advance the project, which held its first
meeting in March. The Chair indicated that although the timescales relating to
the sale of the Civic Centre have slipped, a decision needs to be reached
sooner rather than later on whether a joint facility between the two authorities
and the University is an achievable goal, or whether the Authorities need to
progress the project alone. Tracey
McNulty reported that although there are no firm proposals for the joint
facility at the moment, Officer discussions continue behind the scenes in order
to plan and ensure that the Archive Service would be properly housed and
provided for should the need arise for a move. Committee discussed the options going forward regarding the
future provision, location and funding of a new facility. A further update on the matter would be provided to a future
meeting. Professional Meetings & Partnership Workings He outlined the meetings attended by staff during the quarter. Archive Collections He reported on the list of archives received during the
quarter. |