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Bank holiday information - Easter

Bank holiday information for our services, including opening times and emergency contacts. All recycling collections will take place on the usual days.

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1/2, Civic Centre, Port Talbot

Contact: Gareth Borsden - 01792 636824 

Items
No. Item

5.

Condolences - Councillor Janice Dudley.

Minutes:

The Vice Chair referred with sadness to the recent sudden death of Councillor Janice Dudley, the current Mayor of Neath Port Talbot and a member of the West Glamorgan Joint Archives Committee for many years.

 

All present stood in silence as a mark of sympathy and respect.

 

 

6.

Election of Vice Chair for 2017-2018 Municipal Year.

Minutes:

Resolved that Councillor P A Rees be elected Vice Chair of the Committee for the 2017-2018 Municipal Year.

 

 

Councillor P A Rees (Vice Chair) presided.

7.

Disclosures of Personal and Prejudicial Interests.

Minutes:

In accordance with the Code of Conducts adopted by both Authorities, no interests were declared.

8.

Minutes. pdf icon PDF 63 KB

To approve & sign the Minutes of the previous meeting(s) as a correct record.

 

Minutes:

Resolved that the minutes of the minutes of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee held on 16 June 2017 be approved as a correct record.

9.

Matter Arising.

Minutes:

The County Archivist reported that following discussions at the last meeting regarding the use of social media advertising, the service would be shortly trialling  Facebook advertising, to link in with the  Service’s Christmas cards going on sale. 

 

10.

Report of the County Archivist. pdf icon PDF 107 KB

Minutes:

The County Archivist presented a report which outlined the work of the Joint Archive Service during the period June to August 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 referred to the changing pattern of use of the service, particularly the declining number of actual visitors to the searchrooms, which is in part due to the amount of information now available online via  Findmypast and Ancestry.

 

Up to date figures on the number of hits to the Service’s website and online catalogue would be provided to the next meeting.

 

Members discussed the possibility of the Service developing its own stand-alone website, with links from both authorities’ websites, Facebook etc. This would enable more digital image content to be made available on the Archives website rather than those of commercial providers.

 

He would investigate the cost and practicalities of such a proposal and report back to the next meeting.

 

Service Outreach

 

The County Archivist reported on the two exhibitions ‘Our Abertawe: Celebrating Swansea Together’ and ‘Visions of Steel’ that were currently on display in Swansea Civic Centre.

 

He outlined the talks given to various groups and school visits during the quarter.

 

Regional History Centre Project Board

 

He reported that there have been no further meetings of the Board since March, and that the Service is liaising with colleagues in Swansea Council to ensure that the future needs of the Archives are catered for when the time comes to vacate the Civic Centre. This will not fetter the feasibility or option for a shared regional centre should this prove to be preferable in the future, subject to it being an agreed outcome within the partner authorities.

 

Members asked that they be provided with more information on what any future archives facility would need in terms of size, storage, access etc, in order that they could give political support within their Authorities to the future needs and provision of the Service. The County Archivist agreed to forward this information to Members.

 

Staff

 

He reported that Aoife Cremin a graduate from Swansea University had been appointed as the Archive Trainee for 2017/18.

 

He referred to a recent meeting he had attended relating to an HLF bid for funding for a series of training placements in cultural heritage venues for young people who are NEET which could lead to an NVQ accreditation.

 

Professional Meetings and Partnership Working

 

He reported on the various professional meetings attended by staff during the quarter.

 

He also reported on his presentation at the Archives & Records Association annual conference in August regarding the development of a national Archive Reader’s Ticket.

 

Archive Collections

 

He reported on the list of archives received by the Service during the quarter.