Archives Accreditation in Scotland

1. Archive Accreditation

Last year, 2023, marked the tenth anniversary of the Archive Accreditation programme. The Accreditation programme allows an archive to reflect on their service delivery, policies, collection management and development, and an assessment can provide detailed insight and constructive advice to assist in this process. It is based on a scalable and adaptable standard, as no one size fits all, and helps to build service resilience.

To date eleven Scottish services have successfully worked through the process, and the joint Scottish assessor bodies, Scottish Council on Archives and National Records of Scotland, want to know your thoughts on how we can best support services in working toward accredited status. We are keen to understand the context and challenges of preparing for the programme, and want to hear from services at all stages of consideration, from those preparing to apply, those who are working toward applying, and especially from services who are unsure if they’re in a position to get started.

Thank you for completing this short survey.

Your data will only be used as part of a statistic, and all personal information will remain confidential.

1. Please select the category that best describes your service *

2. How familiar are you with the content of the Archive Accreditation Standard?

Very familiar
Somewhat familiar
Unfamiliar

3. What best describes your perception of the standard? Indicate any or all that apply: *

A benchmark for ongoing service development
A challenging but achievable goal
Recognition of excellence in service delivery
Beneficial to individual services
Beneficial to the archive sector as a whole
Unachievable for my service
Too involved
Other (please specify):

4. What do you think are the main challenges or barriers for your service to applying for accreditation? Please indicate any or all that apply

5. Please select the answer that best reflects where you sit in relation to preparing for accreditation

Advanced – application well underway
Intermediate (have begun planning and preparing some elements of the application)
Beginning (planning to prepare application and working toward getting elements in place)
Thinking about it (have not yet decided/not currently in a position to apply)
Not considering applying

6. What format(s) of support would you find most beneficial? Please rank in order of preference

Webinars
One to one ad hoc support and advice
Online resources and tools
Other (please specify below)

Other

7. Please indicate the type of content you would like to see covered in any training and support offered. Indicate any or all that apply.

Case studies of accredited services
Advice on evidence gathering
Benefits offered by accreditation and what it can do for you
Information about tools and support for preparation
Advice on policy development
Exemplar applications
Exemplar policies
Other (please specify):

8. Please share any other comments regarding archive accreditation:

9. If you would like to, please provide contact details

Your Name
Your archive service
Your contact email address