In this section, you can find resources related to organisational health.
Archives come in all shapes and sizes such as:
- national statutory archives like The National Archives
- in-house archives in large public and private organisations
- archives attached to other heritage institutions
- freestanding and community archives
There isn’t a single right way of governing and managing an archive service, but it needs to be appropriate for the type, the collections, the user community and the legal environment.
As well as ensuring an organisation has the right building blocks for an efficient and effective organisation, you can expect potential depositors and funders to consider the governance, sustainability and security of the organisation.
The resources in this section look at the following organisational health questions:
- Is the structure fit for all the purposes the archive has to fulfil?
- Are the roles and responsibilities of people within the structure appropriate to protecting the collections and giving access to them?
- Are the roles and structure appropriate for protecting the human rights of people identified in the collections?
- How do the relationships with the wider community, users, funders and record creators work in and around the structure?
More information and practical advice is available in our case studies section and in our research reports.
Our ‘In a spin’ guidance provides information and advice for local authority archive services investigating or already operating under alternative governance structures.
Archive Service Accreditation defines current good practice and agreed standards for archive services in this area and provides guidance about how to meet the standard.