Main section

In preparing this guidance, we interviewed a number of archive service managers that have either considered, currently manage or have moved away from split-site services. Case studies of a number of these are available to read, and have informed this guidance.

Risks identified by the interviewees include the impact on: efficient and cost effective management of the archive service, the staff and users of the archive service, efficient compliance with legislation, and the collection.

The impact of a split-site service can vary depending on the quality of the storage accommodation but the potential impacts are outlined in detail below.

Tabs Navigation

Tabs

Management of the service

Archive services seeking to move away from split-site provision described the substantial impact on the service that arose from managing a split-site service. They reported the following disadvantages:

  • Organising the management of an additional storage site and environment took up a large proportion of staff time.
  • The retrieval system either took up a considerable amount of staff time and/or was at an ongoing cost. The level of retrievals and therefore their cost was difficult for the archive services to control and this caused budgeting difficulties.
  • A large amount of staff time was required to establish the storage and retrieval service, write procedures and design an additional disaster plan.
  • The service managers had to include another site in disaster and continuity planning. One interviewee described how the off site store would act as the replacement headquarters for the organisation in the case of disaster at their headquarters and the benefits this brought.
  • Split-site service provision resulted in increased building costs, including the ongoing costs for building management and security.
  • The Keep, in East Sussex, examined whether to phase building its main on site store and to run a temporary out store for a period of years. They found that the future projected rise in building costs, added to the out store rental, would make this prohibitively expensive.

Staff and users

For some of the split-site archive services consulted, the effect on staff and users was the most challenging. They reported the following disadvantages:

  • Disgruntled service users were unable to get the immediate access to collections that they expect.
  • Users of split-site services need to pre-order, which can cause difficulties for staff when users visit without being aware of this. Service users may also examine items more quickly than expected and run out of material to study during their visit.
  • Internal users usually want immediate access which is not possible with a split-site.
  • Services with mainly internal users reported that they were not able to be as spontaneous in their use of the archive, for example, to show star items to important visitors or to provide immediate support to the organisation. ‘Star’ items can be stored on the main site to meet the demand for show items. For other archives used to provide legal and other support a split-site service means there could be a costly delay in providing access.
  • Many off-site stores have inferior working resources for staff which limits the work they can undertake on the collections. For example these sites may not have networked computers or be suitable sites for regular working.
  • Managing an extra site and retrieval service is a distraction and a drain on staff time.
  • For staff working alone off site there are a number of risks to be managed. The Health and Safety Executive provides guidance on the issues to consider. See Appendix 3

In addition to the disadvantages reported in our case studies, we are aware that if uncatalogued archives are stored off-site they are often more inaccessible to users than when they are stored on site. This is because it is more difficult for staff to search uncatalogued collections stored off site.

One advantage that services reported that opting for split-site service provision meant they weren’t restricted by storage limits on their main site. They reported that having a split service meant that they had sufficient storage for their needs. The result was that they were able to accept collections that would have otherwise been at risk of destruction, sale or damage.

Compliance with legislation

In designing or considering their split-site service, interviewees were aware of the need to ensure compliance with information legislation. This legislation includes:

The services interviewed reported the following disadvantage: split-site service provision meant that there were two sites which needed to be compliant with the legislation. This brought extra work for staff in managing both buildings to the required standard and in meeting the access requirements of the legislation, particularly retrieval times.

The collection

The impact of running a split-site on a collection is dependent on the quality of storage. A high-quality storage environment can reduce the risks but interviewees reported the following potential risks which could impact negatively on the collection:

  • Risks from the regular transfer of material to access points. This can include a range from the risk of small handling damage to the risk of destruction when travelling between sites.
  • Risk of dissociation of material. Material may be replaced in the wrong box or may not return to the right site.
  • Risk of neglecting collection care, conservation and information needs of the collection as the majority of the collection is away from the main work site. These needs are more important for split-site services as effective description and location information allows users to find items efficiently and for staff to retrieve and control them in transit.

Off-site storage buildings are often on a remote, less supervised site. This increases the risk of damage from fire, water and theft. In addition, any such damage may have a greater impact as it may take longer to identify and rectify. A one site service will have regular formal and informal visual checks of building security and condition. Split-site services need to have a formal system of checks, which require site visits and/or automated systems. Without such formal checks the service would be reliant on checks during archive retrievals, which could occur irregularly. This has the potential to allow incidents such as a small leak becoming a major flood unobserved.