Evidence from the evaluation exercise showed improvement, whilst also acknowledging some unfinished business in key areas:
Skills development
- Only 19% of archives say they have a complete digital asset register (41% say no or don’t know)
- 58% of respondents disagree or strongly disagree that their postgraduate course prepared them for the digital demands of their role. This is 40% for the most recent graduates. Although this is the lowest ever figure, it is still quite high
- 43% respondents had sufficient expertise to fulfil the digital requirements of their role.
Leadership and advocacy
- There is a sustained recruitment challenge, with 19% previously reporting an issue recruiting to digital posts. This has now risen to 32%
- Only 28% agree there is a high quality of digital leadership in their organisation and that good digital decisions are made
- Two-thirds of respondents said that the key barrier was that of time.
Sustainability and inclusiveness
- There is continued poor understanding of topics such as accessibility
- Enthusiasm for the digital inclusion agenda is not supported by activity
- There is evidence of a widening gap between best and worst preservation performers.