John Wood 23 October 2010 Public History Accessing the past - The National Archives advice service
What I am going to talk about The National Archives : background Who are our users and their triggers Engagement issues : matching users and their research to our collection How we addressed the issues of engagement, changes for users and organisation
Background Government archive, acquire files of government departments, only a small selection of government files are preserved Files arranged by department, not subject event or individual 11 million files catalogued online, listing by original department for purpose of its business 70% of catalogue not search specific (ditto !, 1924!) despite extensive digitisation and cataloguing drive Availability of records on Internet led to more research not less
Triggers and Users Triggers : TV & radio, family event, holiday or local event, chance find, education, press, internet, leisure time, online browsing The conscious leap link their experience to the past Users are serious information shoppers (big user is government) Categorisation 60% family history, 40% academic, educational, media, professional, business. 80% UK based users, onsite age demographic is 50 plus, 25% first timers each day
Disengagement Issues Expectations raised from Internet and TV Expectation is each individual or subject has a unique file Research processes – internet searching, instant answer Most popular catalogue search technique is by name/person Expectation is that every file is online
Disengagement and the collection Jim Jones Stoke Trafalgar Slavery Treasury Ministry of Labour Home Office Admiralty
Traditional approach to advice and engagement Advice and help desks geared to how government files information Research service arranged by type of operation and subject Printed advice geared to subject, written by academics
Change information architecture and delivery Learned how users asked about their research Established users wanted guidance down set trails Redesigned written information/guidance to match user research trail - split the website Redesigned onsite research trail to match online trail Audience tested, academic tested Staff advice training changed to meet research trail
Information architecture 2010 Introduction Looking for a person Looking for a place Looking for a subject Match onsite guidance to online guidance Interaction areas You tube guides
Information architecture 2010
Current progress Continuing to develop trails More observation on untouched subject areas Number of repeat users increasing Positive feedback satisfaction at 94% Worked for us ! You Tube
Continued engagement More services – chat, twitter conferencing Link users to other sources : museums, galleries Resource discovery Continue educational links Outreach - Rijksmuseum approach Still have issue that it’s my history not yours!