Records at Risk Toolkit Overview
The following resources and guidance on records surveying and risk monitoring have been brought together as part of the Archives and Records Council Wales Records at Risk project funded by The National Archives Covid-19 Archives Fund.
Focus points for the project have included:
- carrying out ongoing monitoring of companies in financial difficulty throughout Wales to establish whether any of them house vulnerable collections with potential archival value; and
- conducting a remote survey of records-keeping among Welsh businesses and charities to identify opportunities to support in-house archival preservation or potential acquisition by an external archive repository.
The guidance below is similarly organised into these two key strands. The first (‘Records at Risk Resources’) provides information about identifying and rescuing archives and records at risk among insolvent companies. It includes guidance created on behalf of ARCW as part of the Records at Risk project itself, as well as resources from external partners such as the Crisis Management Team.
The second (‘Records Surveying Resources’) includes guidance on how to conduct remote surveys of records-keeping among external organisations such as charities and businesses, with links to additional external resources about records surveying more broadly.
In future, this toolkit will also provide access to guidance on digital preservation for small businesses which, as commissioned by ARCW, is in development by the Digital Preservation Coalition and is currently scheduled for publication in June 2022.
Records at Risk Resources
ARCW GUIDANCE: Insolvency Monitoring and Rescuing Business Records
This page provides an overview of the process of rescuing business records made vulnerable due to financial distress, covering the stages of research and monitoring up to the acquisition of records from an insolvent company.
Records Surveying Resources
Remote records surveying guidance for archive services
This page provides an overview of the process of rescuing business records from the stage of research and monitoring up to the acquisition of records from an insolvent company. It includes guidance on corporate insolvency terminology, including the most important terms for archivists, and advice on how to contact insolvency practitioners.
Digital Preservation for Small Businesses: An Introductory Guide
The document includes a ten-step introduction on how small businesses can begin implementing digital preservation best practices. The guidance also outlines the significance of digital records-keeping and some of the misconceptions surrounding digital preservation practices.
Collections development register for archive services in Wales
We have developed a register of archive services’ collection development policies to help services, prospective donors, and other individuals identify the most suitable locations to house archives and records throughout Wales.
The links below provide access to the relevant webpage(s) for each archive service. Here you can access their collection development policies or find out further information about their collecting remit and deposit guidelines.