The National Records of Scotland (www.nrscotland.gov.uk) has announced that it is seeking to create a 'customer advisory panel', with representatives from the general public. I have no idea if this is a genuine effort to become more transparent, or an effort to create a body with which it can say that something has already been run past its customer advisory panel, should further criticisms be levelled its way, but I would sincerely hope that it is the former.
From the archive's blog post at https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/latest-news/customer-advisory-panel-applications-open/ the following is what they are seeking representation for:
The purpose of the panel is to give our customers the opportunity to get involved in planning and decision making at a strategic level. Panel members will also provide vital feedback to inform improvements across a wide range of services.
The panel should represent a wide range of NRS services from statistics, extract services, historical search room, archive depositing, Scotland’s Census, the Scotland’s People service and the Scottish Register of Tartans.
There are no further details as yet on how the panel would work, how frequently it would meet, or indeed where it would meet (i.e. online or at the archive). Compared to the archive's former ScotlandsPeople user group, which dealt with the platform and search room exclusively, the remit does seem much larger, and so it will be interesting to see whether concerns for the family history and academic communities will be adequately catered for. For what it is worth, the following are issues that I would wish to see it deal with:
- NRS and ScotlandsPeople search room issues
- Website issues (functionality, advance testing, new releases)
- Customer service issues
- Archive cataloguing and deposit updates by NRS
- Key stakeholder engagement - the general public, academia, ASGRA, SAFHS, the media, the Scottish archive sector
- Implementation of a Gaelic Language Plan (it doesn't seem to have one, unlike the National Library of Scotland).
- How the archive plans to promote itself to the public - and not just from the comfort of Edinburgh (it is a national archive after all - the NLS can illustrate good practice here)
- Regular publication of minutes
This is a great opportunity for NRS to try to mend some of the reputational damage that it has endured in recent years, and I wish it the best in achieving that goal.
The closing date for applications is August 8th 2025 - please click on the NRS blog link above for details on how to apply.
Chris
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