Hi Jonathan: Your idea of basing a solution on the NDA is definitely worth pursuing. Cheers Brian On 4 Feb 2014, at 13:24, Jonathan Frayne wrote: > Hi all > > > > I want to talk about something other than research for a moment. > > > > Many of you will be aware of the proposal to merge Devon and Somerset > Heritage Services to form a charitable trust. This is the response to budget > cuts and has much to commend it. See > http://www.devon.gov.uk/record_office.htm for details. In Devon it affects > the archives which are rather the core of our interest and so are vital to > continue. > > > > With other officers from the DFHS I attended a presentation on the trust > proposals from the two current leaders of the heritage services. I asked > about the future of the NDRO as its name was conspicuous by its absence. > Speaking to Tim Worleighton, the head of Devon Heritage he said that the > future of the NDRO is not certain. He certainly doesn't want it to close and > is looking to find a different way of it remaining open, however this cannot > be guaranteed. His problem is a 30% cut in the budget for the NDRO next year > which he equates to a £30k shortfall. The budget has been already cut to the > bone and the only overhead he could cut now is staffing. If he does so (and > apart from the personal loss to the staff) he will have an unsustainable > level of staff so the NDRO would then close or be mothballed (keep the > archive safe but stop public access I think that means). Tim is looking to > convert the NDRO into a Service Point whereby it is a part of a multiple > access point for all council services which would then reduce the cost to > him and to the other departments. I didn't gain the idea that this was > getting much traction at present. This could mean the NDRO is closed or > reduced to an access point-this is a place where on-line and microform > records only are made available by prior arrangement and is common in > museums and similar across the county. The records would be safe either in > the NDRO or by taking them to Great Moor. > > > > I had a thought and I have written to several people to suggest this as a > possible way forward. I have no idea if it is in the slightest way feasible. > When you visit the NDRO there can seem to be a lot of staff around. I think > that only two of them are from the Heritage Service. Most of the rest are > from the North Devon Athenaeum. The Athenaeum has a large collection of its > own in the NDRO kept in the archive. They have staff. My thought was that > the Athenaeum could take on a large role in running the NDRO themselves as > they have a vested interest in so doing. There is a large capital investment > in the archive in security and climate control if nothing else. It struck me > as a possible way forward. I would welcome suggestions in other ways for the > future and probably so would Tim Worleighton at the Heritage Service. I > don't think it would be viable to merely be negative and oppose the cuts. > The money isn't there and any responses would need to be supportive and > constructive to carry weight. Do people have other ideas that could be > helpful? > > > > There is a consultation documentation available at > http://new.devon.gov.uk/heritagereview/the-proposal/ In my own opinion this > is not helpful as it doesn't address what are likely to be our concerns. > There are places to comment so I would urge everyone to use it and possibly > to answer the questions they would have wanted to be asked rather than the > ones that actually have been asked! It's our chance to play at politicians > on a talk show! I think that we have a window of opportunity to affect > policy decisions. I think the final decision will rest with the trust and > that will not be in place until September at the earliest so lobbying may > carry some weight. Please get involved from around the world. > > > > Jon Frayne > > North Devon Group Rep > > DFHS > > ------------------------------------------ > The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon > ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) > and > the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) > List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell

Hi Brian Thanks for the support. I'm trying to get some support for this but I am finding it a little tough going. Jon -----Original Message----- From: devon-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:devon-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Brian Randell Sent: 04 February 2014 21:44 To: <devon@rootsweb.com> Cc: Brian Randell Subject: Re: [DEV] Future of the NDRO Hi Jonathan: Your idea of basing a solution on the NDA is definitely worth pursuing. Cheers Brian On 4 Feb 2014, at 13:24, Jonathan Frayne wrote: > Hi all > > > > I want to talk about something other than research for a moment. > > > > Many of you will be aware of the proposal to merge Devon and Somerset > Heritage Services to form a charitable trust. This is the response to > budget cuts and has much to commend it. See > http://www.devon.gov.uk/record_office.htm for details. In Devon it > affects the archives which are rather the core of our interest and so > are vital to continue. > > > > With other officers from the DFHS I attended a presentation on the > trust proposals from the two current leaders of the heritage services. > I asked about the future of the NDRO as its name was conspicuous by its absence. > Speaking to Tim Worleighton, the head of Devon Heritage he said that > the future of the NDRO is not certain. He certainly doesn't want it to > close and is looking to find a different way of it remaining open, > however this cannot be guaranteed. His problem is a 30% cut in the > budget for the NDRO next year which he equates to a £30k shortfall. > The budget has been already cut to the bone and the only overhead he > could cut now is staffing. If he does so (and apart from the personal > loss to the staff) he will have an unsustainable level of staff so the > NDRO would then close or be mothballed (keep the archive safe but stop > public access I think that means). Tim is looking to convert the NDRO > into a Service Point whereby it is a part of a multiple access point > for all council services which would then reduce the cost to him and > to the other departments. I didn't gain the idea that this was getting > much traction at present. This could mean the NDRO is closed or > reduced to an access point-this is a place where on-line and microform > records only are made available by prior arrangement and is common in > museums and similar across the county. The records would be safe either in the NDRO or by taking them to Great Moor. > > > > I had a thought and I have written to several people to suggest this > as a possible way forward. I have no idea if it is in the slightest way feasible. > When you visit the NDRO there can seem to be a lot of staff around. I > think that only two of them are from the Heritage Service. Most of the > rest are from the North Devon Athenaeum. The Athenaeum has a large > collection of its own in the NDRO kept in the archive. They have > staff. My thought was that the Athenaeum could take on a large role in > running the NDRO themselves as they have a vested interest in so > doing. There is a large capital investment in the archive in security > and climate control if nothing else. It struck me as a possible way > forward. I would welcome suggestions in other ways for the future and > probably so would Tim Worleighton at the Heritage Service. I don't think it would be viable to merely be negative and oppose the cuts. > The money isn't there and any responses would need to be supportive > and constructive to carry weight. Do people have other ideas that > could be helpful? > > > > There is a consultation documentation available at > http://new.devon.gov.uk/heritagereview/the-proposal/ In my own opinion > this is not helpful as it doesn't address what are likely to be our concerns. > There are places to comment so I would urge everyone to use it and > possibly to answer the questions they would have wanted to be asked > rather than the ones that actually have been asked! It's our chance to > play at politicians on a talk show! I think that we have a window of > opportunity to affect policy decisions. I think the final decision > will rest with the trust and that will not be in place until September > at the earliest so lobbying may carry some weight. Please get involved from around the world. > > > > Jon Frayne > > North Devon Group Rep > > DFHS > > ------------------------------------------ > The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( > http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS > (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at > http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message -- School of Computing Science, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK EMAIL = Brian.Randell@ncl.ac.uk PHONE = +44 191 222 7923 FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/people/brian.randell ------------------------------------------ The DEVON-L mailing list is co-sponsored by GENUKI/Devon ( http://genuki.cs.ncl.ac.uk/DEV/ ) and the Devon FHS (http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/ ) List archive for Devon can be found at http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/index/DEVON/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to DEVON-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message