National praise for Archive's "major contribution" to local heritage

Sunday 28 March 2021

Jersey Archive has been lauded for its "major contribution" to preserving Jersey's heritage by a national body.

In their latest report, the National Archive Accreditation Scheme assessors praised its “strong team”, “excellent leadership”, and the “coherence” of the archive’s policies and procedures.

Jersey Archive hosts a collection of thousands of photographs and documents, ranging from Occupation Registration Cards, to health, school and prison records, and the entirety of the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry.

Every month, it hosts a 'What's Your Street Story?' talk and provides workshops on how to search and access records.

The island's archive was one of the earliest services to be accredited with the National Archives Accreditation Scheme, in 2014, and had reached the six-year point in which they needed to submit for re-accreditation.

Pictured: Heritage Archives and Collections Director Linda Romeril said she was "delighted" the archive had been reaccredited.

Among the assessors' key elements of praise were:

• “Jersey Archive’s staff form a strong team, with excellent leadership and managerial support at a high level."

• The Archive’s “major contribution” to the “heritage and good governance of Jersey."

• “The coherence of Jersey Archive’s policies, plans and procedures”

• "Strong progress" since the last accreditation in areas including archives accommodation, staff levels and digital preservation.

The report said: “The Panel welcomed this positive update from a highly effective archive service, which consistently reflects on and continues to develop its role.  

“They commended the strong support of the Jersey government; this investment is being well used to build the archive service’s presence and to increase its productive contribution to the life of the island.” 

Archives and Collections Director Linda Romeril said: “I am delighted that our archive service has been reaccredited and continues to meet the national standards that we aspire to. The accreditation report has highlighted the strong team at the Archive and it is wonderful to see their hard work recognised.

She added: “The report highlights our impressive online catalogue and the fact that, as a service, we have risen to the challenge of providing access to archives over the past year.  

"The assessors noted our strong relationships with colleagues at Jersey Heritage and also the support that the service has received from Government through funding of a new strongroom block that was completed last year and additional staff to work in areas, such as digital preservation and cataloguing.”

CLICK HERE to search Jersey Archive's collection.