As a listening organisation the Archives and Records Association understands the importance of both hearing the views of our membership and the record keeping community as a whole, and providing the right level of support to meet requirements as they emerge.

 

 

 

The Patron of the Archives and Records Association is Lisa Jardine CBE,  Professor of Renaissance Studies at University College London.   

 

Photograph shows (left to right): Martin Taylor, Chair of ARA; Caroline Williams, President of ARA; Lisa Jardine, Patron of ARA and John Chambers, Chief Executive of ARA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ASSOCIATION - STAFF, BOARD AND PRESIDENT

JOHN CHAMBERS

Chief Executive 

John is the Chief Paid Officer of the Association and is Company Secretary. He has executive authority to act on behalf of the Association and has management responsibility for the Association's other paid staff. The CEO is the public face of the Association, representing its views in public debate and discussion. He has oversight of all ARA activities  and works with Honorary Officers and the Board to develop and deliver strategy and policy.

Contact information: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it        phone 01202 722000

  

MARIE OWENS

Head of Public Affairs 

Marie works with the Chief Executive and the Board to manage all aspects of the ARA's external affairs and communication. She takes the lead in lobbying government, Parliament and other public bodies. She works to raise awareness of, and pride in, the role of archives and all who work in them. She administers the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History and reports to the Board on matters concerning reputation, public policy and government affairs. 

Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it      Phone 01727 838957

 

LORRAINE LOGAN

Membership and Office Administrator 

Lorraine is the ARA's membership administrator. She reports directly to the CEO in her work to support members, the Board and the paid and voluntary officers of the Association. She provides office administration for training events, the CARN scheme, membership application and renewals, publications and bursaries. She responds to all types of queries from members and the public and also promotes the ARA at external events.

Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it      Phone 01823 327077 

 

MICHELLE PARNABY

Administrative Assistant 

Michelle provides office-based administration to the ARA office, home-based staff and all officers. She is responsible for inputting data in the CARN Reader Ticket Database and the distribution and invoicing of CARN stock orders. She answers any CARN-related enquries.

Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it     Phone 01823 327030 

 

 

  

THE BOARD OF THE ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ASSOCIATION UK and IRELAND

 

MARTIN TAYLOR

Chair of the ARA Board

Martin has been City Archivist of Hull for 10 years. With a first degree from St Andrews University, he spent three dispiriting years trying to become an accountant – like many people who left University in 1989 unsure of what to do! But Archives was the Answer – and pre-course experience at the Churchill Archives Centre and training as an archivist at Liverpool was followed by periods working at Hackney Archives and Worcestershire County Record Office.

‘Most of the last decade has been spent working on the Heritage Lottery funded Hull History Centre project. The History Centre opened in January 2010 and won a Civic Trust Award in 2011.

‘I spent two years on the Society of Archivists’ council 2000-2002, serving as Membership Secretary and become Vice-Chair in 2009. I feel honoured to have been elected Chair of the ARA. Following a strong start as a merged body the Association needs to increase its relevance to its members, decision makers and the sector as a whole. I look forward to working with colleagues on the Board and across the national, regional and sectional organisations towards our shared goals’.

 

GORDON REID

Vice-Chair, ARA Board

Gordon is responsible for the delivery of the Business Plan

Gordon Reid was Director of the Scottish Council on Archives from 2009 to 2010. He established the SCA, developed the Scottish archives cultural improvement framework and represented and promoted Scottish Archives at a national level. Prior to this, Gordon was Deputy Chief Executive of MLA South West for four years.

Gordon studied Medieval Studies at Manchester University and qualified as an archivist with an MA from Liverpool University. He worked at Suffolk County Council and was Records Manager at the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (the body tasked with building the New Town). He worked at the National Library of Wales from 2001 to 2003, where he was Director of the ‘Gathering the Jewels’ All-Wales Digitisation Project.

Gordon’s interests include music and creative writing.

 

David Mander will become Vice-Chair of the ARA Board on 20 May 2013.

 

LAURA COTTON

Honorary Secretary, ARA Board

Laura Cotton is Archives and Local Studies Manager at the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies.

 

She qualified as an Archivist in 2000 and began a five-month contract in Buckinghamshire the same year - and has been there ever since. she was promoted to Archives and Local Studies Manager in 2005 and currently spends 40% of her time managing the 'Mandeville Legacy' - a project about the history of the Paralympic Games, which started in Stoke Mandeville in 1948.

'I've been involved with the ARA since the merger and with the Society of Archivists and the National Council on Archives before that. I started as the Regional Representative for the South-East on the Committee for the Regions, Secretary for the Legislation and Standards Working Group and Publicity Officer for the Community Archives and Heritage Group (CAHG) before I joined the Board'. Now, alongside her Board responsibilities, Laura is also Chair of CAHG.

Laura had a little girl in January 2011 so most of her spare time is taken up but 'the odd five minutes' is taken up with reading, sewing and knitting - 'anything that lets me switch my brain off for a bit!'

                                                                                  

 

SYLVIA JAMES

Honorary Treasurer, ARA Board

Sylvia has been a member of the ARA or the Society of Archivists since the mid 1980s.

Sylvia has her own company. She is a business researcher and works as a consultant specialising in financial services research: writing, teaching and doing research projects for clients all over the world.

‘These days I’m mainly a user of archives but in a 40 year career I’ve done pioneering work on business records management in financial institutions as well as in the early computer cataloguing of private archives.’

In the past few years Sylvia has been involved in volunteer leadership with the Special Libraries Association (USA) and was the first non-North American to be elected as overall Association Treasurer from 2006 to 2009 and also as an SLAR Board member. She has been Treasurer of SLA Europe from 2000 to 2011 and on their Board of Directors since 1992. In 2007 she won the American Libraries Association RUSA prize for excellence in business librarianship.

Sylvia is a chartered librarian and a Regional Assessor for CILIP Chartership.

With this broad experience in information services, Sylvia ‘hopes to bring a different view of the wider information world to her role as Honorary Treasurer of the ARA’.

 

JESSAMY CARLSON

Jessamy's ARA Portfolio is Professional Development: Policy, Standards and Legislation

Jessamy Carlson works at The National Archives where she is the Liaison Office for Wales and a casework advisor in the Sales Monitoring Team. She works on archives policy and all sorts of strategic projects. 'In previous roles I was heavily involved in the creation of 'Archives for the 21st Century and prior to that I ran the Map and Large Document Reading Room'.

Jessamy read Medieval Studies at Birmingham and then did her postgraduate archives qualification in Aberystwyth and qualified in 2006. 'I became a registered member of the ARA in 2010 and have recently finished an MLA Fellowship on the Clore Leadership Programme. I'm currently undertaking some reserach in professional education with the AHRC and UCL.

'I've been involved with the ARA for about four years now. I've worked on various committees, from regional to national and came to Council/Board after sitting on the Committee for the Regions. I was initially assigned to the then Professional Affairs Portfolio and then had oversight of Legislation and Standards. This has allowed me to bring my experience from 'the day job' into use and indulge my interest in law.

'In my spare time I run a Rainbow Guide Unit and am an Arts Advisor for the Girlguiding London and the South East. My hobbies include knitting and sewing - and the occasional run'.    

 

SAM COLLENETTE

Sam's ARA Portfolio is Member Services: Inclusion

Sam qualified from Liverpool University over 13 years ago and since then has worked for seven organisations – mostly in temporary jobs. ‘I graduated from the Clore Leadership programme after a fellowship in 2007 to 2009 and completed the National Cultural Forum’s Leading Learning course this year. ‘

‘My favourite job still has to be working for the Natural History Museum in London – going past dinosaurs every morning to get to my office! I was involved with the ARA initially as part of the Conference team and was then a Trustee during the merger. Sir Andrew Motion kindly launched the new organisation at an event Jenny Moran and I took responsibility for in Nottingham and since then I’ve been involved with Membership Services.

‘With two small children most of my spare time is spent in the park, on swings and slides and visiting grandparents. However, I’ve just finished a three-year stint on the advisory panel for People Dancing, the West Midlands Cultural Olympiad funding programme. This was an excellent chance to sit on the other side of a funding bid and understand what funders want to see before they agree to support a project.’

                                                                                         

WESLEY GEDDIS

 

Wesley Geddis works at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland where he is responsible for 

cataloguing and standards within the Records Management, Cataloguing and       Access section.

Wesley read Modern History at Queens University Belfast before obtaining his archive qualification from University College Dublin in 2000. Wesley has previously worked both at the Guinness Ireland Archive and subsequently the National Library of Ireland prior to joining PRONI in 2003.

Wesley has until very recently represented PRONI at the Public Services Quality Group (security committee) while is also PRONI’s representative on the British and Irish Committee for Map Information and Catalogue Systems (BRICMICS). He was previously involved with the SOA and was part of the organisational committee for the Conference held in Belfast back in 2007.

In his spare time Wesley does a spot of reading, walking near to the stunning Strangford Lough and gardening (bad back permitting)!

  

SHIRLEY JONES

Shirley's ARA Portfolio is Professional Development: Continuing Professional Development

Shirley is Head of Conservation at West Yorkshire Archive Service.

After a degree in the History of Art, Shirley qualified as a paper conservator with an MA from the University of Northumbria in 1997. She then specialised in archives conservation via the (then) Society of Archivists’ Conservation Training Course. Since 1998 she has worked in West Yorkshire Archive Service where she is now Head of Conservation. Professionally accredited (ACR) since 2008, Shirley is now also registered with the Institute for Conservation (ICON) as a mentor for other accreditation candidates.

Shirley is currently an instructor on the ARA Conservation Training Course, teaching trainees on placements for both the introductory and paper elements of the syllabus.

Shirley is co-Chair of the Professional Development Committee of ARA which is currently moving forward with plans for a Continuing Professional Development scheme for ARA members.

‘I’ve developed quite an interest in using the Calm database for conservation, chairing a User Group, giving talks and running workshops. I get contacted quite a lot for advice, often arranging for people to visit for a one to one.’

‘I’ve two young children so I spend time at cricket matches and gym club, I run myself and also help run a community website and newsletter called ‘Coxley News’.

 

DAVID MANDER OBE

David’s ARA Portfolio is the Regions and Home Countries

David Mander was born in the Black Country and went to schools in Cardiff, Leighton Buzzard and Peterborough before going to read History at St Johns College Cambridge. Qualifying as a librarian in 1976, David’s first professional job was at Waltham Forest, where he was the borough archivist from 1978 to 1983. David joined the Society of Archivists in 1978 and was among the first group of entrants on the Society’s distance learning course, qualifying in 1986. David moved to Hackney as Archivist and as Head of Archives ran an innovative and dynamic service until his departure in 2005. Hackney was a challenging place to work and with funding often restricted, David was prompted to look to external funding sources. Partnered with Sutton House, the local National Trust property, he raised funds for the pioneering Hackney on Disk map and image system in the 1990s from sources which included the Heritage Lottery Fund and begun the process of creating electronic catalogues for the local studies and archives collections.

David and his staff also helped found the Friends of Hackney Archives in 1985, one of the first dedicated archival friends’ organisations in London. David also active in the Middlesex Victoria County History committee and on the Museum of London’s archaeological advisory group.

David was active in external professional matters from the 1980s. In London he was a founder of the Greater London Archives Network (1982-2005) and the London Archives Users Forum (1987-2005), serving as Chair of the one and Vice Chair of the other. David helped form the London Archives Regional Council in 1999 and oversaw the replacement of all three bodies by Archives for London in 2005, serving as AfL Chair until 2011. In his AfL capacity David served as a member of the MLA London Board and its predecessors from 1999-2004.

At a national level David served as en elected Society of Archivists councillor and as a council member of the Business Archives Council in the mid 1980s and he was also active in the Society’s Records Management Group. David has also served as a panel member for the TNA’s Self Assessment and through the pilot work TNA undertook on community archives, he was also an active member of the Community Archives and Heritage Group from its beginnings in 2002 to 2009.

David has been a long standing member of the Public Services Quality Group, active in the Survey Working Party and edited the present edition of A Standard for Access to Archives in 2008. David is also a member of the CIPFA Archives Statistics Working Party and a serving councillor on the British Records Association. 

After leaving Hackney, David worked as an independent consultant on projects which included service assessment, collection management and archive strategies. From 2008 David has been a partner in Creative Cultures, an arts, archives and heritage consultancy, whose work has included strategic assessments, audience development, cultural and marketing strategies and support work for Heritage Lottery funding bids in England and Wales. 

David is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and was appointed OBE in 2007.

 

GEOFF PICK

Geoff's ARA Portfolio is Public Engagement

Geoff Pick was born and brought up in Lancashire. After studying Classics at Bristol University he did his Archives qualification in Liverpool. His first job was in Worcester Cathedral Library cataloguing medieval account rolls from the former Benedictine priory then he spent seven years in Lambeth Palace Library before moving ‘down the Thames’ to joining what was then the Modern Records Section of the Greater London Record Office at County Hall (‘where the London Aquarium is now – and it wasn’t much less damp then!’)

Geoff has been with the City of London Corporation since then and is now Director of London Metropolitan Archives. 

‘Within the archives sector I am the convenor of the Public Services Quality Group and have been particularly involved in organising the National Visitor Survey and annual PSQG Forum. Until the end of May 2010 I was Chair of the National Council on Archives and led the NCA into the merger to form the ARA. ‘

‘There’s not too much time for other interests, but I continue my North West sporting allegiances to Manchester United (I have photographic proof that I supported them since childhood), Lancashire (cricket) and Wigan (Rugby league)....and I manage a little light skiing and allotment-eering - but not at the same time!’

 

CATHERINE TAYLOR

 

Catherine's ARA Portfolio is Member Services: Offer

Catherine qualified as an archivist from Aberystwyth, after a degree in history over a decade ago. ‘I blame my parents for the fact I entered the profession – they had me in Somerset House before I was a year old! After a stint at British Rail where I learned to throw things away, I then had a number of contracts in London and worked with hospital, local authority and cooperative archives before moving to West Yorkshire as Senior Archivist at Wakefield.  Catherine has recently taken up the post as Head Archivist at Waddesdon.

‘I became a registered member of the ARA in 2009. I’m one of those who took a while to ‘get’ registration but am now a complete convert and will try to convince everyone else to do it!

‘The best part of my current job is that I get to experiment with social media and how that can be used to raise our profile. I’m very proud of the development of our twitter account and especially the @WR_ARP project live tweeting the ARP records from 1941. Those of you who followed the 2011 Conference on Twitter will have seen a ridiculous number of tweets I managed to send – I pity my poor followers!

‘Outside work I seem to spend a large amount of time travelling up and down the country’s motorways visiting family and friends. But I also find time to help run a youth group for 11 to 18 year olds and am the Lay-Chair of my church PCC and enjoy the wonderful Yorkshire countryside.’

 

CAROLINE WILLIAMS IS PRESIDENT OF THE ARA

The role of President is an honorary one in the gift of the ARA Board.

Caroline is an independent archival consultant based in Chester. She is an Honorary Research Fellow of the University of Liverpool, where she established the Centre for Archive Studies (LUCAS) in 1997 to provide a national focus for training and research.

Caroline has a History degree from King’s College London and studied Archive Administration at University College London. She worked as an Archivist for nearly two decades, becoming Deputy County Archivist at Lancashire Record Office and subsequently at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies.

She joined the University of Liverpool in 1996, helping to establish Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies (LUCAS). She was Director of LUCAS and ran the postgraduate Master of Archives and Records Management programme from 1997-2007.

Caroline established and ran the Research and Collections Development department at the National Archives between 2007 and 2009.

Caroline is a prolific author and has contributed over many years to the work of a range of professional and academic bodies, including the International Council on Archives, the (then) Society of Archivists, and the Forum for Archives and Records Management Education and Research.

Last Updated (Sunday, 19 May 2013 16:17) Wednesday, 28 July 2010 13:04