Registration for the 2025 Distance Enquiry Services Survey is now open
The ARA National Surveys Group is pleased to announce that Registration for the 2025 Distance Enquiry Services Survey is now open!
Taking part is an excellent way to obtain feedback from those accessing services remotely. Respondents tell us the reasons for their visit, their views on the services given and also information about themselves. It’s valuable for services, to aid future planning, and also for the sector to generate a national profile of archive users, to help determine future planning and priorities and to advocate on behalf of the sector.
The survey will run from 6th October 2025 to 14th December 2025. Services can take part for the entire length of the survey period, or for a length of time of their choosing. To achieve the best results, the survey should run for a minimum of four weeks. The final date for registration is Friday 31st October 2025.
There is now a flat fee to take part, rather than additional payments for the number of branches and dependent on the number of surveys, hopefully streamlining the payment process. The cost of taking part this year is £165 (plus VAT) per archive service, payable to ARA UK & Ireland.
The survey will be run on Microsoft Forms, which has a number of benefits for services and those completing the survey including the use of immersive readers; a user-friendly interface for computer, tablet and smartphone; an option to switch the survey to Welsh and the ability for services to review response data whilst the survey is live.
Shaffer and Co Ltd will be delivering the survey with ARA again and writing the subsequent reports.
To register to take part in the survey please contact surveyregistrations@archives.org.uk, and if a purchase order number is required on your invoice please raise the purchase order and include the PO number in your email. You will be sent an invoice and you will be registered for the survey upon receipt of payment. Please note that upon registration your contact details will be sent to Shaffer and Co Ltd, who will send you your survey link and guidance.
If you would like to find out more about the survey, or have any questions, prior to registering please contact the Surveys group at arasurveysgroup@archives.org.uk.