Inspire Nottinghamshire Archives: Archives Escape - ARA Volunteering Award 2025 Case Study
Archives Escape
Inspire Nottinghamshire Archives in partnership with Heritage Open Days (New Wave)
This project was nominated for the ARA Volunteering Award 2025 - the judges comments on the project were:
An interesting project which appears to have offered positive experiences to a small group of volunteers and encouraged new users to engage with the service. It is always good to see new ways of encouraging access and participation by under-represented groups which this project does seem to have achieved but the application does not make clear how this happened.
An excellent example of innovation in the sector, which makes imaginative use of technology to develop new outreach strategies. Bringing young people into the archive as volunteers allows the service to better understand their needs as users and how to engage them. I was impressed by the service's commitment to experimenting with new ideas.
Really impressed with this innovative activity, building over time and actively diversifying the volunteering base for the service. It demonstrates excellent structured ways of understanding impact on volunteers and shows good examples of building skills and confidence.
The project has engaged 10 volunteers aged 18–25 in creative, skills-based activities, such as designing Escape Room events and using Augmented Reality technology. Volunteer feedback highlights increased confidence, project management experience, and sector-specific skills. Volunteers helped shape and deliver events, suggesting strong co-production. This initiative has significantly increased engagement with younger audiences, a previously underrepresented group. It shows innovation in digital outreach and a new model of collaborative programming. Staff have developed new publicity methods and digital tools, helping modernise the service's approach. The project has reached 187 visitors, many of whom were first-time users of the Archives. Events successfully linked local heritage to interactive experiences, and the service has shared learning with external organisations, helping raise its national profile.
An innovative project marrying underrepresented user groups, with an imaginative funding model and innovative technology to develop forward looking service delivery. The use of volunteers to develop the relationships with new users in their own age group a great idea, proving that heritage can be fun! New skills certainly learnt by both staff and volunteers. Creative events and innovative technology being seen as an exemplar for other services.
Project Case Study
Following a successful application to the Heritage Open Days New Wave programme, an Archivist from Nottinghamshire Archives attended five training sessions to assist in planning events that would be different to previous outreach activities and be aimed at the 18 -25 age bracket. The project started with two volunteers, who attended an initial introductory session in June 2023. From an initial idea to create an Escape Room experience within the Archives, staff worked with the volunteers to identify historical documents that could be incorporated into puzzles and activities.
Over the next few months, we held several planning sessions, including a visit with the volunteers to an Escape Room experience. At this time, the project had four volunteers.
In September 2023, the Archives hosted a well-attended Escape Room event. as part of the Heritage Open Days festival. We had negotiated the loan of an iconic ‘Raleigh Chopper’ bicycle to be used in the conclusion of the event – Nottinghamshire archives hold the records of the Raleigh company. The volunteers assisted with running the event, some taking on roles of historical characters, others with signing-in visitors and photographing the event.
Feedback from visitors included the following:
“Fantastic – great game and enjoyed out visit) most of us first visit to archives)”.
“Really fun – would love to do another one!”.
“We would never have done it without the clues/hints! (our first escape room experience”.
Jegan, one of the volunteers commented his favourite aspects of the event were “witnessing the reactions of the participants when they managed to unlock the bike” and “working together as a team”.
Hinna, another volunteer said she enjoyed “handling the different documents and using them to create clues and puzzles because it gave me the chance to see what the innerworkings of the heritage sector looked like.”
Following the initial series of events in September 2023, the project group developed the Escape Room event further, helping to run a fantasy-themed version in December 2023 and another set of escape rooms in May 2024. The volunteer group continues to make a valuable contribution to developing events at the Archives. In September 2024, the group developed and ran a Murder Mystery event for Heritage Open Days. Following funding from the UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund) through Nottingham City Council, to engage the local community using digital technology, we have developed Augmented Reality experiences with assistance from the volunteers, who helped to test and selected content. This work culminated in an open evening event in March 2025, where the Augmented Reality and interactive wall were showcased. We have now had 10 volunteers work on the project.
The project was designed to introduce a new audience of young people (aged 18-25) to the collections held at the Nottinghamshire Archives. Apart from educational visits for undergraduates, the Archives was not attracting young people. We wanted to change this, so successfully applied to the Heritage Open Days New Wave programme, to help develop our engagement with this demographic.
The Archives is also committed to reinventing itself with a focus on digital outreach and service delivery. We felt that by working with young people to design events that would attract their peers, this would also provide insight into how the demographic prefers to engage with archival resources. We wanted to improve accessibility to the archive and raise our profile among local communities.
The group of ten volunteers were consulted at regular meetings throughout the process. The volunteers were surveyed at the beginning of the planning of the escape room event and after the event had taken place. The surveys included questions on their experience and knowledge of archives, their motivations for volunteering and what they had learned from the experience of volunteering.
The impacts and outcomes of the project include:
The events have helped to raise awareness of the Archives. Many attendees to the events were first-time visitors.
Feedback was very positive but also provided suggestions that we have acted on to develop the events.
Following consultation with the volunteers, Archives staff have gained experience of using different methods of publicity, tailored towards younger aged groups, including social media.
Both Archives staff and volunteers have gained skills in using Augmented Reality technology and the interactive wall.
We have had enquiries from library services in Northumbria and Manchester about our escape room and Augmented reality events, which we have been happy to share our experiences.
Events have attended by 187 visitors.
Alex, one of the volunteers has commented on the following benefits:
“I have gained the project management skills which I have put in my CV and hopefully it will help me with future applications for jobs. Volunteering at the Archives has gone well because we have gotten more people to go the Archives through our events, and I have gotten more confident by taking part.”
Abigail, a volunteer has recorded the following
“I am looking to pursue a career in the archives sector and my volunteering work at Nottinghamshire Archives is setting me up with so many important skills I’ll need. From cataloguing and listing records to planning outreach events, this experience has been invaluable. I have also grown massively in confidence since I started volunteering here! Never did I imagine when I first started volunteering, that I’d be helping out an archive open evening, showing local residents how to use Augmented Reality Technology to uncover Nottingham’s rich and valuable history”.
Feedback provided by attendees has led to some refinements of the running of the events. Changes to the placement of staff and volunteers during the events, to make the visitors feel less crowded and making digital content more accessible by using in-house devices for those without their own devices are two examples of how we have adapted our activities.
Reflecting on the project the team at Nottingham Archives has the following tips for anyone embarking on similar projects:
Ensure that you use the most appropriate channels of communication for the group of volunteers. Discuss with the volunteers which type of contact group they want to use, e.g. email, WhatsApp.
Make sure there are suitable tasks for all the volunteers which match their skills and interests. Make sure each volunteer is aware of their role and the contribution it will make to the project.
Accept that volunteers have other commitments, such as employment or education, and may be unavailable for all meetings. Try and schedule volunteer meetings and updates so that volunteers can attend.
We are now planning further events which combine our earlier successful escape room and murder mystery events with the new technology used in our Augmented Reality tours in 2025. The volunteers will continue to contribute their ideas for events, as well as selecting records to be highlighted to visitors. We are also preparing to research use of Virtual Reality in Archives events and the volunteers will be heavily involved in testing and development of this new resource.
