Department for Culture Media and Sport
archives
Archives are a rich resource of knowledge for the nation.
Funding
We do not fund any public archives bodies, although many of our sponsored institutions contain substantial and valuable archives within them, such as the BBC's audio-visual archive and the holdings of the British Library.
Through the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), we fund Regional Archive Development Officers in each of the regional Museums, Libraries and Archives Agencies; there is a list of these agencies and links to their websites, on our MLA page.
The National Council on Archives (NCA) receives some funding through MLA for activities such as the annual Archives Awareness Month.
Policy
The Inter Departmental Archives Committee (IDAC) co-ordinates the handling of archive policy issues, which are dealt with across a number of Government Departments.
We support the development of policy on archives through our sponsorship of the MLA.
In 2002 we asked the MLA to set up a Task Force to review the state of the UK's archives. Their report, Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future (PDF), sets out a strategy for national knowledge management, and for saving and storing our present for future generations. See the MLA Archives Taskforce.
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