2012 Conference

Born This Way: Business Archives and the Digital Record

The 2012 Business Archives Council Conference, Born This Way: Business Archives and the Digital Record, was held on Thursday 8th November 2012 at The Baring Archive, 60 London Wall, London, EC2M 5TQ.

This conference considered the challenges and opportunities which digital records present to business archivists, records managers and users.  Speakers looked at born-digital and digitised records from a variety of perspectives including approaches to access, interpretation and education, enhancing the user-experience, regulation and compliance, and IT solutions. 

For the first time this year the conference included a panel discussion where experts debated the future implications for the management of digital records in the business environment. 

The programme was as follows:

From    09.30   Registration and coffee

10.00 - 10.30   Business Archives Council A.G.M.

10.30 - 10.40   Comfort break

10.40 - 10.45   Welcome and introduction to the conference

Session 1   Digital Demystification

10.45 - 11.15   Discussion session: examining the issues

Rabbit in the headlights: archivist meets digital preservation

11.15 - 11.45   William Kilbride (Executive Director of the Digital Preservation Coalition)

The Digital Preservation Decade: what we knew then; what we know now and what we wish we had realised earlier

11.45 - 12.00   Tea and coffee

Session 2   Sharing Knowledge: widening our professional outlook

12.00 - 12.30    David Hill (Manager Information and Records, Bank of England)

A records management perspective on born-digital records: RM at the Bank of England

12.30 - 13.00   Simon Rooks (Multi-Media Archivist, BBC)

A long and winding path: the journey towards multi-media archiving at the BBC

13.00 - 14.00   Lunch

Session 3   Digital Delivery: two case studies

14.00 - 14.30   Vicky Stretch (Archivist, Network Rail)

New Access to Old Stuff; the value of the Network Rail Virtual Archive

14.30 - 15.00   Clara Harrow (Archivist, The Baring Archive)

Risks and Rewards: Using digitised sources to open up the world of finance past and present

15.00 - 15.30   Tea and Coffee

Session 4   Taking stock and moving forward

15.30 - 16.00   Oliver Morley (Chief Executive and Keeper, The National Archives)

Lessons we’ve learned – pragmatic digital records

16.00 - 17.00   Panel Discussion (chaired by Oliver Morley)

Our speakers debated the future implications for the management of digital records in the business archive environment 

Following the conference, a reception was held for the presentation of the Wadsworth Prize for Business History.