New national guidance has been published by The National Archives (TNA) in partnership with History UK: the ‘Guide to Collaboration between the Archive and Higher Education Sectors’.

LACR and the wider Aberdeen Burgh Records Project feature in two case studies within the guidance, launched this summer. One is entitled ‘From cooperation to coordination – developing collaborative working’, and the other is entitled ‘Not another database: digital humanities in action’.

TNA’s Higher Education Archive Programme (HEAP) and History UK have worked together to write this new guidance in the 2018 edition. This refreshes the original guidance of 2015 which was developed with TNA and Research Libraries UK. Its aim is to improve collaboration between archives and academic institutions of all kinds.

In addition to case studies of collaboration from across the archives and higher education sectors, the refreshed guidance includes:

• Practical ways to identify, develop and sustain cross-sector collaborations
• Insights into the drivers, initiatives, support, and language of the archives and higher education sectors
• Explanations on how to understand outputs and outcomes, and organisational and project priorities
• Guidance on measuring impact in cross-sector collaborations
• An outline of recent updates to REF, TEF and Research Councils

For a short introduction to the guidance see this link given here. The LACR team – a strong Archives-HE collaboration itself – is delighted to have the project involved in this new guide!