Accountability, culture and ethics

I spent some time this morning filling out a bursary form for the Archives and Records Association (ARA) annual conference in Cardiff in August. The ARA is the official professional body for archivists, archive conservators and records managers and aims to provide guidance and training to its members as well as promote the interests of the profession at local and central government. For the lone archivist in particular, it is a useful resource of information and allows for discussion with other professionals.

Being accountable for not attending school

The theme of this year’s conference focuses on ‘Accountability, Culture and Ethics’. This will be exploring how records and archives play a key role in holding organisations to account and providing justice, while also acting as an important educational and cultural resource. It got me to thinking about our own collection and how our records and archives are so crucial for the charity’s own accountability.

One of the many boys cared for by the charity

Over the 143 years that the Together Trust has been in existence it has looked after thousands of children through its residential services. Whether it is the genealogist looking for information on an ancestor, or a care leaver wanting information on their own time in one of our homes, the information kept in our records is vital for helping to establish identity. Of course other records also exist explaining how our homes were run and why various decisions were made throughout our history. These records have been carefully preserved since 1870 as the charity understands how important these are to the individuals involved.

It is not just accountability that encourages us to preserve our records however. Once these records are produced to a care leaver or a genealogist and the issues of Data Protection have been taken into consideration, the archivist has to ensure an ethical approach is taken to the information being shared. How, for example, will the contents of this information affect the individual involved? In consideration of records that are over a hundred years old, and therefore not under the restrictions of data protection, is it still ethical to allow this sensitive information to be researched? Will it affect relatives if the information is made public? Weighing up the appropriateness of allowing access to sensitive information against what is ethically fitting can be a constant headache to the archivist. This is why conferences such as those at Cardiff which discusses this issue, can be a vital resource to the lone archivist.