Self service at Gloucestershire Archives

 

 

Earlier this year Gloucestershire Archives applied for – and were successful in obtaining - a grant of £15,000 from the Local Government Association (LGA) digital channel shift programme. This project will help transform our customer experience.

Background

10,000 customers use our research room each year to consult original documents in our collections. They range from local and family history researchers (mostly older people) to professionals who require our documented evidence to do their day jobs e.g. council colleagues dealing with rights of way and planning issues. 

Currently two of our key research room processes are inefficient because information is double entered, firstly by the customer and then by us. We will use the grant to introduce systems that will allow customers to enter data directly into our database.

Outcome

By the end of September this project will offer our users an improved and streamlined experience, and some of the funding will go towards making sure there’s as much information about the new system as possible. We’ll be writing user guides/help sheets/making videos and training volunteers to help customers get the most out of the new system.