A new level of accessibility

Staff at Gloucestershire Archives are particularly excited by a new venture under development called ‘Reading the Records’, which aims to open up our collections to blind and visually impaired customers. On 10th June we ran a successful pilot session with representatives from the Sight-loss Council and Gloucester’s Talking Newspaper.  There was a touch tour of the ‘tools of the trade’, a description of our oldest document with an explanation of seals and a tour of the facilities. We were even joined by Heidi the very beautiful guide dog - perhaps the first dog ever to enter an archive strongroom! 

So what are we hoping to achieve? 

Well, obviously we want to open up our service to a new group of users but beyond that we hope to become a social venue for their families, friends and carers. As a service we are always on the look-out for alternative ways to highlight our collections. This objective ties in with the motto of our service which is to 'gather, keep and share' in a bid to 'educate, enrich and empower'.  Crucially though, we hope that Gloucestershire Archives can act as a trailblazer and show other archive services how records can be used differently for a wider appeal. We also plan on adding an online aspect, to share our collections with people who may be house bound, supplementing the excellent work already undertaken by the Talking Newspapers.  

We have 5 on-site sessions scheduled to start in October specifically tailored to visually impaired users. For two of these sessions we will also be working with our partners, the Gloucestershire Family History Society and the Gloucestershire Police Archives.  If you are interested or know of someone who may be eligible, please get in touch with us at archives.gloucestershire.gov.uk, Title the subject of your email 'VI sessions' and we will get back to you as soon as possible.