Considers how Welsh Government Library & Archive Services works to capture and make accessible for the longer term, information published by the Welsh Government. Promotes the Welsh Government Publications Catalogue including full text access to contemporary documents and an increasing range of historical documents from the Welsh Government and predecessor bodies - Welsh Assembly Government and Welsh Office. Further considers how the role of the Publications Catalogue is branching out to include content published as Freedom of Information Request answers, and Ministerial Decision Reports.

1. Making a difference.
Effective information sharing within
and outside of your “community”
Stephen Gregory
Business & Legal Team Leader
Welsh Government Library & Archive Services
Stephen.Gregory2@wales.gsi.gov.uk
16th May 2014
CILIP Cymru Wales Annual Conference
“Making a difference: libraries and their communities”

2. Outline
• Consider WG as an information provider
• Consider our communities
• Case study
• Identification of issues and suggestions for
good practice
• To urge reflection on our roles

3. WG as a Publisher
• Publish >770 p.a. (books, reports,
guidance) (In 2013: Penguin published ca 1500 items; OUP
4200 items)
• Cymru.gov.uk = 90,000 pages with sub-
sites e.g. http://business.wales.gov.uk/ ;
www.planninginspectorate.wales.gov.uk
• Numerous others - possibly 300? e.g.
www.sell2wales.gov.uk,
www.visitwales.com, www.wales.com.
• Social media channels

4. 0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2nd Assembly 2003-2006.
3rd Assembly 2007-2011.
4th Assembly 2012-
Number of items added to the Pubs
Archive
Average 770 p.a.

6. Communities
• Internal
– ca. 5000 civil servants – across Wales
• External
– Stakeholders – WG Sponsored Bodies,
representative organisations, third sector, etc.
– Member of the public / other Welsh bodies
– Other government departments
• International
• Notion of “community”?

7. WG - Effective information sharing?
Q. What do you
think?

8. Effective Information Sharing?
• Web site
– Poor search engine
– Unfathomable structure
– User perspective taken account of?
– Inconsistent content policy
– Archiving policy
• Social media
• Publications?

9. Q. Aware of WG Pubs
Catalogue?
Q. Used the catalogue?

10. WG Publications Catalogue
• http://wales.gov.uk/about/foi/publications-
catalogue/
• Now hidden under: About Us > FOI.
• Up to June 2013 average 5200 page
views per month.
• July 2013 - average 330 page views /
month

11. Pubs Catalogue 2
• Manually trap and catalogue WG
publications
• Publications request option  FPCC ca.
2000 p.a.
• Including increasing number of full text file
attachments, details of original web links,
and supporting text.
• Our Digital Archive?

13. Archive of WG Publications
• Hard Copy
– Archive ca. 25K items
– Paper still our “gold
standard” for archiving
– Reasonable storage
conditions
• Digital Archive
– Archive size ?
– Very mixed formats:
.doc; .xls, .pdf, .pdfA.
Some text readable,
many not.
– Currently no means of
ensuring digital
continuity
– Cloud storage with
backup

15. Does Web Archiving Achieve this
for you?
Q. What’s your
experience?

16. Why do we do this?
The Web Archives do
not suffice:
• Not all layers captured =
missing content
• Not readily searchable.
Dependent on navigating
• Multiple web sites?
• Restricted scraping dates
• TNA 1997 -
http://collections.europarc
hive.org/tna/*/http://wales.
gov.uk
• NLW 2006 –
http://www.webarchive.or
g.uk/ukwa/target/122171/
source/subject
• Wayback Machine 1997 -
http://web.archive.org/we
b/*/www.wales.gov.uk/

17. Case Study
Cabinet
Statements
& FOI
Responses
1.
Comms
– extract
from DBs
2. Library
– check
data
quality
3. Souton
Map,
upload
4. Library
– quality
check
1st cycle –
pilot
2nd cycle –
2001 -
2013

20. Case Study -the reality
Cabinet
Statements
& FOI
Responses
1.
Comms
– extract
from DBs
2. Library
– check
data
quality
3.
Soutron
Map,
upload
4. Library
– quality
check
Pilot
complete

23. Effective information sharing:
barriers and enablers
Q. What do you
think?

24. Effective information sharing
Barriers
• Ownership
• Cultural
– Work in silos
– No shared vision?
• Technical
– Format, content, protocols
• Time / Priorities
• Ignorance
– not aware of bigger picture
• Communication
– Piggy in the middle?
Enablers
• Genuine desire to share data
• Cultural
– Understand and respect
difference.
• Technical
– using right person for each role
– Appropriate technology
• Programmed / prioritised.
• Shared understanding /
expectations
• Open / honest communication

25. Why
archive?
To
maintain
our
history
EfficiencyLegal
• Internal / External Use.
• Fully searchable
• Not reinventing the wheel
• Aiding the public
• Aid democracy / openness
• FOI – Publications Scheme
• PSI Re-use - changes July
2015

26. Recap
• Welsh Government as an information
provider / sharer (& their effectiveness)
• Identified how WG Library & Archive
Services are improving effectiveness …
and our learning along the way
• Considered barriers & enablers to effective
information sharing

27. Food for thought?
• Do I have a similar archiving role within my
organisation?
• Could I find historical information about my
organisation with ease + successfully?
• What information might be going astray?
• Are the boundaries between sub-
professions blurring? Can I respond to
this?

28. Questions or Comments?
Stephen Gregory
Stephen.Gregory2@wales.gsi.gov.uk
@StepGreg