Standing on the brink...

Who Do You Think You Are? Live, Britain's largest family history event, opens its doors today at 10am. Our stand is up and we're ready to answer your questions. You can find us at stand 411.

WDYTYA 2013 - all packed and raring to go!

Our stand, banners and leaflets for Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2013 are packed and on their way to London as we type. If you're visiting Olympia for the show, which runs Friday-Sunday, come and see us at stand 411.

What do you think we do?

We've finalised another bit of artwork for our WDYTYA? Live 2013 leaflets today:

Our course on Military Records is just one of the online courses we offer through the Centre for Archive and Information Studies. For more information on all our online courses and Masters degree programmes see www.dundee.ac.uk/cais/. If you're heading to Olympia next week be sure to come and see us at stand 411. You can also contact us on +44 (0)1382 385543 or by emailing armtraining@dundee.ac.uk.

Where do you think we are?

We're off to Who Do You Think You Are? Live again later this month and we've just finished the artwork for some new leaflets. This one is for our short online course in house history.

If you're heading to Olympia between 22-24 February please stop by and say hello. We'll be at stand 411. If you can't make it to the show and would like information on any of our courses or programmes please give us a call on +44 (0)1382 385543 or email armtraining@dundee.ac.uk.

eARMMS, April 2012

This is the latest edition of the ARMMS and CAIS newsletter, eARMMS, that we also post here. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.
In this edition:

1. Zoology Museum events
2. Archives online
3. Visit of international PhD student
4. New semester
5. Disaster preparedness
6. Dundee Royal Infirmary (DRI) Admissions Register
7. The Robert Hugh Stannus Robertson collection
8. Abertay Historical Society 65th Anniversary
9. New Archive volunteers
10. Families in British India Society
11. International Source List
12. Graduation, summer 2012
13. Peto Image of the Week
14. World Book Night

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1. Zoology Museum events

After a hugely successful Easter opening, the D'Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum is playing host to various special events over the next few weeks, starting on 17 April when Professor Tony Martin will be giving a talk about the multi-million pound project he is leading to restore native wildlife on South Georgia. On 1 May, Dr Chris Connolly from the Medical Research Institute at Ninewells will be talking about a new neurological research project to investigate the declining population of bees by exploring the impact of pesticaides on their nervous systems. On 8 May we present the fourth annual creative writing event, Notes from the Museum, in which writers from the School of Humanities perform poetry and prose they've written inspired by D'Arcy's collections. Full details on all these events and more can be found at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/zoology/events.htm.

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2. Archives online

Caroline attended a one day conference organised by UK Archives Discover Network (UKAD) which looked at new developments in cataloguing and sharing and exchanging data. Caroline is working on a project for the Scottish Council on Archives (SCA) to extend the Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) and create an interactive online portal for catalogues so it was interesting to hear the papers at the conference and to meet with representatives of the National Archives at Kew to talk about their plans for a portal for archives in England.

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3. Visit of international PhD student

During March we were pleased to welcome Cherri-Ann Beckles, Assistant Archivist, University of the West Indies, to Dundee. Cherri is currently undertaking doctoral study with the Centre for Archive and Information Studies (CAIS) on international approaches to data protection/privacy legislation. Cherri will also be moving to Dundee for three months in the autumn to examine various approaches to Data Protection Act (DPA) compliance in Scottish universities whilst on sabbatical from the University of the West Indies.

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4. New semester

The CAIS team have been busy processing student applications and interviewing applicants for the May intake of our distance-learning courses. In total there will be 25 new students starting our various programmes of study, including 9 on our Masters pathways. For further information about our courses please see http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cais/ and for more information on our various CPD opportunities please have a look at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cais/cpd/modules_for_cpd.htm or get in touch with us at armtraining@dundee.ac.uk.

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5. Disaster preparedness

Alan, Caroline, Mhairi and Durham were reminded of the importance of keeping a well-stocked disaster recovery kit this month. A leak in the roof of an off-site store resulted in water running along shelving and very close to some of our records. Nothing was damaged and we were able to move the records out of harm's way and mop up accordingly, but the incident was a timely reminder of how quickly disasters can happen and the implications of not being able to respond as quickly as possible.

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6. Dundee Royal Infirmary (DRI) Admissions Register

More than 2,600 entries have now been transferred from the Dundee Royal Infirmary Patient Admission Register onto a searchable database. So far this covers the period January 1842 – November 1843 and already it is showing some interesting information about Dundee at that time (besides the obvious medical information). For example it records the nationality and place of birth of the patient which for this time period shows that 73.07% of the patients admitted were Scottish, 22.06% were Irish while just 2.3% were English and 0.69% were 'foreign'. It can also tell us where the patients were living at the time; the majority lived at Scouringburn (14.17%), Overgate (13.29%) and Hawkhill (7.66%). This is obviously a long term project but should prove to be a useful resource for researchers once completed.

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7. The Robert Hugh Stannus Robertson collection

Keren is currently cataloguing the papers of Robert Hugh Stannus Robertson. After obtaining an MA in geology, mineralogy and chemistry at the University of Cambridge, Robertson was appointed chief chemist in 1933 to the Fuller’s Earth Union Ltd in Surrey, where he spent nine very successful years. He devoted all his working life to applying science to industry and specialised in the creation of new processes and new industries. In 1958 he moved to Pitlochry where he worked as a consultant, rapidly becoming a highly respected international authority on the uses of clay minerals, the methodology of raw material development and the management of innovation. The collection has been worked on by several different people so it is now coming together as a whole with some very interesting items relating to peat, nuts and their uses. For further information about the collection please get in touch with us at archives@dundee.ac.uk.

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8. Abertay Historical Society 65th Anniversary

The Abertay Historical Society (AHS) will celebrate the 65th Anniversary of its founding in May. Archive Services hold the archives of the Society including the papers related to its foundation. Over the years several members of ARMMS staff have been involved with the society and current council members include Dr Kenneth Baxter and Matthew Jarron, who is Secretary of the Society. Kenneth has been going through the archives to gather some information on the AHS’ early days to use in publicity for the anniversary.

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9. New Archive volunteers

Archive Services are pleased to welcome 3 new volunteers to the archives. Beth, Doug and Adey will be coming in at various times on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Beth is currently working on the Rep archive, Doug is doing some scanning and looking at the Dundee Art Society collection and Adey is working on our book collections. We wish them all well and are very pleased to welcome them to our team. Thanks are also due to our longer term volunteers John, Jaqui, and Rosanna.

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10. Families in British India Society

Caroline was asked to give a talk to Scottish members of the Families in British India Society (FIBIS) on the collections that we have in the archives with a connection to India. It was difficult to limit the talk to 30 minutes given the amount of material that we have but the audience was interested and asked several questions, as well as taking leaflets on our family and local history distance learning courses. More information on our holdings can be found online at, www.dundee.ac.uk/archives.

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11. International Source List

The International Source List is now available online. This is a list of records in our collections that relate to countries other than Scotland or England. Wales was included in the list of countries because it was a good way to draw together items relating to Wales. The International Source List reveals how important the international context has been for Dundee historically, through industrial, academic and personal connections. These include the famous connection with India because of jute, investment in North America, spreading religion in New England, involvement in Europe during the World Wars, and there is even mention of pirates in the Caribbean! www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/international.htm.

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12. Graduation, Summer 2012

The deadline for students registering for the graduation ceremony on 19 June 2012 was Friday 6 April. There are 27 students registered for graduation. Of these, seven are graduating with the Masters, 13 are graduating with the Postgraduate Diploma and seven are graduating with the Postgraduate Certificate. To date six students have confirmed they will be attending the ceremony. Further information on the ceremony can be found at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/registry/main/com/grad/. We are very much looking forward to graduation and hope all our students and their families have a wonderful day.

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13. Peto Image of the Week

All the images used for Peto Image of the Week are now available online as part of the 'The Peto Collection Image of the Week Archive' the page being available at http://www.dundee.ac.uk/archives/peto/imageofweekarchive.htm. The images are in chronological order, the most recent at the top, and grouped according to the month in which they were used. Normally, the images relate to a topical issue; a current news item, the anniversary of an important historical event or the anniversary of a famous person's birth or death.

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14. World Book Night

Monday 23 April, which was both the birth and death dates of William Shakespeare, was World Book Night. The event's founder and Chair is Jamie Byng, Managing Director of Canongate, the Archive of which is held by Archive Services. Pat was a World Book Night Giver and received 24 copies of Small Island, by Andrea Levy, to give away. The purpose is to encourage reading and the books should be read and passed on to others. Each book has a unique identifier, which can be logged and monitored on the World Book Night web site. More information is available at: http://www.worldbooknight.org/.

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eARMMS, March 2012

This is the latest edition of the ARMMS and CAIS newsletter, eARMMS, that we also post here. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.

1. E-ARMMS first birthday
2. Centre for Environmental Change & Human Resilience (CECHR) Conversations
3. Human Race touring exhibition
4. CAIS study day
5. New Publication
6. Archive Enquiries
7. New Resource
8. Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives group meeting
9. Managing electronic records / Public History
10. Archive Class
11. Economic & Social History Society of Scotland Spring conference

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1. E-ARMMS first birthday

Our E-ARMMS Newsletter turns one this month. We’ve really enjoyed putting the newsletter together over the last twelve months and hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. To date we’ve written 117 postings. These have covered all aspects of the work of the Archive, Records Management, Museum Services and CAIS departments, ranging from new acquisitions, to the delivery of presentations, major exhibitions and new CPD and Masters Courses. To have a browse through past editions please see, http://www.dundee.ac.uk/armms/e-armms_past.htm.

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2. Centre for Environmental Change & Human Resilience (CECHR) Conversations

The latest exhibition by Museum Services in the Lamb Gallery features work by Jean Duncan, artist-in-residence with CECHR, an interdisciplinary collaboration between the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute. As well as Jean's own artworks, the exhibition also features photographs, models and prints by some of the researchers that Jean has been working with at CECHR. The exhibition runs until 14th April.

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3. Human Race touring exhibition

Museum curator Matthew Jarron is on the management board of Scotland and Medicine, which has just launched its latest touring exhibition Human Race: Inside the Science of Sports Medicine. The exhibition has received funding from the Olympics Legacy Trust (one of only two museum projects in Scotland to do so) and is an official part of the Cultural Olympiad. The exhibition (which features several objects from the Tayside Medical History Museum's collections) has opened at the University of Stirling and will be coming to Dundee in September, showing in both the Lamb Gallery and the Institute of Sport and Exercise.

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4. CAIS study Day

On the 10th March CAIS held a Study Day in Berwick for 20 distance-learning family and local history students. Bringing together the expertise and knowledge of five CAIS tutors, students undertook a number of sessions on Local Government Records, Palaeography, Transcription and Analysis as well as group sessions on Police, School and Poor Relief Records.

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5. New Publication

The Abertay Historical Society launches its 52nd publication Dundee’s Two Intrepid Ladies: A Tour Round the World by D C Thomson’s Female Journalists in 1894, edited and introduced by Susan Keracher on 31st March. As part of the launch event, to be held at The McManus: Dundee's Art Gallery & Museum, Kenneth will be giving a short talk on Dundee women at that time. Other talks will be given by Murray Thomson, of D C Thomson & Co Ltd, and Dundee University Professor Jim Tomlinson. More details about this event may be obtained from Matthew Jarron, http://www.dundee.ac.uk/museum/contact_us/

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6. Archive Enquiries

As ever we have dealt with several telephone and e-mail enquiries in the past month. These have come from a variety of sources including academics, family historians, students, publishers, professionals and members of the University staff. These enquiries have covered a diverse range of topics including Dundonians working in India, the genealogy of the Baxter textile dynasty, the history of the University and the records of patients in Sunnyside Hospital.

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7. New Resource

Kenneth has recently compiled information relating to the Neish Family of Tannadice and Clepington. The Archive has a very interesting collection of scrapbooks belonging to the family (MS 160) which mainly contains items relating to British military campaigns from the late nineteenth century to the Great War. The Neish family had a strong military tradition and several members of the family held commissions in the Boer War and the Great War.

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8. Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives group meeting

Pat and Caroline visited Aberdeen University Library Special Collections for a meeting of the Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives Group. Part of the meeting included a tour of the new University Library, exhibition area and Special Collections department.

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9. Managing electronic records /Public History

Pat, Caroline and Alan visited the parliamentary archives based in the House of Lords in London. Part of the meeting focused on the management of electronic records, discussing tools and systems that might be suitable for use in managing the university’s digital archives. They also met Caroline Shenton, Clerk of the Records, to discuss a forthcoming Public History module for the Centre for Archive and Information Studies.

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10. Archive Class

Jennifer and Caroline hosted a class of twenty College of Education students last week as part of their programme of study. The students were fascinated by the Archive collections and were particularly interested in our asylum records, letters from First World War soldiers, and the Joseph Lee prisoner of war diaries. Further information about these records and our other collections can be found online at http://134.36.1.31/search/search-all.htm.

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11. Economic & Social History Society of Scotland Spring Conference

Pat, who is Convenor of the Society, attended the latest conference, held in Glasgow, which was on the subject: 'Scotland and the Indian Subcontinent'. Speakers included Professor Jim Tomlinson, University of Dundee, Dr Stana Nenadic, University of Edinburgh and Suchitra Choudhury, University of Glasgow. Following the conference delegates, speakers and chairs very appropriately met for a very good curry in Byres Road. For more information on the Society and to receive email updates on history events in Scotland email Development Officer, Dr Iain Hutchison, at iain@keapub.fsnet.co.uk.

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eARMMS

ARMMS and CAIS publish a newsletter each month which we post on our website and send out by email. This is the most recent edition of eARMMS, rounding up our news from February. Let us know if you would like an email copy each month.

In this edition:

1. New Exhibition in Tower Foyer Gallery
2. Papers of former Academic Secretary
3. Who Do You Think You Are Live? 2012
4. Oral History Project
5. New Archive Accessions
6. Archive Classes
7. Disaster Planning
8. Article in Comma
9. JISC Research Project on FoI
10. The Michael Peto Photographic Collection Project

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1. New Exhibition in Tower Foyer Gallery

The latest exhibition by Museum Services in the Tower Foyer Gallery features some of the most recent additions to the University's fine art collections. These include paintings, prints, photographs and artists books purchased from the last two Degree Shows at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design; original comics art by the legendary Dudley D Watkins, acquired with a grant from the National Fund for Acquisitions; prints by leading contemporary Scottish artists Katy Dove, Toby Paterson and Louise Hopkins; and new additions to the Centre for Artists' Books collection from the Visual Research Centre. The exhibition continues until 14 April.

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2. Papers of former Academic Secretary

Kenneth has been going through a most interesting accession of material very kindly donated by Dr Ian Francis, who retired recently as Academic Secretary. The accession consists of a number of key documents mainly relating to the governance of the University since its foundation in 1881 which were collected by successive members of the University's administrative staff.

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3. Who Do You Think You Are? 2012

CAIS was represented at the annual Who Do You Think You Are? Live event, held on the 24th-26th February at the London Olympia. We answered questions about records and archives, distributed information on our short courses and Masters degrees in Family and Local History by online distance learning and signed up a record number of new students to our Master’s degree in Family and Local History and Beyond the Internet, our short courses for family historians.

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4. Oral History Project

Archive Services are progressing the Oral History Project, which aims to capture the experiences of individuals connected to the University and the University archival collections. Recent interviews have included David Torrie (former editor of The Dandy), James Petrie and David Sutherland (DC Thompson artists), Alastair Ross (former Duncan of Jordanstone student and sculpture lecturer) and Ellena Salaryia (midwife and researcher).

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5. New Archive Accessions and Accruals

New accessions to the archive include DVDs of short films and news items relating to Duncan of Jordanstone. Accruals to existing collections include Peter Haining and the Attic Archive, Publishing Scotland and Canongate. Further deposits have also been received for the Comics Collection, including 2000AD.

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6. Archive Classes

Caroline spoke to students about the Archive collections during a lecture for the History Level 1 Britain in the 20th Century students. Classes have also been held in the Archives for students taking Red Scotland, the History of the Book, Britain in the 20th Century, Reading 17th Century Scotland, Shakespeare, and Scottish Soldier. All subject areas are welcome to use the archival collections for teaching and research support. Further information is available from Caroline at c.z.brown@dundee.ac.uk.

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7. Disaster Planning

Jennifer, Caroline and Matthew are updating the departmental Disaster Plan. Training will be held for all staff on 26 April.

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8. Forthcoming publication: Article in Comma

Alan has recently completed an article examining the nature of standards and standardisation for a forthcoming issue of Comma, the journal of the International Council on Archives.

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9. JISC Research Project on FoI

Records Management Services have contributed to a JISC research project which is attempting to establish the true cost of compliance with the Freedom of Information Acts. Five recent requests to the University were tracked in detail to assess the amount of time needed to process them, to locate and retrieve relevant information and to write and send appropriate responses to the applicants.

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10. The Michael Peto Photographic Collection Project

The Michael Peto Photographic Collection Project promotion has included a meeting with our Patron, Rector, Brian Cox, to discuss strategies for fundraising and external activities, the production of a fundraising and promotional prospectus and meetings with galleries and curators in the UK and the US.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2012

As things get back to normal after the festivities our thoughts are turning towards the annual Who Do You Think You Are? Live event, to be held in February at the London Olympia. CAIS will once again be represented at the show and as usual we're looking forward to meeting some of our students and other attendees on the show floor. We'll be answering questions about records and archives and distributing information on our short courses and Masters degrees in Family and Local History by online distance learning.

Over the next few weeks you should start to see some of our new advertising popping up in various publications. This one was finished earlier today and should appear next month - let us know if you spot it anywhere.

Celebrating CAIS Graduates

Congratulations to all 21 students from the Centre for Archive and Information Studies students who graduated on Wednesday 16th November. The University of Dundee held a special Winter Graduation ceremony for the first time this year and several of our students took the opportunity to attend.

CAIS graduates outside Caird Hall, Dundee

Very well done also to Durham Burt, the third CAIS Trainee, who graduated with an MLitt Archives and Records Management with distinction.

Durham Burt, CAIS Trainee

Students qualified with the following degrees:

• Postgraduate Certificate in Archival Studies
• Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Recordkeeping
• Postgraduate Certificate in Family and Local History
• Postgraduate Diploma in Archives and Records Management
• Masters of Letters / Science in Archives and Records Management
• Master of Science in Record Management and Digital Preservation

Caird Hall, Dundee

CAIS is still accepting applications for the 21 online courses it is offering in January covering family history, archives and / or records management, information compliance and digital preservation. Courses last from six to 15 weeks, are tutored by experts and are delivered fully online. Applications for Masters degrees in these subjects are welcomed and we accept applicants from the UK and overseas. For more information see www.dundee.ac.uk/cais or contact armtraining@dundee.ac.uk

CAIS Study School, September 2011

September is always an exiting time for us as we upload new and updated course materials to the University's Virtual Learning Environment and prepare for the new semester. The high point in our preparations is the arrival of a new intake of students in Dundee for their pre-course Study School. It's a chance for new students to meet each other and the CAIS staff and tutors, find out how to use the University's online learning systems and to think about the professional issues facing recordkeepers and the theoretical basis for what we do. We really look forward to the Study School and we're excited about the sessions we have planned for the students this year. Everything starts this afternoon and we'll post updates on our discussions as the week unfolds.

Alan Bell and Sarah Wickham, University of Huddersfield and
CAIS Tutor,  leading a session on Records Management, September 2010

Graduation 2011

Some of CAIS' graduates on the steps of Dundee's Caird Hall
(L-R)  Fiona Bourne (MLitt Archives and Records Management),
Fiona Musk (MLitt Archives and Records Management),
Michele Noad (MSc Records Management and Information Rights) and
Donna Kynaston (MSc Archives and Records Management (International)) 

The University's summer graduation ceremonies took place last week. On Wednesday we celebrated the success of more than thirty of our students who graduated from the full range of programmes offered by CAIS including Archives, Records Management, Information Compliance and Family and Local History.

Michele Noad with Leslie Turner
(Postgraduate Certificate in Family and Local History) at
the School of Humanities reception

Graduation is also the time each year that we celebrate the awards to undergraduate students in History named in honour of our former colleague, Dr Mary Young. Congratulations to Bryan Dawes (Mary Young Archive Prize (Level 2)) and Helen Healy (Mary Young Archive Prize (Levels 3 and 4)).

Our warmest congratulations to all of our graduates and to all those who graduated from the University of Dundee last week.

Preservation and Disaster Management for Information Professionals

On 6th May, Jennifer submitted two assignments to the Centre for Archive and Information Studies at the University of Dundee as part of the module ‘Preservation and Disaster Management for Information Professionals’. Jennifer studied the module as continuing professional development (CPD) having completed the Centre's MLitt in Archives and Records Management last year. The module, as with all CAIS modules, is delivered online by distance learning and can be taken by archivists, records managers and other information professionals.

The Preservation module helps with identifying and dealing with nasty pests like this

The module was split into two sections. The first looked at preservation and at different types of archival material and how these should be stored. It covered threats from the environment, from pests and mould, and how to undertake a preservation survey and implement a preservation policy. The second part dealt with disaster management, identifying risks, preparing for an emergency and creating and implementing a disaster plan.

How to deal with threats to archives: first catch your bug!

Jennifer wanted to do this module in order to have a greater awareness of the issues facing the collections at ARMMS as well as the best ways to protect these and says ‘There was a lot on information in this module and it made me realise how many potential threats there are to be on the look out for! Having done the module I am a lot more aware of how to identify and reduce the risk from these threats.’

 
For more information on this module and others offered by CAIS see our website or contact armtraining@dundee.ac.uk.

New edition of the ICA/SUV Newsletter

The latest edition of the ICA/SUV Newsletter was published recently and is available online here. The newsletter includes articles on the Manumed Project (Maghreb and the Mashreq), the preservation needs of archival institutions in Africa and this issue introduces a new column about digital matters; ‘Digital Galore'.

ICA/SUV is the Section of the International Council on University and Research Institution Archives (SUV). It provides a forum for record keeping professionals from universities and scientific institutions to discuss issues of common interest, to promote their collections and to create resources that can be used by colleagues throughout the world. The Section currently has around one hundred members including ARMMS and Pat, our Head of Department and the Director of CAIS, is currently the Secretary of ICA/SUV. ARMMS/CAIS' support for ICA/SUV is long-standing and in 2007 included hosting the Section's annual conference in Dundee. The conference later this year will be hosted by the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in July.

Attendees at the ICA/SUV conference dinner at Fingask Castle, near Dundee, August 2007

What's in a name?

It was one year ago today that we bought the domain name for our blog; www.archives-records-artefacts.com. In that year we've had 6,719 visitors (with 10,791 overall since we launched the blog in August 2009). All those visits add up to a remarkable 11,061 page views (or 18,424 since August 2009). We wanted to take this chance to say thanks to everyone who visits our blog. We hope that you continue to enjoy our posts.

Screenshot and statistics from Google's Analytics service.

Bound for Brighton

CAIS leaflets for the IRMS Conference

The annual conference of the Information and Records Management Society takes place in Brighton next week and CAIS will be there as an exhibitor. We'll be on hand to answer questions about our Masters degrees, short courses, certificates and research opportunities in Records Management, Digital Preservation and Information Rights.

If you're going to the conference please stop by Stand 21 and say hello. If you would like more information about any of our courses or programmes please email armtraining@dundee.ac.uk.

Who do you think we are?

We were intrigued by a post this weekend on Euan Semple's blog, 'The Obvious', coming as it did in the same week we set up a new Twitter account for Archive Services and Records Management Services. In his post on the use of online social tools by orgnaisations Euan suggests that:

Reciprocity relies on mutual respect. When you are treating me as a statistic, or worse a target, I don't feel respected and have little inclination to reciprocate.

Then goes on to ask:

Why should I re-tweet your tweets or like your Facebook page when you won't even tell me your name?

To that end, we thought you might like to meet the people behind this blog and our Twitter accounts:

• @CAIS_Archives for the Centre for Archive and Information Studies;
• @UoD_Museums for Museum Services; and
• @UoD_Archives for Archive Services and Records Management Services

Everything posted here or via our Twitter accounts is written by staff from Archive, Records Management and Museum Services and the Centre for Archive and Information Studies at the University of Dundee. You can find information about us and our contact details on our website and we'd be happy to hear from you about any aspect of our work.

Reflections on Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011

The Who Do You Think You Are show is over for another year. This was the fifth year that CAIS has been to the family history event but it was the first time our administrators, Craig and Angela, had attended. Now they have recovered, Angela has had time to reflect on her experiences.

She says 'Who Do You Think You Are Live was very busy but enjoyable. It was good to be able to discuss the online family and local history courses that we offer and to talk to people about their research and the archival sources that might help them go further.

We gave out around 2000 leaflets over the weekend and enrolled a number of people onto our courses. Since we returned to Dundee we have been dealing with the enquiries and interest generated by the show. We spoke to lots of different people such as families, people starting out researching their family history and experienced genealogists. Many people were specifically interested in our Heraldry module which is taught by members of the College of Arms, who also had a stand at WDYTYA, and House History which which will be developed by Nick Barrett who gave several sessions at the show.'

CAIS offers a full Masters degree in Family and Local History or a Postgraduate Certificate in Family and Local History. Taught by expert tutors, these are aimed at people wishing to add context or more detail to their family or local history research and for those interested in a career in genealogy. We also offer short courses for people who have recently begun their family or local history research. To find out more about the courses we offer please see our website, call us on +44 (0)1382 385543 or email ARMTraining@dundee.ac.uk.

Video from Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011

Pat and Caroline were interviewed by Chris Paton of the Scottish GENES blog about our courses in Family and Local History at Who Do You Think You Are? Live last week. Chris posted the interview to YouTube and you can watch it below. His post about the interview is available here.

Who Do You Think You Are? Live 2011

Once again CAIS staff are on hand at Who Do You Think You Are Live at London Olympia to speak to people about their family and local history and the range of courses we offer to help them in their research, all by fully online distance learning. Come and see us at stand 708 or email us at ARMTraining@dundee.ac.uk for more information.

Building the CAIS stand on Thursday evening

Speaking to family and local historians on Saturday morning

Featured again

Our programmes are once again being featured on the University's homepage. If you'd like to know more about the Centre for Archive and Information Studies, the Masters degree programmes or CPD courses we offer in archives, records management, digital preservation, information rights or family and local history, or the opportunities we provide for doctoral research in any of these areas then please email us at ARMTraining@dundee.ac.uk or see our website.