Archivist comes full circle

We're pleased to welcome a new member of staff to ARMMS, or, in this case, welcome back a former member of the team. Dr Jan Merchant takes up her post as Senior Archivist today, having previously been the Assistant Archivist at Perth and Kinross Council Archive. However, prior to that post Jan worked with us in various roles, latterly as Project Archivist for the Drawn Evidence project of the early 2000s.

Jan has a PhD from the University of Dundee and was one of the first students to undertake CAIS' Archives and Records Management programme by online distance learning, graduating in 2006. She is a CAIS Hon Teaching Fellow and has taught the module 'Archive Services, Access and Preservation' and supervised dissertations.

We're delighted that Jan is rejoining ARMMS after her extended sojourn in Perth and look forward to benefiting from her knowledge, experience and enthusiasm.

Storify - online responses to the 'Burden or Benefit?' conference

We've tried to capture some of the responses to yesterday's conference using Storify. If you weren't able to make it to Dundee you can get a flavour of how the day unfolded and some of the issues discussed here:

Burden or Benefit? New developments in information rights, communication and compliance

CAIS' latest conference, organised jointly with the Centre for Freedom of Information in the University's School of Law, took place yesterday and was a great success.

The attendees heard presentations from three information commissioners, a former information commissioner, the Keeper of the Records of Scotland, a Caldicott Guardian, an expert in the use of social technologies in business and a University Records Manager.

All the speakers were keen to engage with the themes of the conference and explore the tensions between developing information rights law, the need for openness and accountability, the protection of individual privacy and the potential burdens and benefits for organisations trying to cope with these competing demands.

It was a fantastic day and we would like to extend our thanks to all our speakers, chairs, attendees and colleagues who helped make the day so enjoyable and valuable.

L-R Christopher Graham, UK Information Commissioner, Kevin Dunion, former Scottish Information Commissioner and Hon Prof, School of Law, Rosemary Agnew, Scottish Information Commissioner, Euan Semple, author and social business expert and Ken Macdonald, Assistant UK Information Commissioner (Scotland and NI)

Conference announcement - Benefit or burden? New developments in information rights, communication and compliance

We are delighted to announce a joint conference between CAIS and the University's Centre for Freedom of Information, to be held 4 October 2013. It will include, for the first time at the same event, contributions from Christopher Graham, the Information Commissioner, Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Information Commissioner and Tim Ellis, Chief Executive, National Records of Scotland. Euan Semple, author of 'Organisations don't tweet - people do', will deliver a keynote on the changing relationship between organisations, people, information and communication.

The conference will explore the developments in the enforcement and extension of information legislation, the implications of new forms of communication for organisations and the role of records management in a changing regulatory and operational environment. This is an essential event for practitioners and researchers concerned with freedom of information, data protection and records and information management.

To download a copy of the programme and booking form please click here. An e-booking facility will be available from next week. Booking forms (including requests for invoices) can be posted to Mrs Vikki Watson, School of Law, University of Dundee, Dundee DD1 4HN or emailed to centrefoi@dundee.ac.uk. We will look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Dundee in October.