Information Studies Research

HLF ICT Requirements

5.1 The UK has a wealth of cultural resources and, by improving the information we hold about these resources, the heritage sector will be better able to manage and exploit its holdings. There are some 1,200 rare book and special collections open to the public in the UK; 3,000 museums and galleries; roughly 250 national, local authority, university and specialist repositories; historic properties; tens of thousands of square miles of countryside; and numerous habitats and biological species. The Technology Foresight Committee on Leisure and Learning argued that ‘a systematic national initiative to create multimedia and interactive electronic catalogues of English Heritage and National Trust properties to ensure the best protection and returns from national treasures’ was a pressing need. The creation of heritage records will also bring economic and social benefits through a better understanding of the value and uniqueness of our holdings and the ability of the general public both here and abroad to identify and enjoy material of interest.

5.2 In the absence of a national strategy, and in the face of a broadened funding remit, the HLF needs its own policy if the resources it shepherds are to be used to maximum public and heritage benefit. The HLF is only partially informed about the relative merits of the various projects it is asked to consider supporting. While it can and does assess the importance and respective values of the proposals put before it, the HLF can only do so in a very general way because the detailed information to prioritise heritage merit on a national scale does not exist. By developing a thoughtful ICT funding strategy the HLF will seek to bring coherence and cohesiveness to its funding of IT-focused projects. The HLF is also aware that applicants invest heavily in the development of proposals and, because many more applicants invest in preparing applications than receive support, this is leading to a needless waste of funds by organisations whose projects are not selected for funding. In order to avoid this occurring in the use of IT, it is felt that a better informed applicant would be better able to prepare applications in a cost-effective manner which addresses the risks and issues of ICT usage and falls within the parameters outlined by the policy. As a useful rule of thumb, it is unlikely that ICT proposals in the range of £250k to £500k would cost less than £10k to £15k to prepare.

5.3 A large queue of potential heritage bids involving the use of ICT seems to be building up

• some are for the distribution of information by means of the Internet;
• some are for the retrospective conversion of catalogues and finding aids;
• others are for creation of new materials based on survey and record activities; and
• still others are for information kiosks, Websites, and interactive displays.

The policy recommended here provides the necessary guidance to support transparent funding decisions. In providing direction for the implementation of the policy this document outlines the material applicants must provide and how it will be assessed to make certain that only ICT projects with limited risks are selected for funding. In light of the new two-stage process the HLF will need to consider at which stage the applicant should submit sufficient data for HLF to carry out its risk assessment.

5.4 The HLF ICT policy should not seek to encourage particular uses of information technology but applications must fall within the parameters included in Paragraph 13.1 below. Invitations to bid seem to lead to applications which hide objectives to meet core needs and goals under the jargon of the particular funding programme’s own expectations. Applicants must be aware that they should avoid putting forward projects with an exclusively academic or internal curatorial bent, which do not provide wider public benefit. By defining parameters for the use of ICT the HLF should be better able to identify those projects which, while claiming to provide public access, are really meeting professional need. And it should be possible to avoid projects which include ICT in the work of the project simply to make it appear more attractive.