This year one of the Archivists at RBA attended the Annual Conference of the Archives & Records Association (ARA) on 27-29 August 2025 at Delta Hotels in Bristol City Centre. In this blog, we delve into what this entailed and some of the things that were learnt.
The conference was centred around the theme of ‘Next Generation: Innovation and Imagination in Record Keeping’. The central threads for the talks were: New Horizons - Artificial intelligence and digital innovations; Innovation, sustainable conservation and the next generation; Challenging Collections; and Next Generation - Rethinking Training, Outreach and Inclusivity.
This yearly event caters for a wide range of heritage and information professionals including archivists, conservators, records managers and many more. It provides an opportunity for professionals from repositories across the country to come together and discuss prevalent issues and share experiences.
Each day began with a keynote speech before delegates broke off into sessions in smaller rooms focusing on different topics around the central themes. Delegates could then network and mingle over refreshment breaks between sessions.
The conference got off to an inspiring start with the first keynote speech by Julz Davis, ‘Disruptor-in-Chief' of Curiosity Unltd. Julz gave a passionate call to action in his speech about how he has led creative initiatives to ensure that local underrepresented voices were heard in Bristol’s cultural spaces. His speech was described as ‘an invitation to poke, prod and radically reframe the way we keep, share and shape our collective histories’.
The benefit of attending a conference is to become familiar with the key issues of the present day and have the chance to discuss these with sector colleagues. A particularly interesting aspect of this conference was the focus on AI – both its benefits and risks to record keeping. The key takeaway seemed to be that it could prove beneficial for automating repetitive tasks, such as indexing and transcribing, but there are still errors that slip through which require human checking. There also seemed to be an air of caution over how the data would be re-used by AI programs and the environmental implications. It became clear that all uses must be carefully risk managed. Certainly, no data containing personal or sensitive information should be processed by AI.
With so much food for thought, it was only right that some downtime and fun should be factored into the conference programme. The first day ended with a 'supper & social' evening amongst the exhibits of We The Curious. Delegates could explore the science centre and learn about the innovations of our time whilst enjoying a meal with others. It seemed rather fitting, following the discussions on Artificial Intelligence, to end the day with listening to a talking robot at the exhibit!
The following day continued with more talks on pertinent issues including inclusivity and challenging records. A thread that was particularly relevant to the RBA were the discussions around trauma informed approaches to supporting staff who come across challenging material unexpectedly. In many local authority archives, there are records which inevitably contain upsetting content, such as coroners’ inquest reports or medical records. Practical resources were shared and personal experiences were discussed.
An important element of the annual conference is the Gala Dinner with Awards. This is the opportunity for the Archives and Records Association to honour those who have made substantial achievements in the record keeping sector. The ARA Excellence Awards were handed out to well deserving delegates. The prestigious Record keeping service of the Year award was bestowed upon a fellow local authority archive, Gloucestershire Archives, who have worked particularly hard on community projects.
The final day began with an interactive keynote speech on multisensory archives. Delegates spent time reaching into a box and describing its contents to each other. This was followed by more sessions including a fascinating talk on Chinese fashion archives.
The conference came to an end with a Closing Plenary which gave everyone a chance to reflect on this shared learning experience. This was an exhausting but enlightening event which reminds us of the wider goals and challenges that all services face, made all the easier with sharing information and ideas with sector colleagues.
Find out more about the annual conference on the Archives and Records Association website.