The National Archives are seeking four new voluntary representatives to join the User Advisory Group (UAG).

The User Advisory Group aims to give people who use their services the opportunity to participate in The National Archives’ planning and decision making processes.

Delegates represent ‘the voice’ of different sections of our user community, not only their own interests. As well as attending meetings each delegate has a responsibility to engage with members of their user communities, to share information and gather feedback.

The National Archives would particularly like to hear from users who feel they could effectively represent one or more of the following user groups:

• county/external archives – staff or users of other archives
• independent researchers – researchers on our independent researcher listings
• student users – current undergraduate or postgraduate students in subjects that make use of archives
• online users – users who rely on online resources and tools to undertake their archive research and to interact with other researchers

Representatives will also need to demonstrate they have the qualities to actively participate in the group, including

• willingness to express the views of their communities in the setting of a large meeting
• time to prepare for meetings, including reading papers and networking
• ability to see the ‘bigger picture’

Meetings are held at The National Archives in Kew four times a year, usually on Tuesdays during working hours. Dates and times are published well in advance and delegates are expected to make every effort to attend. We ask prospective delegates to commit to a minimum term of one year’s service.

Find out more about the groups already represented, current delegates and how to submit an expression of interest via the UAG pages.