| 3 | Constitution
and the Formation of a Company
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| After NH had explained the
background to the changes in the document, and why ACW was faced
with two principal choices, namely (1) setting up a company; or
(2) nominating a lead body, HVW presented the report by CCS Legal
Services on the implications of establishing a company.
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| 3.1 | ACW was advised not
to establish a company because of the complications arising from
capital control regimes.
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| 3.2 | A better alternative
would be for one authority to take on the burden of the finances
and make a formal agreement (memorandum of understanding) with
each of the other organisations in order to co-guarantee
expenditure. Memoranda of understanding would force each
individual organisation to consider the issues and to seek
authorisation to join the project. ACW was advised
to achieve the memoranda of understanding in the first place.
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| 3.3 | Each organisation
should have its responsibilities defined.
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| 3.4 | It could be a
long-drawn-out process to get every party on board.
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| 3.5 | AB pointed out that
the HLF do not require a company. In England the pattern was
mainly lead bodies.
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| 3.6 | It was agreed that
a permanent arrangement should be made.
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| 3.7 | NH felt that it
was unlikely that ACW would have enough time to establish a
company before submitting its bid to HLF in October. It would be
best to look for a lead body and say that ACW should aspire to
becoming a company as part of its sustainability provision.
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| 3.8 | CCS legal staff were
thanked for their assistance and advice and NH and HVW left the
meeting.
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| 3.9 | After some
discussion, it was decided to consider forming a company as
a possible option among others, and, in the
meantime, to find a lead body to take the bid forward.
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| 3.10 | It was agreed that
the National Library of Wales would be the
main location for the ANW team and the project's lead body.
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| 3.11 | A group of three
(SE, EB, and DR) was formed to deal with the memoranda of
understanding.
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| 3.12 | SB would find out
the costs of the advice given by CCS.
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| 10 | Archives Network
Wales
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| Two papers were tabled.
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| 10.1 | GJ introduced the
first of them which related to the situation of the project and
the options for its development.
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| 10.1.1 | It was agreed to prepare
a bid which would total no more than £500,000.
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| 10.1.2 | It was agreed to accept
NLW's offer to undertake the research required to revise the
original bid in respect of the number of fonds, time taken to
prepare descriptions etc.
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| 10.1.3 | It was agreed to accept
the offer from the PRO in relation to finding the most appropriate
technical infrastructure.
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| 10.1.4 | It was agreed to accept
NLW's offer to draft the business plan.
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| 10.1.5 | It was agreed that each
partner organisation should make some contribution to the
partnership funding and specify the sum in its memorandum of
understanding.
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| 10.1.6 | It was agreed to accept
NLW's offer to sustain the ANW server; and it was decided to
approach the National Assembly to guarantee the associated costs.
The commitment to sustain ANW should be built into the memoranda of
understanding.
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| 10.1.7 | It was agreed that each
partner should make a commitment to continue to submit data to ANW.
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| 10.1.8 | It was agreed to send a
revised paper to Jane Henderson specifying these new proposals,
especially in relation to what can be achieved for £500,000.
This would require the circulation of a new questionnaire to
ascertain the number of fonds involved and it should be ensured
that the total covers all the major collections of archives.
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| 10.2 | The other paper,
which related to the technical solution, was introduced by MO.
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| 10.2.1 | It was noted that HLF
would expect us to have learned from the experience of earlier
schemes. We would need to demonstrate the advantages of using
regional staff and secondments in conjunction with a central team,
e.g. to exploit local knowledge, and to avoid too much time and
expense on travel.
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| 10.2.2 | It was noted that the
AIM25 technical solution was well established. The development of
the finding aids after the initial three years and
the requirements of ANW's users should be kept in mind.
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| 10.2.3 | It was agreed to try and
include current statistics about the volume of
response to existing websites which provide finding aids.
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| 10.2.4 | UWSwansea would want
their data to be contributed to ANW with the minimum of
intervention. It was agreed that it would be simply a matter of
transferring metadata.
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| 10.2.5 | It was agreed that the
element of the scheme relating to the supply of hardware and
software could be dropped. It was noted that virtually every
partner now had the necessary hardware and networking capability;
and that the variety of cataloguing systems should not create a
problem.
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