ABSTRACT
The term access refers to the conditions under which documents and information from an archive are made available to users. Most companies that maintain formal archives in the United Kingdom accept and embrace the need to allow at least some public access to their collections for the purpose of historical research, as well as promoting and overseeing internal use. In recent years this has been encouraged by government promotion of increased access to records, as evidenced in the freedom of information legislation – which has tended to the presumption that records are open rather than closed – and social inclusion agenda supporting cultural access. Many countries in North America, Australasia and Europe also have freedom of information laws giving rights of access to certain public records, but few of them recognise the same imperative to allow public access to corporate archive collections as prevails in the United Kingdom. This is accounted for in part by the maturity of the United Kingdom’s corporate archive network, along with the background and interests of its pioneering archivists.
