2025 - November and December - page 42
Image details
| Issue number | 404 |
|---|---|
| ISSN | 2632-7171 |
| Publication date | 1st November 2025 |
| Transcription |
Following her recent win of ARA’s Record Keeper of the Year, Natasha Swainston catches up with Chloe Anderson- Wheatley about her career in archives and records management and her current role as Corporate Records & National Archives Manager at the Jane Cameron National Archives (JCNA) in the Falkland Islands. Can you tell me about your career so far and why you chose to work in the sector? One of the things that drew me to this sector was being able to actively support and contribute to the preservation, access and use of historical records and seeing how they record the development and identity of a community or nation. Pursuing my love for history and being fortunate to volunteer with the JCNA whilst studying for my A-Levels allowed me to identify it as a career option very early on and then work towards that goal, through my University education and practical work experience in the Falklands and the UK. You were appointed as the first Falkland Islands Government Records Manager in 2019 before being promoted to Corporate Records & National Archives Manager in 2023, this was a new role and service. Tell us about these roles and setting up the service. On completing my MA in 2017, I returned to the Islands to take up an administrative role within the Falkland Islands Government (FIG). At the time, FIG had no formal policies or procedures relating to records management across the organisation and though my passion was for archives, having little experience in RM, I wanted to use my knowledge and experience to improve government procedures. I proactively adopted the role of informal Records Manager and started building the framework and foundations up. I started by advocating for why it was important, gaining direct access and support from the leadership team to write and push through relevant policies, training and guidance. This was on top of the other tasks I was actually employed to undertake but which eventually led to my work being recognised and role updated to formally become the first Records Manager, with dedicated responsibilities and a budget allocation for this work. From that point, I was able to dedicate more time, resources and outputs – expanding focus to data protection (for which we have no in force legislation), creating record retention schedules 42 One of the things that drew me to this sector was being able to actively support and contribute to the preservation, access and use of historical records and seeing how they record the development and identity of a community or nation and improving offsite storage. This advancement signified the organisation’s commitment for better information management and allowing this change in culture. The JCNA was already an existing service within FIG (and had been since the 1990s). The sudden departure of the National Archivist in 2023 led to me covering this role, as the only qualified professional on the Islands. A formal government restructure a few months later developed my new position, combining my responsibilities for records management with managing the National Archives service. With this, the team expanded from one to two people. Our revamped department also manages development and management of the FIG Intranet, so with these three areas, the team have been able to promote the natural lifecycle from creation of a record right through to the permanent preservation. |