How to get coverage?

@rchives

Hi all,

Any help you can give will be appreciated, and apologies if this is the wrong place to post.

I'm trying to get some newspaper coverage for the relaunch of the Archives Ireland website at www.archives.ie which has received some Heritage Council funding.

The site is a free resource for Freedom of Information, Records Management, Scanning, Archives and related issues and we would like to get news about it out to as wide an audience as possible.

If anyone can give me any names to talk to, or even better if there are any journos out there who would be willing to give us some coverage I can email you a press release and photograph.

Thanks in advance for any help, I realise that as news goes this is of marginal interest, but you never know who may be looking for info about this kind of thing!

EDIT/ If any of you guys are dab hands at getting stories featured / press releases read I will gladly pay you for your time if you can get something in print.

smiaras

This post has been deleted.

damien

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=214664

http://www.welfare.ie/press/iml.html

What's the main aim of the site ? What's the selling point ? How's it going to make the world better ? You need to have a hook for a journo to take it up. Something like how the website can help those to safely navigate the record investigation minefield or something.

Have a look at some of the threads here for a look at how we did Press Releases.

Damien.

@rchives

Here's the press release I had: Flogen, can you email me at the address on www.archives.ie? For some reason my PMs aren't working.

Archives Ireland Relaunched

The best online resource for Irish Businesses wanting to find out about Archives & Records Management is Archives Ireland, which has recently been redesigned and upgraded. The site provides free advice to people wanting to find out more about Freedom of Information, Data Protection, Records Management and Electronic Records, as well as links to providers of scanning, digitisation and offsite storage.

The site is owned and run by Martin Bradley who is a consultant archivist and records manager. Bradley has noticed a marked increase in demand for his services in the last couple of years "I've been working in this industry since 1997 and was the first archivist to go out on my own as a consultant. Whereas the majority of projects I used to take on where for bodies like the National Museum or National Library carrying out more traditional archival work, increasingly I have been called in by semi-state and private companies to provide complete listings of existing files before a merger, to advise on the legal retention periods for records, to set up new indexing systems for electronic records and emails and to assist in scanning and digitising programmes. The new ISO 15489 Records Management standard is also driving demand for services in this area"

However this doesn't mean that he will be forgetting his roots "what attracted me to this profession was the possibility of working with material of great historical significance, I have recently been working on papers relating to Henry Grattan and Daniel O'Connel which has been a real priviledge, but I am delighted to be able to use my skills in a business environment, and that Irish businesses are beginning to understand the importance of proper record-keeping".

In the UK and US Records Management has long been recognised as an essential element of business practice, and organisations such as ARMA and The Records Management Society have been set up to deal with this demand. In these countries information is recognised as every organisation's most basic and essential asset, and in common with any other business asset, recorded information requires effective management. Records management ensures information can be accessed easily, can be destroyed routinely when no longer needed, and enables organisations not only to function on a day to day basis, but also to fulfil legal and financial requirements. The preservation of the records of government for example, ensures it can be held accountable for its actions, that society can trace the evolution of policy in historical terms, and allows access to an important resource for future decision making.

Organisations are also producing increasingly larger and larger amounts of information and consequently greater volumes of records, both in paper form and electronically. It is essential that information is captured, managed and preserved in an organised system that maintains its integrity and authenticity. Records management facilitates control over the volume of records produced through the use of Retention Schedules which detail the time period for which different types of record should be retained by an organisation.

Archives Ireland - www.archives.ie

chewy

you need examples of who you've worked for and what interesting things you've done?

@rchives

1 piece of coverage: http://www.irishemigrant.com/files/indexfile.asp?id=118#39831

growler

Archives, it depends on who's attention you're trying to attract and you need to adapt your press release depending on who your target audience is.

In the one above, you mention museums, semi states and private entities all of whom would have different reasons for requiring your services (which I presume is your ultimate goal?)

If you wanted general coverage in the mainstream media (which may not help your business directly but would look good) then you should look for a story of general interest, if you could cite a story about Grattan / O Connell that you uncovered then that may work. Otherwise, outside of whatever specialist publications deal with your area of expertise, it's not the sexiest subject in the world for the press to go after so you need to have a human story to get the interest. Another ploy (though risky) might be to do a press release about how how the nation's cultural heritage is at risk due to poor record keeping of our national archives , admittedly this is risky as you're likely to p1ss off the very people that you want to do business with, but it might get your name in print.

For your business audience I would suggest you work with a past client (the best known you have) to get a story in the business press about how effective archiving has enabled them to achieve X savings / efficiencies / knowledge management improvements etc. I.E you could to show a business case and show a successful example of how someone benefited as a result.

my 2 cents

@rchives

For your business audience I would suggest you work with a past client

Thanks for the advice, this is the tack I'm taking at the moment. I think the scattergun approach I was trying for was a non-starter.