The Strathnaver Museum and Mackay Country Trust have extensive collections which complement each other. The organisations have collaborated on a number of different research projects but are now looking to integrate their collections while remaining autonomous. This ambitious project will see the groups working closely together to develop their collections, improve access, provide vital training opportunities and ultimately contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of their area. Both partners are reliant on committed volunteers sharing and developing skills and competencies which our project will nurture and develop through personal development, training and mentoring.

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We intend to use LEADER funding to fashion a team of people to create a bespoke database archive from the amassed, extensive and varied collections of images, documents, videos and audio files. The files explore what life was like for people throughout the area. The groups are now looking to widen access to their vast research material by integrating their collections while remaining autonomous. The vast amount of material is currently difficult to access coherently. This ambitious project will see the groups working closely together to develop their collections, improve access, provide vital training opportunities and ultimately contribute to the economic and social wellbeing of their area. A custom-built approach is required to structure a database and input the information in a retrievable form. This will require a searchable element to achieve results of collections of relevant material to the topic. The proposal is to recruit a team to evaluate the academic integrity, technical capability to structure a database, programing expertise to provide a cross reference with secure access, computer literate personnel to input data with experience of working with the appropriate software for bulk naming, resizing, and scanning and assentation recording, and a web developer to produce an interface and safe storage for online access. The, engagement through digital and other methods will provide further  training to the groups in storing, managing and caring for the collections.