Outreach and Access Committee (OAC)

General

It is the policy of HMS to co-operate with other organisations where there are matters of mutual interest. It is also policy to seek to achieve its objectives in as accessible way as possible.  As in any Society, HMS seeks to provide members with good value for their subscriptions.

Outreach

Besides the connections with other organisations that allow HMS to make their collections open for research (See under ACC) collaborations include:

·        Railway and Canal Historical Society

·        American Society for Metals (ASM)

·        Suggestions for collaborative projects are always welcome.

Access

HMS has recently appointed an Access Officer   While full access to historical or archaeological metallurgical sites is not always practicable, much can be done to improve access to HMS activities when this is taken into consideration during early stages of planning.  It is expected that an accessibility policy will be available in the near future.

HMS has transformed its publication policy so that its journal (Historical Metallurgy) [Links to the Journal page] and newsletter (The Crucible) are now both platinum open access (i.e no charge to either author or reader for on-line publication).  It is anticipated this will make publication easier not only for independent researchers, but for all researchers dependent on grants or sponsorship to carry out their work.

Value

As with any society, much of the value of membership comes from communicating with other members.  Financial considerations mean that most of the business of the Society is now done on-line.  Attention is being given to arranging opportunities for members to meet in person in semi-informal surroundings.  As an example, following the Metals 2025 Conference at Cardiff there was a joint Metal 2025/HMS trip to two important sites in South Wales’s industrial heritage.

Administration of Outreach, Access, and Value initiatives

The Outreach and Access Committee (OAC) started as an unofficial group but was rapidly adopted by Council to investigate new ways of providing a service to members.  This has become a committee which investigates and initiates contact with other organisations and seeks to ensure a range of HMS activities are available and relevant to anyone with an interest in historical or archaeological metallurgy.