Director-General’s Review of 1999 ~ 2000

The past year has provided very pleasing results for the National Archives as a number of important initiatives have come to fruition. The organisation’s performance and output reflect its dual role as the Government’s adviser on recordkeeping policy and the custodian of public records held in trust for, and made accessible to, all Australians.

In March 2000 the Archives launched a suite of new recordkeeping products to help government agencies manage their records in accordance with modern requirements and technologies. This launch was the culmination of work which the Archives began in the mid 1990s to find new strategies and approaches to modern recordkeeping that would better meet the needs of agencies, the Government, the community and the Archives.

The new recordkeeping products are being delivered via the Archives website and they incorporate internationally recognised best practice, much of which has been developed in Australia. The products comply with the Australian Standard AS 4390–1996, Records Management, which is the basis for the International Standard now being developed.

The Archives is also devoting resources to help agencies implement these products. It remains to be seen whether the new regime will be adopted and supported by senior management in agencies and whether the piecemeal approach to recordkeeping can be eliminated. The survival of important government records documenting significant government decision-making and individual rights and entitlements depends on how well agencies manage contemporary records.

The Archives is closely associated with the Government’s Online Strategy which was announced in April 2000. The Archives has the leading role in maintaining the Australian Government Locator Service (AGLS) standard, and providing training and advice on its use. AGLS provides a standard method for describing government resources (information, services, agencies) on the Internet so that they can be found more easily. It is the result of a cooperative venture between the Archives, the Office for Government Online and the cross-government Online Council.

The passage of the Census Information Legislation Amendment Bill through Parliament in April 2000 will also have a significant impact on recordkeeping practice in this country. As a celebration of the Centenary of Federation, the 2001 Census will give people the choice of having their individual census details retained and made publicly available after 99 years. Retention and public release of such census data is common in many countries but has not previously occurred for federal census data in Australia. From an archival perspective, the retention of this census data may result in a re-assessment of the need to retain for the long term much other Commonwealth government data on individuals as the census records neatly encapsulate much of the vital information researchers seek. Thus retention of census data could result in less retention of records overall.

The 2000 Budget includes funding for the Archives to begin work on a project to preserve and make accessible the papers of Prime Ministers of Australia. The Archives has been collecting such papers in a deliberate and organised way since 1972 but has lacked resources to do much needed work on these papers. As part of this project the Archives plans to develop a new website which will provide information about Prime Ministers and their papers irrespective of which institution holds the original records.

Success can be measured in many ways, but as was mentioned last year the Archives continues to record significant growth in reader numbers and particularly in inquiries. The availability of RecordSearch, the Archives main database of holdings, on the Internet has been a prime reason for the rising numbers. The challenge of meeting and servicing new levels of inquiries according to the standards set by the Archives Service Charter has caused us to re-examine the way services are delivered. Issues of access and equity are also to the fore in this regard. While web-based access suits and is available to many Australians, it is also necessary to ensure that those without such access but who need to see records, often for the purpose of establishing personal entitlements, are able to do so. Hence the Archives is committed in the foreseeable future to maintaining public access points in each capital city and to providing answers to inquiries or copies of records by mail or fax.

Management of the collection continues to be a major priority for the Archives. This has been recognised in the end-of-year restructure which resulted in the formation of a branch with these specific responsibilities. The comprehensive review of holdings referred to in last year’s report is proceeding apace and has been supported by our new appraisal policies developed in conjunction with the new recordkeeping products. The Archives expects to significantly reduce its holdings of low value records and at the same time identify and make accessible the important records it holds.

In parallel with improving the management of the collection the Archives has reviewed its property portfolio and developed a plan to provide suitable housing for the collection in future years. The new property strategy will see the Archives move from expensively leased government buildings to better located private buildings with more economical leases. Projections of current rentals provide compelling evidence that the Archives could not survive financially if it continued to pay the rentals being demanded.

In February 2000 the senior staff of the Archives met for two and a half days to review the organisation’s corporate plan and devise new goals, strategies and priorities for the next ten years. While it was pleasing that the meeting confirmed that existing priorities continued to be relevant, it also provided the opportunity to adjust strategies and timing to reflect the contemporary situation. The revised priorities and strategies have subsequently been communicated to all staff and are reflected in the new structure for the organisation which took effect from the end of this reporting period.

During the year the Archives began the introduction of the Investors in People (IiP) program as a way of ensuring that the integral role of staff in achieving our strategic goals is fully integrated into the processes of the Archives. The initial diagnostic and planning work has been completed and we are ready to begin our first steps towards meeting the IiP standard during the coming year.