Appendix M – International engagement
International Council on Archives and International Conference of the Round Table on Archives
The International Council on Archives (ICA) promotes the preservation, development and use of the world’s archival heritage. Its membership includes national, regional and local archives, and professional associations of archivists from 190 countries. The Archives is an active member of the ICA.
In August 2006, Senator George Brandis SC, the then Minister for the Arts and Sport, announced that Australia will host the 17th Congress of the 2012 ICA in Brisbane. Themes planned for the Congress include archives in the digital age and archival education.
Under the auspices of the ICA, the Archives led a collaborative project involving the national archives of 11 countries to develop globally harmonised functional requirements and guidelines for recordkeeping in office software applications. The project team finalised a suite of three separate but inter-related publications, which will be published by the ICA in July 2008 under the title Principles and Functional Requirements for Records in Electronic Office Environments.
The International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA) is the annual meeting of heads of national archival institutions, chairs of national professional associations, and chairs of ICA sections and committees.
In November 2007 the Director-General, Ross Gibbs, attended CITRA in Quebec, Canada, representing Australia, Asia and Oceania. At this conference, the Director-General and the Chief Executive of the National Archives of the United Kingdom,
Natalie Ceeney, delivered presentations on new approaches to records and information management.
On his return from Canada, the Director-General stopped in Washington, DC, where he met with Professor Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States. He also met with Dr Ken Thibodeau, Director of the Electronic Archives project at the National Archives and Records Administration and discussed collaboration on the Archives’ Xena project.
Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives
The Pacific Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (PARBICA) is one of 13 branches of the ICA. It covers the Pacific Islands, Hawaii and Australasia. The organisation comprises government and non-government archival institutions and associations. The Archives plays an active leadership role in PARBICA by managing its finances and website.
With the support of AusAID, the Archives continued to manage a project to improve recordkeeping in the Solomon Islands Government and to assist the National Archives of the Solomon Islands. AusAID and the Archives also managed a PARBICA project to develop the Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit for
the Pacific.
In July 2007, the Director-General participated in the Pacific Regional Public Service Commissioners Conference in Samoa and introduced the Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit.
In October 2007, the Australian Public Service Commission organised a visit to the Archives from a Pacific Work Group Attachment to discuss good governance, public sector management, reform and best-practice recordkeeping.
PARBICA 12 conference
The biennial PARBICA conference – PARBICA 12: Archives without Boundaries: Cooperation and Shared Solutions – was held in Noumea, New Caledonia, in October 2007. Generous financial support from AusAID enabled the attendance of representatives from 21 Pacific countries, including the Public Service Commissioners, or their representatives, from four countries.
The conference incorporated a successful two-day workshop, which attracted 49 participants. It also included the launch of the Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit.
Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit
In partnership with PARBICA, the Archives commenced in-country workshops to train public servants and archivists in how to use the Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit. Archives staff member Danielle Wickman conducted the first workshop in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in November 2007 with further workshops held in Koror, Palau, in February 2008 and Apia, Samoa, in April.
AusAID has agreed to fund the Archives and PARBICA to develop the second stage of the Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit. This will consist of an easily understood file-titling system, or record plan, for common administrative files. The record plan will be adaptable for use by governments around the Pacific. The AusAID funding will enable workshops to be held for the development and promotion of this second stage of the toolkit in Australia and the Pacific Islands.
Memorandum of understanding with Indonesia
In February 2007, the Archives signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia to facilitate professional cooperation and capacity-building programs between the two national archival institutions. Areas of cooperation covered by the MOU include exchanging information, publications, archivists and conservators; organising exhibitions and workshops; facilitating training courses on records and archives management; and promoting technical cooperation. Archives staff participated in a number of events throughout the year under the MOU.
In September 2007, Danielle Wickman spoke at the International Seminar on Archives as the Collective Memory of the Nations in Denpasar, Indonesia. The seminar focused on mapping archival holdings around the world that relate to Indonesia.
In November 2007, a delegation from Indonesia visited the Archives’ offices in Canberra and Sydney to discuss reference services, media communications and recordkeeping.
In March 2008, staff representing the National Library of Indonesia visited preservation facilities at the Archives’ repository in Mitchell, Canberra.
Electronic recordkeeping
In July 2007, Andrew Wilson participated in the review panel for the European Union’s Planets project in Luxembourg. Planets is a four-year project funded by the European Commission Information Science and Technologies Framework Programme to address the challenge of preserving access to digital cultural and scientific knowledge.
In October 2007, Adrian Cunningham attended meetings of the Expert Advisory Panel for a three-year University of Northumbria (United Kingdom) research project, Accelerating Positive Change in Electronic Records: Understanding Issues and Developing Practical Approaches. The particular focus of the research project is bridging the gap between theory and practice in the implementation of sustainable approaches to electronic recordkeeping. Adrian also participated in a Witness Seminar – Examining the Issues and Challenges of Email and E-communications – in Newcastle.
In February 2008, Michael Carden was invited by The Netherlands in Open Connection to address a cross-government agency event at The Hague. Michael spoke about the Archives’ use of open formats and open document formats. Meetings were held with staff from the Nationaal Archief to discuss their digital depot project and the Archives’ digital preservation project. Michael also met with programmers from the Dioscuri digital preservation project, staff from the National Library and representatives from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
In March 2008, Adam Jansen, formerly from the Washington State Archives in the United States, met with staff from the Archives’ Government Information Management Branch to discuss digital recordkeeping and digital preservation needs and approaches.
In April 2008, Andrew Wilson attended a workshop at the British Library on significant properties of digital objects, at which he delivered the keynote address. Adrian Cunningham presented two papers at a seminar organised by the Bundesarchiv – Digital Archiving: National and International Projects – on the ADRI functional requirements project, and digital preservation projects and activities in Australia.
In June 2008, the Chief Executive of the National Archives of the United Kingdom, Natalie Ceeney, the CEO of Archives New Zealand, Dianne Macaskill, and the Senior Adviser, State Services Commission of New Zealand, Keitha Booth, participated in the Archives’ agency forum, Fast Forward: Integrating Digital Business Solutions. They met with staff to discuss government recordkeeping priorities and the review of the Archives’ legislation. They were also provided an overview of the work of the Archives in the Pacific region.
Records Management Association of Australasia
Archives staff attended the Records Management Association of Australasia convention in Wellington, New Zealand. Adrian Cunningham spoke about the harmonisation of recordkeeping standards between Australia and New Zealand. Marian Hoy also spoke about competency frameworks for recordkeeping.
Government communications
In March 2008, Director of Information Policy and Services at the National Archives in Britain, Carol Tullo, met with Archives staff to discuss the direction the Archives is taking with agency communication.