New Zealand ArchivistVol II No 4 Summer/December 1991 ISSN 0114-7676

A Question of Accountability The Government v the Archives

Once the toothpaste is out o f the tube, it's hard to get it back.HR Haldeman to John Dean, April 1973

On 5 October 1990, Chris Hurley was removed from the statutory position of Keeper of Public Records in the State of Victoria, Australia. In its editorial on 12 Octo­ber, the Melbourne Age linked his removal to his efforts to investigate illegal destruction of public records, and the use of his statutory power to investigate and report to Parliament on this and other potentially embarrass­ing issues concerning the management of public record s.

This article, authorised by Ken Thompson of the Public Records Support Group, is drawn from recent issues of the Group's newsletters.1 It traces the origins of the extraordinary events of August to October 1990 which were the climax of a virtual battle waged be­tween the State Government and the Keeper of the State Archives.

The Archives agency was the Public Record Office of Victoria (PROV), established in 1973 under the Public Records Act passed into law that year. Chris Hurley, an experienced archivist and archival manager, was ap­poin ted Keeper (head of the PROV) in 1981, the second occupant of the post.

As the Melbourne Age pointed out following the removal of the Keeper, his troubles with the Govern­ment did not begin with a difference of view over how to deal with alleged breaches of the disposal provisions of the Public Records A ct? Trouble went back to the first months of the newly elected Cain Labor Government in 1982. The new Government decided to suspend the annual capital works investment on new shelving at the Laverton repository for the first time since it was opened.3 The inevitable consequence was that trans­fers of public records would have to cease within two years, and that records not transferred would perforce remain in relatively expensive Departmental accom­modation, creating impossible backlogs to be dealt with at some future time, and putting potentially archival records at risk. It would also effectively prevent the PROV from furthering its responsibility to provide for the orderly disposal of public records.

The Annual Report of the Keeper for 1982 pointed all this out. As in previous Reports since 1973, the Govern­ment was also advised of the need to attend to the huge task of managing non-current records better, if the permanently valuable archives were to be identified and segregated for preservation and use. The Reports explained how the logic of the program established by the 1973 Act, and the conclusions of successive inquiries into public sector records management, demanded sus­

tained support, and that it was to the Government's advantage to give the program priority, as the cost savings far outweighed the expenditure required.

These were not new ideas. They were in fact the basis on which the PROV was established as an agency separate from the State Library in 1973. The plan of development for the PROV was set in a 1970 Report of a Public Records Advisory Committee, which identi­fied the central problem facing the Archives as the huge backlog of public records needing to be assembled, and the prevention of further backlogs by disposal schedul­ing. The new direction recommended by the Commit­tee would not necessitate an increase in overall govern­ment expenditure, as there would be large savings in storage space overall, and the cost would be less than that required in the fu ture if action was further delayed.

These conclusions were reflected in the decision to establish the PROV in 1973, to subsequently purchase the Laverton repository, and to develop a strongrecords management program in support of the archival func­tions. The new direction was affirmed by a Records Management Task Force of 1979. The Public Records Act requires the Keeper of Public Records to establish stand­ards for the efficient management of public records, in particular with respect to: the creation, maintenance and security of the public record; the selection of records worthy of permanent preservation and their transfer to the PROV; and the disposal of records not worthy of preservation.4 The Act also requires an officer in charge of a public office to ensure that full and accurate records of the business of the office are made and kept, and makes such officers responsible for implementing a program of records management in accordance with standards established by the Keeper.5

There was nothing in the 1982 Annual Report to particularly upset the new Government. It had all been said before and (as things turned out) was to be re­peated annually during the 1980s. It was not however what the new Government wanted to hear. It is now notorious that the Cain Government was sensitive to what it perceived as criticism and to the need to 'con­trol' its own publicity. It saw the Keeper's Report as an attack, perhaps motivated by the suspicion it seemed to feel in its early days, of public servants appointed by the former Government. Whatever the reasons, the Gov­ernment went to extraordinary lengths over the follow­ing eight years to silence the Keeper and prevent what it continued to regard as criticism through his Annual

Reports to Parliament.Attempts were made to persuade the Keeper to

withdraw his Report and redraft it in less 'offensive' terms. He refused to change it without good cause. After the 1982 Report had been tabled, copies being readied for public distribution were seized by the De­partment of Property and Services (DPS) and locked away, until better counsel prevailed and they were eventually distributed as normal.6 In the years that followed the PROV was subjected to no fewer than three management reviews. Capital investment in shelv­ing was never restored to pre-1982 levels except for a one-off expenditure in the late 1980s. For most of the decade the PROV was unable to take in records at pre- 1982 levels. Attempts were made to 're-direct' the Office away from its established path, and the membership of the Public Records Advisory Council (PRAC) was turned out twice.7 The Keeper was badgered through the en­tire decade to give 'priority' to public services and to leave records management to government agencies. When the Keeper insisted on pursuing both his custo­dial and records management roles, he was accused of 'neglecting' the former.

The connection between this prioritisation, and the Government's sensitivity to what it perceived as criti­cism of itself in the Annual Reports, was obvious. The PROV was managing its holdings quite well, but throughout his entire time in office the Keeper contin­ued to draw to the unwilling attention of the Govern­ment, the disastrous and money-wasting condition of public records management outside the PROV, result­ing from the Government's failure to sustain the Office along the lines upon which it was established in 1973. As a result, the Government 'looked bad'.

The situation quickly reached an impasse. If the Government ever considered the obvious, actually try­ing to support the PROV to make the gains which would haveensured it did its job without 'an increase in overall government expenditure', there is no evidence of it. Instead it concluded by 1990 that the PROV should be re-directed down another path (emphasising sup­posedly-neglected cultural functions and an 'educa­tional' role in records management) so the consequences of this neglect should not be drawn to its attention by its troublesome Keeper. During Labor's first term, nothing overt was done. The Keeper was given one more gen­eral warning that the Government was 'sick and tired' of being criticised by its public servants in reports to Parliament, but no further attempt was made to doctor the Reports.

However in the new electoral term there were moves to prevent the PROV from producing an Annual Report at all. In 1986 the Government failed in an attempt to pass amending legislation to remove the reporting pro­vision from the Public Records Act. Having been thus thwarted in the legislature it moved to achieve its aims administratively. In 1988 a determination was made under the Annual Reporting Act incorporating opera­tional and financial affairs of the Office within the Report of the DPS. This effectively relieved the Keeper of any obligation to produce another Report. He could still do so if he wished, however, and one was submit­ted as usual in 1988. In response the Government merely failed to present it to Parliament. In 1989 another Report was produced, and was presented as a double issue with the 1988 Report - apparently the result of a change

of Ministers. The 1990 Report, the former Keeper's last, was submitted just days before he was removed in October that year.

In parallel with these events, another focus of con­tention had emerged: the question of the illegal disposal of public records.

In August 1988, during the last State election cam­paign, the Keeper was prevented by a Departmental instruction (issued by the DPS) from following up a highly publicised case of alleged illegal destruction by the Chairman of the Public Service Board - the Nordlinger Affair. While a hot election campaign was waged in public, another equally torrid battle was being fought in the corridors of power, with DPS offi­cials demanding to vet all correspondence on the Nordlinger Affair between the PROV and the Board. Officials tried unsuccessfully to convince the Keeper that unlawful destruction of public records was none of his business. When that failed they tried to persuade him to postpone action until after the election.

Eventually a compromise was reached, and action was postponed until a few days before the election (in which the Government was returned). In effect the Keeper was asked for political reasons to divert from a course of action that otherwise would have been taken. Once the election was over the atmosphere worsened. The Keeper was told not to pursue the Nordlinger case further, and in November 1988 he was instructed not to pursue similar cases in future, and instead to submit them to the Director-General of the Department of Property and Services for consideration. Between 1988 and 1990, a procedure was developed whereby cases of alleged illegal destruction were politely pursued on behalf of the Keeper by officers of the DPS.

The Public Records Advisory Council meeting on 28 June 1990 considered a report from the Keeper about these procedures, which he considered were not work­ing. It was the EPA case which occasioned considera­tion of the issue, but consideration of what to do now involved looking at how the Public Records Act had been enforced over the last few years.8 The Keeper's report to the PRAC outlined a history of cases involving alleged illegal disposal by government agencies con­trary to the Public Records Act and to the standards issued under section (12) of the Act. These included both the Nordlinger and EPA cases, as well as an unsuccessful attempt by the PROV in 1988 to follow up the 'Nash Report', which alleged a deliberate policy in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet of bad filing practices which undermined access rights under the Freedom o f Information Act.

In his report, the Keeper raised two issues for con­sideration at this meeting of the PRAC: how should the Public Records Act be enforced and breaches dealt with?; and the effects negative publicity was having on per­ceptions by agencies of their obligations under the Act. He acknowledged that the prosecution provisions in the Act might be difficult to enforce and that the Act might be vitiated if unsuccessful action proved it was a toothless tiger. He argued however that the current policy of polite non-interference was having an equally deleterious effect.

The DPS argued that before definite action could be taken, a program of 'education' should be initiated to make agencies aware of their obligations. While accept­ing that education would be a good thing, the PRAC

rejected the view that action should be postponed, pointing out that a want of education had been irrel­evant in all but a few of the cases cited by the Keeper.

The PRAC accepted the Keeper's recommendations that the issue be taken up. The Minister was advised that a program of education on the provisions and requirements of the Public Records Act should be con­ducted in all major agencies. The Keeper was asked to establish clear guidelines containing a graduated range of responses to deal with illegal destruction, and re­quested to refer all future suspected breaches of the Act to the PRAC for advice on a case by case basis. The Minister was asked to review the non-proclamation of section (13 A) of the Act.9 The Minister was also advised to seek a legal opinion on the proper steps to be taken to institute legal proceedings for unlawful destruction of public records, and to seek a further opinion about the legality of the position taken by the EPA in its recent FOI case.

Events now moved to a climax. In August 1990, yet another Public Service Board review of the Public Record Office, ostensibly dealing with organisation and struc­ture, attacked the Keeper's management of the PROV and the work of the PRAC. In September, four retiring members of the PRAC failed to be reappointed, and the retirement of two others left only three members (of nine) with any background in the events discussed at the June meeting.

In October 1990 Chris Hurley was removed as Keeper and replaced by an officer of the Department of Prop­erty and Services as part of a new 'archival heritage' initiative.10 Other new senior staff were also imported, some at a more senior level than the previous Keeper, who was transferred within the PROV to the new job of 'Chief Archivist', stripped of all statutory powers and responsibilities.

The main objective of the Archival Heritage pro­gram, into which the PROV was incorporated, was said by the Government to be the improvement of access by the public to the 'jewels' of the public records, particu­larly by means of exhibitions. Since October 1990 there have been two exhibitions, both basically reruns of earlier exhibitions organised by the PROV under the leadership of Chris Hurley. The silliness, or intellectual dishonesty, of equating 'access' with 'exhibitions' seems to have gone completely over the heads of those respon­sible.

An attempt to amend the Public Records Act to con­firm the change of direction was defeated in Parlia­ment, in the Upper House. The Archival Heritage pro­gram remains for the time being a creature of adminis­trative rather than statutory enactment.

There the matter rests for the moment. Apart from the spectacle of archives and archivists making front­page news and playing a visible part in Government strategy, the affair raises basic questions of the role of a Public Archives and its relationship with a Govern­ment.

The integrity completeness and usability of the pub­lic record may be undermined by unethical record­keeping practices, unauthorised destruction, neglect and consequent loss, or the failure to provide proper access arrangements. The provisions of the Victorian Public Records Act were clearly intended to ensure the creation preservation and accessibility of reliable pub­

lic records. Public accountability, the protection of citi­zens' rights and entitlements, and recent developments in the statutory and judicial review of administrative action depend upon them.Given the clear benefits of good records management, it may be argued that exter­nal regulation is unnecessary, that agencies will ensure accurate reliable and complete records are kept because it is in their interests to do so. But some agencies appear not to appreciate the benefitsof efficient ethical records- keeping, and others are sometimes faced with conflict­ing demands. Where public scrutiny would provide evidence of mismanagement, incompetence, dubious decision-making processes or corruption, for example, there are pressures on record keepers not to retain and make records available.* * While agencies may be good judges of which records should be retained to satisfy their own administrative needs, they may not be aware of the significance of those records for other purposes such as the protection of rights, requirements of audit, or the needs of researchers from a wide variety of disciplines.

Such concerns are not hypothetical. The experience of the PROV in exercising its responsibilities suggests that the decisions cannot safely be left to agencies alone.

No-one of course supposes that the Archives au­thority in its regulatory role can single-handedly eradi­cate illegal destruction of public records and conceal­ment of such wrongdoing. Those with the power, the will, and the opportunity will continue to get rid of embarrassing documents if they think they can get away with it, and avoid fully and accurately document­ing their activities when it does not suit them to do so.

As recent events elsewhere in Australia have shown, however, it is not so easy to doctor the record as many who try to do it imagine.* 2 They may succeed in getting rid of the most damaging documents (they may even get rid of their archivist) but much of the story can still be pieced together from what remains. Their ignorance of the myriad cracks down which information oozes in a large and complex organisation, and the futility of trying to eradicate all traces, can often defeat their attempts to cover their tracks totally - as some have found out. The truth keeps leaking out around the sides.

The importance of a strong regulatory Archives authority - active and independent in these matters - is not that it can always prevent the suppression of par­ticular parts of the record. Someone determined that the papers should 'go missing' is not going to be thwarted by the archivist. The role of the Archives authority is rather, to help create a climate of accountability in which it will be: more difficult for retiring politicians or others to order 'file-stripping' without question; in which standards of record making and keeping are maintained which can help frustrate, if never wholly eliminate, the eradication of evidence; and where poli­ticians and public servants detected in falsification of the public record must explain themselves instead of imperiously requiring the archivist to justify concern with the business.

The test of whether we have succeeded in spiriting "an understanding of the archives as arsenals of demo­cratic accountability. . . into society"*3 will be when we observe our governments upholding and defending this role - not seeking to dismiss or suppress it.

1 The PRSG was established in October 1990 following changes at the PROV, which members believe threat­ened the role and purpose of the State archival author­ity. The Group's main aim has been to publish a news­letter as a forum for discussion of issues raised by these changes. The contact address is PO Box 789 Mt Waverly VIC 3149 Australia.2 'Bureaucracy Shreds a Whistle-Blower7 (editorial); and 'When the Keeper of the Records Decided to do His Duty7. Age (12 October 1990).3 The PROV is accommodated in offices in the Mel­bourne CBD area. The repository is at Laverton, a suburb about 15km west of the city. It was planned to progressively install shelving as public records came into PROV custody.4 Victoria Public Records Act 1973 (section 12).5 ibid (section 13). Section 13A gives the Keeper the right to enter a public office to inspect public records (cf New Zealand Archives Act 1957 sl2(l)). The State govern­ment has never proclaimed this section of the Act.6 The Department of Property and Services is the port­folio within which the PROV was placed, from 1978 until transferred (as part of the new 'Archival Heritage' program) to the Ministry of the Arts in 1991.2 The PRAC was established under the Public Records Act to advise the Minister responsible for the Act on its implementation.8 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had dened access to records sought through the State Free­dom o f Information Act, under the commercial-in-confi­dence exemption. When the applicant persisted and advised the EPA of his intention to appeal to the Ad­ministrative Appeals Tribunal, the EPA disposed of the records by returning them to the company which had originally submitted them. The Ombudsman subse­

quently took the view that this was a case of unauthor­ised disposal and referred the matter to the PROV.9 See note (5) above. The inability of the Keeper to inspect public records outside PROV custody, as of right, was a significant obstacle to confirming and coun­tering illegal disposal and other bad records manage­ment practices in agencies.* 0 The DPS officer installed as Keeper, Loretta Hambly, resigned in mid 1991. The column Teter Janson's Notebook',Sunday Sun-Herald (2 June 1991) suggested she had "no doubt realisted] that dark days lie ahead for the of ficialscharged with preserving government docu­ments. Who will fill the vacant hot seat? Well, archivists need not apply, for they know too much about how our heritage has been frittered away by alternating and undue interference over the last few years."I* For a fictional bu t acutely observed example, see The Skeleton In The Cupboard', Chapter (21) of The Com­plete Yes M inister, London (BBC Books) 1981. This chap- ter/episode culminates in the now almost universally- known and xeroxed memorandum beginning: "This file contains the complete set of available papers except for..." and then excepting away the entire contents of an unwelcome file.12 An example of such an attempt in the Premier's Department in Western Australia is referred to in the item 'Life in Australia' in this issue of NZA.13 Teny Eastwood, Address to the ASA Biennial Con­ference, Hobart 1989, identified three animating ideas about archives. They are the perception of archives as: arsenals of history; of administration; and of law. These come together in our kind of society - unlike in some others - and Eastwood urged archivists to "spirit an understanding of archives as arsenals of democratic accountability and continuity into society and into its very corporate and social fabric".

More Charges for Access to Archives

The trend reported in previous issues of NZA appar­ently continues. The West Coast Historical Museum in Hokitika charges $2.60 per hour for use of its various collections of records, which include genealogical fam­ily register forms, archives from local government and schools in the region, goldmining records, and the records of community groups and local businesses. Staff will also respond to written and in-person enquir­ies and do your research, for $25.00 per hour.

Locality (June/July 1991)Across the Tasman, the Archives Office of New

South Wales will introduce charges for responses to all written enquiries from January 1992. A trial during 1990-91 on requests for information from convict records, was based on a fee of $A60.00 for a two-hour search, starting from information supplied by the enquirer on a special form. The conditions of the service given in return for the fee are spelled out on the form, including an explanation of the scope of research, the limits of what is possible given the nature of the records, and a clear disclaimer of any guarantee of turning up the 'right answer'.

New Directions for the NZ Film Archive

The last four months have been a time for setting new directions for the New Zealand Film Archive. After a year with the NZFA, Kate Fortune resigned in early July. In her departing comments, she said how much she had enjoyed many aspects of her work as Director, and was enthusiastic for the period of growth and development that lay ahead. The new Director is Cheryl Linge (see the note in Transitions elsewhere in this issue).

Among the most important issues facing the Film Archive as it plans for the next ten years, are: achieving permanent accommodation; preservation in the post­nitrate phase; archiving of television; funding and mar­keting; and access.

The NZFA.has commissioned Albert Stafford of AJ Stafford & Associates to evaluate its functions and activities. This has involved a review of internal opera­tions, and of the external perceptions held by our fund­ing bodies, clients, the Maori community, and other arts and cultural organisations. The objective has been to provide an assessment of the role of the Film Archive, how it should be structured, what services it should offer, how it should be funded and how it should develop in the future.

Cheryl Linge

Summer 1991

A New Director for National ArchivesThe Director of National Archives since 1981, Ray Grover, retired

on 4 July this year, upon reaching retirement age. He led National Archives during a period in which the institution prospered, growing in resources despite generally unfavourable economic conditions and tight control on government spending. Fittingly, Ray's farewell by the staff of National Archives took place in Archives House, the new headquarters building for which he has worked so tirelessly, indeed relentlessly, for the past ten years.

Applications for the vacant positions of Director and Chief Archi­vist (held simultaneously since late 1982) closed on 7 August. The interview panel comprised Perry Cameron (Secretary for Internal Affairs), Claudia Orange (General Editor DNZB), Buddy Mikaere (Waitangi Tribunal), David Hamer (Professor of History, Victoria University), Ian Wards (retired Chief Historian), and Rosemary Col­lier (archives consultant and President of the NZSA).

The successful candidate is Kathryn Patterson, who will take up her new position on 1 December. As noted by the Secretary when making the announcement, she brings to the job a strong background in library and information management.

Kathryn Patterson graduated BA in 1968, gained the Dip NZLS the following year, and was appointed ANZLA in 1973. She began her career as Deputy City Librarian in Gisborne in 1970. In 1975 she was appointed Advisory Librarian, Extension Service, in the National Library, and became Assistant to the Director of the Extension Service two years later. In 1979 she moved to the General Assembly Library as Deputy Parliamentary Librarian, and in 1988 went to the Treasury as Director of Information Management, a contract position.

The new Director is a member of NZLA and ARMA, and an active member of ARANZ. She has been involved in the organisation of archives and information management conferences, and has lectured and written on library records and information management subjects.

The New Zealand Society of Archivists wishes Kathryn well in her new role, as she leads National Archives towards the millenium.

Ray Graver cuts the cake at a farewell celebration on 19 ]uly, hosted by the staff of National Archives and attended by Inter­nal Affairs Minister Graeme Leeand Secre­tary Perry Cameron. (Clive Sowry) photo.

Kathryn Patterson, the new Director o f National Archives, examines a painting from the National Collection of War Art. (Evening Post photo).

Acquiring Cartographic, Architectural andEngineering Records

In appraising the cartographic record, the archivist recognises that there are three main categories of records. The survey records include sketch maps, survey plans, plane table drawings, field notebooks and aerial photo­graphs. The com pilation and drafting records show the transformation of data from one format to another and often from one scale to another. These records include manuscript maps that were prepared as guides for the engraver; manuscript maps prepared from field data, such as presentation maps and battle maps; base maps and overlay sheets prepared for the printing of the map sheet; and annotated aerial photographs. The informa­tion on compilation and drafting records often dupli­cates information on survey and printed maps, and thus has little archival value if the other records have survived. The reproduction records include printed maps, hand-copied maps and maps produced by vari­ous photo-processes.

For architectural records, the archivist recognises four main categories. The design drawings are normally unmeasured freehand drawings, including conceptual and preliminary sketches, presentation drawings and perspective drawings. Models may also be prepared. The second category consists of those records relating to the site survey - site plans and landscape drawings. The third category is the com pilation and drafting

records, the largest subdivision of which consists of working drawings, which are further subdivided into four classes - architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical. Working drawings also include "as built" drawings, which are the annotated copies of final work­ing drawings showing changes in construction from the original design. Other compilation and drafting records include shop drawings of details such as special cabinet work, marble and tile work, etc., and standard draw­ings. The last category is reproduction drawings, dupli­cated in smaller numbers for the client and contractors.

The categorisation of engineering records is similar to architecture ones for those that are geographically based (dams, bridges, railway structures, etc.), but vary somewhat for non-geographically-based structures (air­craft, ships, railway cars, etc.).

The archivist acquiring cartographic, architectural and engineering records uses the basic archival ap­praisal criteria - provenance; authenticity; national sig­nificance; evidential, informational and legal values; age; rarity and uniqueness; resource implications, etc. - combined with a specialised knowledge of the nature of the media, in making decisions as to which records should be acquired.

The Archivist (Nov/Dec 1990)

Archives and VideotapeThe worst problem for videotape is not storage... but

the fact that video technology is practically being reinvented every ten years or so. For example, Ampex 2 inch Quadruplex video, used exclusively for televi­sion in the 1960s and 1970s, is now virtually obsolete, and there are very few playback machines still in exist­ence. The specialised nature of video equipment makes its reconstruction of the equipment impossible once commercial manufacture has ceased. In order to ensure long-term preservation, videotape must be placed on a rigorous transfer schedule. Unfortunately, analog re­cordings do not withstand repeated copyings without suffering signal degradation, thus analog transfer should be employed only as a provisional measure until a superior method of transfer becomes available (eg, analog to digital transfer).

Digital recording w ill... come to the aid of Archives by providing SMI [sound and moving image] docu­ments that are of superior quality to those produced by analog recording. Digital information will outlast ana­log information on the same carrier because of the simple nature of the digital signal as compared with analog. Digital recordings will endure repeated trans­fers without suffering the degradation that is a feature of analog recordings. Once information is digitalised, all manner of restoration and 'cleaning' techniques may be undertaken.

Andrea Gamier ACA Bulletin (January 1991)

About the ContributorsKevin Bourke is an archives and records manage­

ment consultant, presently working at the Turnbull Library as Systems Librarian in the Manuscripts & Archives Section. He is a Council member of the NZSA. Rosemary Collier is a consultant archivist and records manager, a former senior staff member of National Archives, and is currently President, and an Associate, of the NZSA. Cheryl Linge is the Director of the New Zealand Film Archive. Angela McGing is an archivist at the Council of the City of Sydney, and previously worked at the Radio Archives of the Australian Broad­casting Commission. She is Treasurer of the Workshops Committee of the NSW Branch, Australian Society of Archivists. Jinty Rorke is the Special Services Librar­ian, Tauranga Public Library, with responsibility for the archives/local history collection. She is a contribu­tor to DNZB, as well as the convenor of the Bay of Plenty Working Party, and Secretary of the BoP Regional Com­mittee of the Historic Places Trust. Kathleen Stringer is Archivist at theNorth Otago Museum, Oamaru. Shelley Sweeney is the University Archivist, University of Regina, in Saskatchewan Canada, and Chair of the ACA Ethics Committee. Ken Thompson is the Chairperson of the Public Records Support Group, Victoria Aus­tralia.

Electronic Records Seminar with David Bearman

Angela McGing

[A note about this seminar, which took place during the Annual Conference of the Australian Society of Archivists in June 1991, appeared in the Spring/September issue of New Zealand Archivist. David Bearman is the President of Archives & Museum Informatics, based in Pittsburgh. The journal and technical reports produced by A&MI represent the 'sharp end' of archival grappling with issues of electronic records and the redefinition of a theory of information and archives.]

This was a day-long seminar broken up into ses­sions, with Bearman's talks commented on by experts in the fields of computing and archives at the end of each session.Session 1: Changes in Communication and Records Keeping

There has been an exponential decrease in the cost of information storage and an exponential increase in the amount of information-processing power available. These trends have significant implications for archi­vists, but there are others that are more significant, such as:(1) The increasing 'granularity' of software intelli­

gence, that is, the size of the pieces of code that are being written;

(2) the increasing layering' of software and hard ware in systems implementation, which is important because it removes what is actually going on inside the computer, from our mental model of what is going on; and

(3) the merging of computing and communications.The ability to store more and more information in

smaller and smaller space means that it is now silly to talk in terms of how much space is wasted by storing records in office accommodation. It is trivial to retain all the information you create, but it is easy to do. You can also transfer it to new storage media, at little cost. Increasingly, archivists will deal with organisations which retain large amounts of data because it is feasible to do so.

The trend to an exponential decrease in the cost of computing power means that we will have computers with very, large capabilities in machines the size of today's calculators, at very little cost. Computing as a tool will become ubiquitous. We will also increasingly be processing and exploiting data not previously re­duced to symbols. By the end of the decade, according to Bearman, we will be processing primarily images and sound, not numbers and letters. Another trend in computing is towards 'invisibility'. What we may think is happening in the system is what we are supposed to think, but has nothing to do with what is actually happening. The software engineers write metaphors for us.

We are also concerned with the values that are being added to information to make it processable. The elec­tronic form that records have when printed out, is not the form they have as information within the system, where contextual information also exists. The view that we see of a database, in response to a query, is not the database itself. We see only what we are intended, by the software writers, to see.

It is now easier to create new information than to retrieve the old record. Information is always current, this way. There will increasingly be a prejudice not to make records, just to recompute as necessary, because the data on which one can draw will generally improve with time. From an organisational point of view, the only reason to have records is to have evidence. To the extent that evidence may be important to an organisa­tion, it therefore faces conflicting pressures, and cannot afford to succumb to the pressure not to make records.

Organisations are evolving communications and computing systems that believe they can store all of the organisation's information at little cost, and they will push the organisation towards doing that. The organi­sation on the other hand has two other interests:(1) maintaining evidence of its actions; and(2) an overriding interest in the continuity of its own

practice and mental models.In the comments following this session, Bearman

made some points about the longevity of optical disk technology. The disks will outlive our ability to read them, because the different proprietary systems by which they are encoded are entirely vulnerable to the business practice and success of the corporations that manufacture them. These businesses change with great rapidity, and it will be impossible to replace and main­tain the equipment required to read the disks. There are no standards for the way the data is laid down, and as soon as the algorithm is lost we will not be able to rediscover it, to read the disks.

Session 2: Research Issues in Electronic RecordsDo electronic records force us to review or discard

archival principles? There are two schools of thought; those who consider a revision is necessary, and those who do not.

Bearman considers that we can usefully apply archi­val principles to electronic records. There are not, how­ever, many archival principles that we can agree on, apart from 'provenance'. When the principle of prov­enance is applied to electronic records, it can actually be satisfied more completely then when it is applied to paper records. In most paper environments, the contex­tual or provenance-related information inherited as part of the record, isusually minimal. Archivists have to follow their intuition. Very few paper systems contain contextual information about how they were used. Electronic records by comparison, maintain a great deal of contextual information, relating to the communica­tion stream of which they form a part.

The electronic record is not different from the paper record in that, if archivists want more contextual infor­mation about it, they will have to ask for it, so that the

best place to become involved and specify our require­ments, is at the system development stage.

There are issues presented by electronic records, that archivists did not focus on when considering paper records.

In the paper record world, archivists do not inter­vene in the creation and use of the record. They docu­ment what happens to the record, and they keep it when non-current. In the electronic world, records are not created in the same way as paper records. Databases change all the time, and a database is in any case not a record but merely a pool of information. Records are created out of the database, and if archivists want records, they will have to create them in this way.

It is not heresy to intervene in the creation of records. There is not necessarily a recorded version of all trans­actions, and archivists will have to think about intervention,based on decisions they make about when a record needs to be made.

In the USA, archivists began to become involved in electronic records systems design and development, about five years ago. But to say that a record should be kept, is not enough. It is necessary to focus on not only making the record, but on ensuring that it it captured with sufficient contextual information. This require­ment for the making of the record, and for its context, are related directly to traditional archival principles and practices.

The comments on this session focussed on concern about the 'series' principle and its place in the electronic records world. There is no such thing as original order in a relational database! Bearman commented that an­other difference between paper and electronic informa­tion was that, in the paper world, we often had to create a record as part of a transaction, whereas with electronic information we don't have to create a record unless we wish to do so.Session 3: A Framework for the Development of Ad­equate Policies for Information Management

The objective of policies to manage electronic infor­mation is to permit continuing access to the content of information, and to context identification. The policy should define the concept of 'record' and 'non-record' electronic information in a way that can be imple­mented by people and by systems. The policy has to define what is and is not a record, in an intelligible way.

It should lay down criteria for the retention of records that will yield acceptable results, and that will be timely. It must take into account the avoidance of unnecessary costs. It must define responsibilities, including respon­sibility for physical custody of the records.

Two strategic foci can be identified when develop­ing a policy for information management:(1) Application Systems Identification

The identification of communicated transactions as the basis for identification of records; 'enterprise analy­sis' (understanding the mission and objectives of the organisation) and functional requirements as the source of appraisal values; and systems design as the mecha­nism for disposal requirements.(2) Application Systems Management

The 'cost-benefit' approach (is this worth doing?) does not work in the electronic world, 'risk manage­ment' (what could be the consequences if we don't do this?) should be the criterion for program effectiveness.

Records management must be program management, with the managers responsible for documentation of programs. Continuing custody of records should be with the agency of origin, not with a distinct Archives.

Until complete interoperability of electronic sys­tems is achieved, it is better to leave electronic records with their creators. If archivists move such records out of their hardware and software environments, they will encounter high levels of costs, and requirements for high levels of expertise, and face continuing 'migration' requirements.

Migration means moving electronic information or records from one hardware and/or software environ­ment to another, as existing environments become ob­solete, to ensure the information or records can con­tinue to be accessed. Systems migration is very expen­sive. There are questions about how much contextual information will be lost. There will be problems if migration is left to the creating agencies to undertake, but at least they have the hardware and software, and will usually be migrating other data too, so can migrate the 'archives' as part of an overall operation.

It should be the responsibility of the creator to manage archival records until software independency is reached, in a regulatory (government) environment. In Canada, the federal government has a policy along these lines, and negotiations about systems migration takes place at Ministerial level.

Bearman emphasised the values of management accountability, and the auditability of the system, as the basis for the importance of records, and suggested that definitions of what electronic records were legal records would develop in the same way microfilm had come to be regarded as a legal record under controlled circum­stances. He saw the process of systems design as the place to enforce all data policy requirements: including security, privacy, vital records recovery, 'freedom of information' considerations, and archival preservation. It would be difficult, even so, to ensure that an elec­tronic system continued to hold 'the truth' after even a few seconds.

The medium used for storage of electronic informa­tion and records really depends not on 'permanence', but on access requirements. Continued migration is the only solution to the problem of maintaining perma­nence. Intellectual control is achieved through 'metadata', which is the information about the informa­tion system: data element dictionaries, functional in­dexes etc.

Comments following this session covered the re­quirements that might be placed on an Archives to regulate aspects (such as access) of archival electronic records that are left in the custody of their creators; and questioned the applicability of Bearman's views to records of administrative bodies [or for that matter, of functions - ed] that are temporary (such as Royal Com­missions) or which are victims of administrative change. No clear solutions or suggestions emerged from the discussion. One comment was that the idea of 'perma­nence' was likely to disappear, to be replaced in a risk- management climate with the notion that an record had 'continuing value', but that in principle this might cease at some known or unknown future point, for example under the terms of a disposal schedule, or when the costs of the next migration outweighed the risk of losing the records.

Use of Archives in Undergraduate & Honours History Courses in NZ Universities

In May 1991, New Zealand Archivist approached the heads of History Departments in all New Zealand universities (except Lincoln), enquiring about courses at undergraduate and honours (ie fourth-year) levels that required use of archival records as part of the coursework. It took until September, and 'hasteners' in some cases, for all the replies to come in, and the detail requested was not always supplied. Nevertheless the responses are sufficiently interesting to be worth reporting on.

The point of the exercise was to pull together information that would be of use to archivists who deal with university students, doing research work below Masters level, as part of their clientele. It was hoped that as a result of the survey, archivists in particular regions and institutions might be better able to anticipate the expectations of such students, for whom a resarch project is typically only a fraction of their overall workload. It may also encourage archivists and Archives to make holdings better known and more accessible to students, perhaps through liaison with the academics. The students are after all tomorrow's opinion leaders, archivists, and resource allocators. What they recall of Archives, later in their careers, could be important.

The Heads of Department who kindly responded to the survey were: Erik Olssen (Otago); Douglas Simes (Waikato); JS Cookson (Canterbury); Barrie Macdonald (Massey); Raewyn Dalziel (Auckland); and David Mackay (VUW). They are of course not responsible for the way the information is presented here, and emphatically not for any points of emphasis or interpretation, or comments generally.

University o f OtagoThe Honours students are all required to do a research essay of about 25,000 words, although the use of

primary sources for this is not compulsory and few students use such sources exclusively. HIST 251 (Historical Method & Interpretation) is a second-year course that requires an essay worth 40% of the grade, to be based entirely on archival sources in the Hocken Library. The staff members responsible are Professor WH McLeod, and Dr M Reilly.

University o f W aikatoIn a number of undergraduate courses students are introduced to, and expected to make use of, primary

sources including: AJHR, GBPP, NZPD, Waitangi Tribunal reports and the Raupatu document bank, and reports of Royal Commissions. These courses include: 02.107 (Introduction to NZ History (Jeanine Graham/Michael King)); 02.227 (Encounter History: Maori & Pakeha {as above}); 02.321 (Centuries of Childhood); 02.230 (The Making of the Working Class in NZ {Anna Green}). An Honours course 02.526 (Oral History {Anna Green}) involves students in creating an oral history 'archive' at the university.

With the response from Waikato came comments by several of the History staff, some quite strongly worded, about the disadvantages of teaching history at such a distance from the significant national archives repositories. This was considered a severe limitation on the use of archival records, which would otherwise be far greater. It was pointed out that students cannot afford the time or money to travel out of town to make use of archives, at undergraduate level. Nor should they have to, considering the place of Hamilton and the Waikato within the present and future pattern of NZ population distribution.

Archivists, and archives institutions, should pay attention to this viewpoint. It suggests that existing Waikato institutions, including libraries, are failing to meet the information needs of an important client group. It also strongly suggests that the national institutions are not reaching the community of potential archives users, in the regions. TTiis may be a reflection on their priorities in recent years - for example tire failure of National Archives to develop any ongoing microfilming programme of consequence during the 1980s, which would have made copies of key public archives available throughout New Zealand. By contrast, the National Library's microfilming of newspapers was referred to in comments from more than one of the universities, for its value as source material for history students.

University o f CanterburyThere are no undergraduate courses that require the use of archives. However some of the honours level

coursesdoso. HIST 615 (The Labour MovementinNZcl880-1950 {Dr Richardson}) requires a research essay of about 5,000 words. HIST 616 (Crime & Society in C20 New Zealand {Mr Dunstall}); and HIST 621 (NZ and the ANZUS Alliance {Prof McIntyre}) were not offered in 1991 and no information about their 'archival' requirements is available..

M assey UniversityThe use of archives applies only to Honours research exercises or the special topics which are their equivalent.

At this level, students write an essay of about 10,000 words which is concerned with historiography as well as with primary research. This is worth 20% or 40% of the year's work The coordinator is Associate Professor KR Howe.

University o f AucklandOnly one course contains some archival research: 24.234 (New Zealand Communities 1840-1940 {Raewyn

Dalziel and Judith Binney}), which requires a research essay using primary material, worth 25% of the grade.

Auckland provided twenty-five entries in the first edition of Archives New Zealand (1984), and was the subject of an inventory of archival sources for social history: Sources for the Social History o f Auckland (University of Auckland 1985) carried out by Fulbright visitors Clyde and Sally Griffen from Vassar College NY. A single undergraduate course is not a lot to show, in return.

Victoria University o f WellingtonA number of courses at third year and Honours levels, including occasional special topics, require a research

essay that makes up 40% - 50% of the final grade. These essays do not necessarily compel use of archives, but students frequently make use of primary sources. Courses in this category, which are regularly offered, are: HIST 316 (American History {Miles Fairbum}); HIST 328 (Women's History {Charlotte MacDonald}). HIST 315 (American History) has a comparative dimension that often involves archival work.

Wellington provided thirty-three entries for Archives New Zealand in 1984, and is home to the head office of National Archives and to the Alexander Turnbull Library, the principal manuscript collecting institution in New Zealand. It appears there is no undergraduate or honours course in New Zealand history as such, regularly offered at the local university, that requires students to make use of these institutions.

Summing UpIn addition to the uses referred to previously, this survey can also be considered as an unscientific contribution

to the debate among archivists, which has been carried on for years at anecdotal and folkloric level within National Archives, and doubtless elsewhere, about whether or not there is an (inverse) relationship to be found in the distance between universities and archives institutions in New Zealand, and the interest and understanding the academics evince and inculcate about archives.

This leads us to the question of who has the responsibility to ensure that students understand not only that archives are a resource to be quarried, but that archives (but not necessarily manuscript collections or personal papers) are the byproduct of administrative activity and are principally organised in ways designed to facilitate administrative inquiries. One of the points which emerged unasked from the survey was the paucity of New Zealand administrative history being taught, at least in the history departments. Perhaps it has been replaced by the 'methods and interpretations' approach?. If there is a problem, perhaps it is partly that some academic historians have ceased to be interested in the past.

The Future of the German PastThe archives in the former GDR [East Germany] are

experiencing, quite literally, a renaissance. With the disappearance of the restrictive GDR 'State Archive Administration', the archives in the East have been liberated. Access has become easy, and vast new collec­tions of documents are becoming available week by week. Almost overnight historians have become able to properly investigate subjects that until 1989 were out of bounds. The history of the Soviet Occupation Zone after 1945, the early history of the GDR, crime and policing in Eastern Germany, the impact of refugees coming from East of the Oder-Neisse immediately after the Second World War and the effects of the mass exodus of East Germans to the West - suddenly have become subjects which can be tracked down in the archives. Further­more, considerable new documentation about the pre- 1945 period has come to light, and it will not be long before this is reflected in scholarly publications. Alto­gether it seems fairly certain that our pictures of recent German history will undergo some changes in the near future.

Of course this renaissance is not without its prob­lems. The archives in the five 'new Federal Lander' have been overwhelmed with visitors. The reading rooms of the former central state archives in Potsdam and Merseburg (now taken over by their Western counter­parts in Koblenz and Berlin) have long waiting lists, and provincial archives have been deluged with people seeking documentation with which to substantiate prop­erty claims. Archive staff in the East now have to contend with Western data protection laws - no easy task when so much documentation about the post-1945 period has suddenly become available.

Richard Bessel History Today (August 1991)

Forbidden Files Hold Cancer Clues

The collapse of the communist regime in East Ger­many has left medical researchers with a dilemma. The former government, obsessed with gathering data on its citizens, left behind an archive of medical cases of cancer - 95% of all cases that occurred in the GDR between 1957 and the end of the regime in late 1990.

The archive could be invaluable for cancer edipemiologists because it would enable the incidence of the disease in different areas to be compared with levels of industrial pollution, notoriously high in East Germany. However under German law the archive is illegal, and the magnetic tapes carrying the data are locked away at the Institute for Cancer Research in Berlin. The federal republic allows medical records bearing people's names to be collected only for nar­rowly defined purposes, which makes epidemiological research in Germany difficult.

The value of the East German records derives from their completeness. For each case the details of the patient, the location, the cancer, and the family back­ground are recorded. The archive is so vast the East Germans were unable to exploit it properly, lacking the necessary computers.

German scientists are scrambling to rescue the data, even if the way it was gathered may not have met scrupulous western standards. All the data could be 'anonymised', but researchers argue that this would reduce its value. They hope the Science Council, the official advisory body, will recommend special legisla­tion to overcome the problems.

Dominion Sunday Times (11 August 1991)

Book ReviewsJohn A Fleckner.N ative American Archives: An Intro­duction. Chicago 1984 (Society of American Archivists) viii + 70pp, softcover. Available from the S A A, $US5.00 members, $US7.00 others. Reviewed by Jinty Rorke.

Despite its title, this booklet contains information directly applicable to the New Zealand situation. The heightened awareness in New Zealand of the need to preserve the Maori 'collective memory' has caused people to look at what is happening to indigenous minority groups in other countries.

The North American Indians are one of the main groups used as a source of information and compari­son. In this booklet Fleckner begins with a convincing argument on the need for tribal archives. Chapter (1) defines the scope of such a collection. It will include not only official records produced by the tribal govern­ment, but also materials gathered from other agencies both official and private. The importance of gathering such material into one archive is the improved access to and preservation of material as well as active collecting of information which could otherwise disappear for­ever.

Chapter (2) considers the establishment of an ar­chives program by a tribal unit, and highlights factors to be addressed: long term commitment; physical loca­tion; objective administration; right of access; preserva­tion and conservation; organisation of collections.

In chapter (3), Fleckner deals with the basics of Records Management, giving a broad overview of the types of records that will be generated, and although some of the examples cite US agencies, the principles can be applied to the New Zealand situation. Some of the advice is quite practical - "separate non-record materials (stationery, non-essential reference works, and Christmas decorations) from official files"!

In the situation of a tribal archive, information and material produced by individual members is of equal or superior importance to the official record. Chapter(4) gives examples of the types of historical material that may be sought from individuals: personal papers; photographs; scrapbooks; sound recordings; and makes suggestions for soliciting such items. The ideas in this chapter apply equally well to any local history collec­tion.

Chapter (5) is devoted entirely to the specialised areas of photographs and sound recordings. Sugges­tions are made about the value of copying photos, their storage and organisation, and the different formats in which they may be found. Oral history is dealt with briefly, highlighting the need and the value, rather than the techniques.

The final chapter, 'Getting Underway7, summarises many of the points made in earlier chapters, but brings together the matters to be addressed by those seeking to establish an archive on a specific topic. For those who require more in-depth information on archival tech­niques, a bibliography, and examples of finding aids and collection descriptions, are provided in Appendi­ces.

As many iwi organisations are beginning to collect material relating to their own history as well as gener­ating potential archival material by the day-to-day running of their offices, it is essential that those in

charge are made aware of the need to decide at an early stage on the ultimate disposal of their records. This short publication deals with issues that are relevant to the situations being encountered by iwi authorities all over New Zealand. It is written in to down to earth style, easily understood by people who are unfamiliar with the technical language of archives.

The booklet would also be of value to anyone setting up an 'archive' or historical collection of limited scope, such as a local history collection or a collection on timber milling. It is a very readable and informative booklet, which I warmly recommend.

Barbara Reed & David Roberts (eds).Keeping D ata: Papers From a W orkshop on Appraising Computer- Based Records. Canberra (Australian Council of Ar­chives & Australian Society of Archivists) 1991. ISBN 0 947219 03 X, iv + 122pp, A4 softcover. Available from the ASA, PO Box 83 Dickson ACT 2602, $A14.50 mem­bers, $A18.00 others. Reviewed by Kevin Bourke.

This is a very useful book - there is something in it for all who work in archives, no matter what their jobs. The first few papers concern computers- what they are, how they work etc, and include a breakdown of system design and documentation.

This is followed by outlines of how to go about building up information about computer systems - what it is necessary to know in order to appraise them. There are succinct though thorough discussions on undertaking surveys, interviews and so on. Anne Picot makes a point" .. . that the paper generated by compu­terised systems is what we are called in to solve." (It being understood, I presume, that redundant informa­tion stored electronically is simply deleted off the sys­tem at regular intervals).

A number of case studies are presented showing how appraisal decisions were arrived at in particular situations. It is interesting that in a number of these the solution chosen was to keep paper or microfiche copies, and not maintain any electronically stored data.

Olivia Simons notes that "Long term planning should consider transferring certain sets of data, independent of their applications, in a generic format into archives. There are obvious problems in this area with different machines, operating systems and data formats which need to be resolved." (pp22-23). This is a key issue. If the data is held in a form which is not accessible - if, for instance, the operating system is no longer used or the data is not in a 'generic format' - then is it worth keeping? It is only ever going to be used if a large amount of money and other resources, especially time and skilled staff, are available.

Unfortunately, one key area is not addressed, al­though it is alluded to in a number of the papers. If the long-term viability of some of the media is unknown, and if we are to avoid having to keep a 'technological museum' in order to access the data in the future - do we know it can be done? If it is technically possible, are there any current programs to recover data, from which we can learn?

A comment made by Steve Stuckey in his paper on computer records concerning oil exploration, is espe-

dally illuminating in this regard. When discussing the 'value' of the computer tapes, the geophysidsts often stated that all the tapes were equally valuable. Yet Stuckey notes "if it is all equally valuable, why havn't they used the data that was shot in 1964, but are using a whole heap of data that was shot last year?" In fact it appears not to be worth getting the data off the tapes - otherwise that would have been done. If one considers how important geological information is for oil explo­ration, and how expensive it is to gather in the field, one would expect that the oil companies would be making full use of records already extant, but they appear not to be. This, I believe, is the nub of the problem - the data was useful when recorded and now it no longer is. It's that simple.

This leads to another point not addressed. It sounds trite, but the data that goes into a computer system comes out again - albeit in a changed form. Usually a number of calculations are undertaken and the result is a summary, in a relatively comprehensible form. Usu­ally this summarised version becomes part of some report, say the regular monthly management reports that are found in most organisations. This summarised information is available to anyone who can read it. Shouldn't it be these summaries which are kept rather than the raw data?

Furthermore, is it reasonable to argue that resources should be used to preserve and make accessible infor­mation which is never likely to be used? Any archivist who has had to make appraisal decisions regarding financial records such as ledgers and journals will have faced this problem. What if the data is never referred to - both because nobody is interested and because the expertise for deciphering and understanding its form has been lost? Old ledgers and journals look impressive on the shelves of many archives but compare their rate of usage to, say, correspondence files, and it is obvious to any disinterested person that their long-term reten­tion is often not justifiable. I believe the same problem arises with electronic records - the 'raw data' is never used, even by the records creators, in its unprocessed state. Is it really likely that in the future someone is going to be interested enough to use that data, and that there will be resources to make that data available?

Thomas Wilsted & William Nolte. M anaging A rchival and M anuscript R ep ositories. Chicago 1991 (Society of American Archivists). 105pp softcover. ISBN 0-931828­87-3. Reviewed by Rosemary Collier.

This is the sixth volume to appear in the seven-title Society of American Archivists' Archival Fundamentak series, which improves on and replaces the useful Basic M anuak series.

It brings together management principles and prac­tices with the particular needs of archives repositories, including such basics as, inter alia. The Archivist as Manager, Planning, Managing Archival Facilities, and Technology and the Archival Manager.

Both thoughtful and practical, this volume is a 'must' for any archives repository, but particularly valuable for archivists who are starting a new repository, plan­ning a move to a new building or developing a previ­ously underdeveloped archives institution or section.

In the short time I have had the volume, I have been able to use it in teaching archives students, and to answer a specific question on placement of the archives in the organisational structure of a large local authority.

The chapters on management do not resort to jar­gon, but use person-related language and the practical language of everyday work in an archives institution. There is much good advice here, readably written. The reasons for planning and other management tools are explained, not presented in a didactic manner. Thus, unlike many books on management, this one inspires rather than depresses the reader. My reaction was not 'Oh dear, I should be doing all these things' but That's well put, believable and achievable'.

Chapters such as Organisational Structure, Human Resources, Financial Management, Fund Raising and Development, and Public Relations deal with subjects which in many New Zealand repositories would either have been regarded as the province of the parent insti­tution, or not be dealt with at all. This volume explains, albeit in an American context, how the archivist can manage these matters to the advantage of the reposi­tory.

This volume is of particular interest to New Zealand archivists, since its co-author, Thomas Wilsted, worked for nearly five years at the Alexander Turnbull Libraiy archives and manuscripts section, and was the prime mover and the founding president of the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand. His interest in management was evident on his bookshelf and in his attendance at State Services Commission courses.

I know from personal observation both in New Zealand and twice briefly in the USA (the second time in May this year, when my husband and I were made a present of this volume, hot off the press) that Tom Wilsted practices what he preaches here - inspiring and leading staff, and communicating to them his will to achieve the goals he has carefully established.

The book is clearly printed, with a large double­column format, and contains many Figures which tabu­late and summarise chapter contents. Each chapter is broken into headed sections, and there are numerous photographs.

There is an excellent Table of Contents giving all the section headings, with page references, under each chapter heading. The Index is stronger on names than on subjects. Although the Table of Contents overcomes this deficiency to some extent, I would have liked a more detailed set of subject entries in the Index. For example, the chapter Managing Archival Facilities is very practical, but it would be useful to be able to look up details in the Index, such as 'Shelving', 'Lighting', or even 'Equipment.

Practical suggestions and ideas abound in other chapters also, right down to the level of sample forms and suggested shelving configurations.

There are but a very few spelling errors, and only a few Figures are not referenced in the text. All-in-all, this is an excellent volume which more than achieves the series editor's aim, of giving 'a broad overview of archival work and an in-depth treatment of its major components'. In my view it fulfils its publishers' Tiope that the Archival Fundamentals Series will be a bench­mark in the archival literature for many years to come.'

Ethics Wrangling in CanadaOr, Is It Ethical to Argue With the Ethics Committee?

Shelley Sweeney

One of the main tasks the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA) set itself when it was established in 1975 was: "[the] development of a code of professional responsibility." Not until 1989 however, was the ACA mature enough to respond to the societal demand for ethics and meet its goal. I was appointed to head an Ethics Committee, I invited four members from across the country to join me, and we began drafting a code of ethics.

The Committee gathered codes of ethics from archi­val and related professions around the world, such as the medical and psychological professions, for com­parison purposes. The members read many papers on the subject of ethics and established a dialogue with other archival associations. After a year, we met at our annual conference to thrash out wording details of a preliminary draft. The changes were made, the draft was passed by a local expert on ethics, and delivered to the ACA Executive. They commented on the code, then passed it on to a few senior members of the profession for their comments. The Ethics Committee considered and variously incorporated into the code these com­ments, and the final draft was published in the ACA Bulletin, our national newsletter, just before the annual meeting in May 1991. [A copy of the draft ACA code was circulated with the Spring/September 1991 issue o f NZA, together with the ASA (Australian) draft code - ed.l

Given the hard work and careful consideration of the code by various people, one might have expected it to pass with flying colours. I don't know if I can credit the profession with a high level of interest, or whether everyone was too cranky after a very long drawn-out annual meeting and constitutional wrangle, to deal with the code, but after various proposals for wording changes ('may' to 'should', removal of the word 'faith­fully', and so on) the code was tabled to allow more time for input from the membership.

A whole lot of input has not been forthcoming, but what did arrive was fairly astonishing. The Committee received exactly one set of comments from someone who actually missed the annual meeting, and two peo­ple who had suggested wording changes at the meeting sent in fuller explanations of what they wanted to see. Beyond that, a group of fourteen archivists from Victo­ria, British Columbia, sent to the ACA Bulletin, for publication, an entirely new code of ethics and stand­ards of behaviour! These documents, of course, were to "spark discussion".

After a few tense weeks of negotiation, the group agreed that the Ethics Committee could substitute the renegade code and standards with a summary of the group's beliefs and arguments. I felt that publication of the code and standards would be confusing, would probably lead to argument and acrimony, and would at the very least influence the way any further discussion would go, in that the membership would inevitably side with one code or the other, and would not dissect each to see which approach made more sense or whether

an amalgam would be more appropriate.So there the matter stands, to see what the reaction

of the ACA members is to the new proposal. The Victoria group feels that anything which does not touch actual ethical situations should be taken out of the code and contained in a document on standards of profes­sional conduct. There is certainly some validity to their argument, which the Ethics Committee will consider once its members have cooled down!

On a final note, Quebec, which has it's own francophone association, passed it's code with ease earlier this year. They attributed their success partially to having held hearings in various regions so that members could discuss the code and give their input. By contrast, with over 5,000 kilometres to cover, it wasn't even possible for the ACA Ethics Committee to meet together more than twice (once each annual meet­ing), never mind hold hearings across the country. (Thank God for fax!) If it were possible to do so, how­ever, that would be the way to go. Ethical thinking is very difficult to do in the abstract by oneself; it is a collegial process. In that case. New Zealand might have it over Australia when it comes time to form its own archival code of ethics.

So stay tuned for the next exciting episode of 'As the Archives Turn!'

North Otago Museum ArchiveThe purpose-built North Otago Museum Archive

was opened in May 1987. It is funded and administered by the Waitaki District Council, although the building itself was provided by way of bequests and donations from local people and grants from the New Zealand Lottery Board.

The collection policy of the Archive covers all facets of life in North Otago. As well as fulfilling our role as a local government Archive (amalgamated authorities are theOamaru Borough, Waitaki County and Waihemo County Councils) we are also the official repository for the North Otago records of the Otago Education Board and the Presbyterian Church. The Archive holds a variety of business, society, and personal archives and a large photographic collection. We also have full sets of both the Oatnaru Mail and the North Otago Times news­papers.

The Archive is administered in conjunction with the North Otago Museum, and is staffed by the Director and myself. My role in the Archive covers the entire gambit of archival work, from evaluating the incoming archives (after cleaning them!) to compiling finding aids and undertaking research.

Kathleen Stringer

NZSA NewsMembership Charges & Subscriptions for 1992

Council has decided that it is necessary to increase the membership fee to $40.00 for 1992. All other charges have been held at the 1991 level. Details may be found in the box at the foot of the back page of every issue of NZA.

Defining the Archivist Profession in New Zealand

Having identified yourself in conversation as an archi­vist, how do you answer the follow-up question - "That sounds interesting... what exactly do you do?"

Are your skills and experience transferable to a different career?

How does your employment contract compare with other archivists or with other occupations?

Cheryl Simes is preparing a survey questionnaire that will be used by the NZSA during 1992, to gather information about New Zealand archivists. The results will be compiled into a report to the profession, which is intended to be of use to archivists and their employers alike on such matters as the setting of job descriptions, salary rates.

The questionnaire will be launched at the Society's Conference in February, and then more widely distrib­uted by mail. Processed resul ts should be available later in 1992. The survey covers not only full-time archivists,

ARCHIVES AND RECORDS

Can you find papers when you need them? Have you old papers which need

to be organised? Does your company know what to do with its paper? Have

you a modern filing system?

Ask the experts

Rosemary Collier and Associates

Records Management and Archives Consultants since 1980

Please ring(04) 801-6874 for more information,

or write to . Rosemary Collier

PO Box 11-100 WELLINGTON

but also those in other occupations which include some (even only a little) archives work. It is hoped that a very high proportion of New Zealand's archivists (in the widest sense) will respond to the survey.

Conference 1992More information about our Conference is enclosed

with this issue of NZA. The dates will be 13-15 February 1992, at Archives House in Wellington. The theme will be The Papers of Public Figures'. Kevin Bourke is convenor of the organising committee.

Publicity BrochureThe Council has produced a brochure, An Invitation

to Join the New Zealand Society o f Archivists. It is for distribution to people who may be interested in learn­ing about us, joining as members, or subscribing to the New Zealand Archivist. If you would like some copies to distribute, or to put on display at your workplace, please contact the Secretary.

Supplement:Reader Opinion Survey

Enclosed with this issue of NZA is a survey questionnaire, which asks for your views about some aspects of the journal as it has appeared over the last two years. Please take a few minutes to complete the form. Your responses will assist the Editor and the Council to ensure that future issues remain relevant and interesting to New Zealand archivists.

The questionnaire should be returned by post or fax, no later than Friday 17 January 1992.

Lottery Board Supports Archives

Two recent Lottery Board grants have been made to assist archives-related projects. The Archive of New Zealand and Pacific Music, at Auckland University, received $9000 to help preserve its collection of open- reel audio recordings. The grant will be used to buy new tapes for copying the recordings, some of which are on decaying acetate stock. Another grant of $16000 went to the National Portrait Gallery, which is to be established in Wellington under the aegis of National Archives. This grant will contribute to the expenses of mounting the Gallery's first exhibition, to be about a notable immigrant.

New Zealand Herald (19 & 24 September 1991)

Archives Thief ConvictedGraham John Sanders was convicted in the

Christchurch District Court in September, for stealing archives from the Alexander Turnbull Library and National Archives.

Sanders admitted nine charges of theft of docu­ments valued at $39,000, carried out over a four-month period in 1988 when he was a researcher [on cases before the Waitangi Tribunal] employed by the Crown Law Office. Four charges related to thefts from the Turnbull Library, five to thefts from National Archives.

The defence lawyer (Tim Fournier) submitted to the Court that Sanders had been influenced by the ease with which he was able to steal the documents, and their considerable value on the open market. He also submitted at the High Court appeal that Sanders was not in a position of trust that elevated his duty above the general duty to go about daily business without com­mitting crimes. [Sanders is a philatelist, and the stolen documents were valuable because of their postal his­tory associations.] The crimes were only discovered when one of the stolen items was offered for sale, and recognised, in early 1989.

Sanders was sentenced to eight months jail on 10 October. The judge had no doubt that these were pre­meditated thefts for personal gain. During an (unsuc­cessful) appeal to the High Court a few days later, over the imposition of a custodial sentence, it emerged that by no means all the documents missing from files to which he had access have been recovered. In an earlier report, Sharon Dell of the Turnbull library was quoted as saying that a total of twenty-eight documents had been stolen from the Turnbull alone, from ten different collections.

Christchurch Press (6 July, 20 July, 11 October, 15 October 1991). Dominion, (21 September 1991)

Following the court case, documents used in the case were demanded back by Sanders' lawyer, and it was necessaiy for the Acting Director of National Ar­chives to issue a notice under section (9) of the Archives Act, requiring them, as public archives, to be returned to National Archives.

In a future issue of NZA, we hope to present a fuller discussion of this landmark case (for New Zealand), including the issues to which it has given rise. For example the inference that Archives encourage theft because of their inferior security must be a cause of concern, as must the fact that Sanders' crimes were detected only by chance, not within the Archives that had been robbed, and sometime after they had been carried out. The importance of complete and accurate accessioning and issuing documentation, to enable an institution to prove its ownership, and use by the ac­cused of the archives in question, is also highlighted by these events.

The pros and cons of allowing some users privileges not generally available (for example because they are working for the government, or need to look at or copy masses of material, or become familiar to staff because they are in the reading room every day) have also been raised. The judge pointed out when passing sentence, that one of the effects of Sanders' actions had been to make research access more difficult for others in the future.

Diploma in Information Systems

A new postgraduate Diploma in Information Sys­tems is to be offered at Victoria University of Welling­ton in 1992, in response to demand for training in the

application of information technology to business and government management. The diploma course is taken part-time, occupying one evening a week over three years, and it is designed to enhance existing managerial skills or open up new career paths.

It is aimed at people who already have a degree in a discipline other than information systems, and some experience with computers in business, and the pro­gramme combines an academic approach to informa­tion technology with hands-on experience. The diploma was established following a survey of the needs of middle management executives in business and public institutions. Many have very limited knowledge of the principles of using information technology to deliver appropriate information.

More information from: Department of Information Systems, Faculty of Commerce & Administration, Vic­toria University, PO Box 600, Wellington.

Graduate '90 (Victoria University)

Life In AustraliaDepartmental files were shredded and personal re­

marks by Mr Brian Burke removed, in a secret operation in the weeks leading up to his resignation as Premier [of West Australia] in February 1988, the 'WA Inc' Royal Commission was told. Staff from the Premier's Depart­ment told the inquiiy they had been asked to work after hours and on weekends to remove remarks in Mr Burke's handwriting on five years of documents in the records division of the Department. Staff were required to obscure remarks written by Mr Burke on documents, which were then photocopied and placed on the files. The original documents were then shredded.

Sydney Morning H erald (5 July 1991)[Information from] thousands of personal files will

continue to be bought and sold on a "breathtaking scale" because the NSW Government refuses to imple­ment privacy protection laws, according to a report by the NSW Privacy Committee, a statutory body. Per­sonal information provided in good faith and frequently under legal compulsion is being bartered and sold, and the proceeds are lining the pockets of the corrupt. An inquiry by the Independent Commission against Cor­ruption earlier this year learned of widespread ex­change of personal data between State and Federal government departments and the private sector. Records from bodies such as the Department of Social Security and Telecom were bought by private investigators and others and sold to major commercial interests.

Sydney Morning H erald (25 July 1991)

User Pays Hits Records Appraisal

National Archives has been hit with a requirement from the Government to achieve a revenue target of over $100,000.00 for 1992. The continuation of a certain level of resourcing is tied to meeting this target success­fully. As a result it is possible that agencies will be charged for records appraisal and disposal services.

Such a policy is not without its problems. Arguably it will send undesirable market signals, encouraging agencies to turn to alternative methods of records dis­posal such as cellars, private records storage compa-

nies, even illegal destruction. If this begins to happen National Archives will face the unpalatable choice of either committing resources to enforcement instead of cooperation, or watching its coverage of public records appraisal and disposal fall into disuse and disrepute.

Furthermore, basing revenue-raising on records ap ­praisal has problems even considered as a purely finan­cial exercise. It will be very difficult to accurately fore­cast demand and thus revenue, especially considering the possible impact of consumer resistance. There are also difficulties associated with determining charge- out rates: will they be based on the size of the appraisal job (which is not necessarily related to the quantity of records); quantity appraised; or archivists time taken? Customers will inevitably view the latter, for example, as liable to monopoly abuse.

There are other options open to National Archives to raise the funds Government has demanded. Access charges for visiting researchers and written enquiries must now be seriously considered, especially if failure to meet the target will result in a real loss of resources for the future. This is a classic example of an issue over which the interests of the profession, and of users of archives, are not necessarily identical.

But if taxing government agencies is preferable, why not begin by charging for loans of records back to the Departments, and for storage of archives that are less than 25 years old (the statutory date when a public record is assumed to be a public archive unless the contrary is asserted). In other words tax the strictly identifiable and quantifiable services that National Ar­chives provides, not the processes it chooses to carry out.

TransitionsKate Fortune resigned as Director of the New Zea­

land Film Archive in June, after only a year in the job. The new Director is Cheryl Linge, formerly the Deputy Director, who has been with the NZFA since May 1988 and who has a strong background in business adminis­tration including commercial property development. Penny Feltham has rejoined the staff of the Manu­scripts & Archives Section, Alexander Turnbull Li­brary, after a year at Liverpool University completing a degree in Archives Administration. She has been reap­pointed Editor of NRAM. At National Archives in Wellington, Helen Vaughan-Dawkes has been wel­comed back after a long absence recovering from a motor accident. As reported elsewhere in this issue, Kathryn Patterson is the new Director of National Archives, following the resignation of Ray Grover in July.

In This IssueA Question of Accountability: The Govt v the Archives

A New Director for National Archives

Electronic Records Seminar with David BearmanAngela McGing

Use of Archives in Undergraduate & Honours History Courses in NZ UniversitiesResults of a Survey by NZA

Book ReviewsNative American Archives (Jinty Rorke); Keeping Data (Kevin Bourke); Managing Archival & Manu­script Repositories (Rosemary Collier

Ethics Wrangling in CanadaShelley Sweeney

NZSA NewsConference 13-15 Feb 1992; Membership charges and subscriptions for 1992; Publicity brochure; De­fining the Archivist Profession in NZ.

News ItemsArchives Thief Convicted; Diploma in Information Systems; Life in Australia; User-Pays Hits Records Appraisal; More Charges for Access to Archives; The Future of the German Past; Lottery Board Sup­ports Archives; Acquiring Cartographic, Architec­tural and Engineering Records; New Directions at the NZ Film Archive; Archives and Videotape; For­bidden Files Hold Cancer Clues; Archives House Opens; North Otago Museum Archive; Transitions.

About the Contributors

Supplement: Reader Opinion Survey

Archives House OpensThe former Government Printing Office building in

Mulgrave Street Wellington (opposite Aitken Street) will reopen to the public on 9 December, as Archives House the new HQ and Wellington Office of National Archives. The formal opening ceremony on 4 Decem­ber, will be performed by the Anglican Bishop of Aotearoa, bishop Vercoe. The Governor-General was double-booked.

Kathleen Stringer

New Zealand Archivist (ISSN 0114-7676) is the quarterly journal of the New Zealand Society of Archivists Incorporated. It is published each year in: Autumn/March; Winter/June; Spring/September; and Summer/ December. The editor is Mark Stevens, whose authorship may be assumed for all items not otherwise credited. Copyright NZSA & contributors 1991. Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the NZSA. The editorial address is PO Box 136 Beaconsfield NSW 2014 Australia (Fax {2} 313-6680). All other correspondence to the Secretary NZSA, PO Box 27-057 Wellington New Zealand. Contributions for publication are invited. Deadlines for next issues are: 7 February and 8 May 1992. The journal is available through membership of the Society (1992 fees are $40.00 in NZ, $50.00overseas) or separately by subscription ($40.00 in NZ, $50.00 overseas). Overseas airmail, add $10.00.