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The Archives Working Group was established for an initial two-year period at the CMC's July 1995 meeting. It was extended a further year until July 1998 to complete its work program at no further cost. Its final report was to CMC Standing Committee's March 1999 meeting.

The working group's terms of reference were:

• increase the understanding and appreciation of the collections and holdings of archives as a national cultural resource;
• make the collections and holdings of Australia 's archives more widely known and available to all Australians;
• develop cooperation and coordination between the archives of Australia in order to enhance the access to, and appreciation of, their unique collections and holdings;
• undertake a research and development program on behalf of the CMC focusing on key strategic issues facing Australia 's archives; and
• make recommendations to CMC on strategic issues concerning archives.

Its achievements and outcomes were as follows:

Project 1 - Records of National Cultural Significance

Stage 1: Indigenous Australians - a short guide to records relating to Indigenous Australians.

The CMC endorsed the report in December 1996. A related publication was released in March 1997 with a second print run distributed in 1997.

In August 1998 the book was the recipient from 14 entries of the Australian Society of Archivists Mander Jones Award as a publication making the greatest contribution to archives or a related field in Australia written by or on behalf of a corporate body.

Stage 2: Indigenous Australians - scope report, pilot project and model framework/methodology for locating, indexing and listing non-government records.

A scope report was completed in April 1998 surveying non-government, mainly church bodies which hold records about Indigenous people as to how their holdings are organised and seeking proposals to develop guides/indexes. An index of the Lutheran Archives was completed in 1999 as a pilot project and related publication. The Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission

(ACSWC) was funded to develop a model strategy/methodology for producing guides for use by archival bodies.

Stage 3: Immigrant Australians - guide to the description and availability of records in government collections.

This report was endorsed by Standing Committee in June 1997. The related publication, Immigrant Arrivals, was endorsed by the CMC in February 1998. It received considerable publicity following its launch in April 1998 and consequently was out of print by the end of the year.

Project 2 - Market Research into the Use and Non-use of Archives in Australia - Survey of key groups of opinion-makers and interpreters of Australian history, culture and society .

The report was endorsed and released by the CMC in December 1996.

Archives Working Group recommendations

The Working Group's terms of reference included the making of recommendations to CMC on strategic issues facing archives. Two of the reports prepared for the Working Group resulted in recommendations, which are summarised below.

Immigrant Arrivals recommendations included:

• Develop a nationally coordinated and cooperative approach to the handling of records of immigrant arrivals to Australia .
• Ascertain the types of finding aids required; propose a common model for producing finding aids; ensure that finding aids are made widely available; establish an agreed set of priorities for the production of finding aids and the production of copies of the records; support and monitor this production according to the priorities.
• Representatives in each State and Territory consult with major genealogical society(ies) in each State and Territory to determine the needs of primary users of immigration records.
• Examine the responses and recommend the type finding aids to be produced.
• Representatives agree to implement recommendations within priorities and constraints.
• Indexing projects be instituted using training volunteers under strict archives staff supervision.
• Indexes to immigrant records be made available by microform copies on a commercial basis and electronic publishing on the Internet subject to a charge.

Market research report recommendations included:

• A concise guide to all archives in Australia outlining holdings and information on access, location and opening hours.
• Regular newsletters and pamphlets produced by archives detailing recent acquisitions and other general information about their operations, updates on where particular information is held and distributed through libraries, universities, historical and genealogical societies.
• Promotion of archives through tertiary courses.
• Hours of opening be extended
• User-friendly finding aids and guides, catalogues and indexes, computerised catalogues and accessible through the Internet in the longer term.
• Special provisions at archives for people in professions that have deadlines and time pressures.
• Education kits and other promotional aids, conforming to the school curriculum, for secondary teachers in particular.
• Guided tours tailored to meet the needs of small and large groups.

Future distribution of reports

It has been separately proposed that an Archives Council be established under the CMC, which would, among other tasks, consider and adopt the recommendations where possible and appropriate over time. It was expected that CMC would consider a proposal on this matter at its 2000 meeting.

It was intended by the Working Group that its publications would eventually be made available through the Internet. The Working Group believed that two of the reports, the Indigenous Australians and Immigrant Arrivals guides, have the potential to be revised over time to allow for amendments, corrections and additions. This may be undertaken at a later date by the Australian Council of Archives or, if established, the Archives Council.

• Document ID: 78383 |
• Last modified: 5 February 2008, 8:35pm