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By Robert Beattie

Twenty years ago, when public servants finished with a file it went straight to a numerically designated spot on a shelf in the registry compactus. And it could always be found.

Files of enduring value would eventually find their way to a new shelf in the National Archives, to be kept for posterity.

The ‘paper trail' is fortunately still reliable—but, with digitisation, Australia could have been in danger of entering a ‘digital dark age'. That danger has been thwarted thanks to groundbreaking work at the National Archives of Australia.

The Archives has developed and implemented a comprehensive preservation strategy to ensure that valuable ‘born-digital' records of the Australian Government are secure.

It's not hard to see why such a digital preservation strategy is essential in the modern workplace. Without proper tools and associated infrastructure, important digital evidence will be lost. While we've all moved on from the days of the infamous electronic whiteboard, the consequences of not keeping records of computer-based government activities are the same.

The National Archives' Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (ADRI) is a collaboration between the National Archives of Australia, Archives New Zealand and Australia's state and territory archives to ensure a common approach to digital recordkeeping and archiving. It also provides a forum for setting directions and exchanging ideas.

ADRI was launched in May 2004 by the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr Peter Shergold.

‘ADRI will improve the efficiency of government administration, and make certain that we can be held to account for the decisions that are made and preserve a reliable historical record for future generations of Australians,' Dr Shergold said.

‘It was important to establish agreed standards and common strategies for the archival preservation of the increasing array of public records that are born digital. ADRI is a tribute to professional collegiality in search of a whole-of-government commitment to the public interest.'

The Archives has long been an authority in digital preservation and has led the way internationally.

In September 2004, the Archives hosted the International Working Meeting on Advances in Digital Preservation.

The Archives also participated in a conference on web archiving held at the National Library of Australia in November 2004.

Ross Gibbs, director-general of the National Archives, is liaising with the National Archives of the United States to develop closer and stronger relations in the digital preservation area.

‘We're keen to cooperate closely with our American counterparts,' Mr Gibbs said.

While the National Archives continues to kick digital goals in Australia and overseas, its biggest challenge is still to impress on government agencies the need to fulfil their obligations to capture and keep important digital records.

To this end the Archives released Archiving Web Resources: Policy and Guidelines for Keeping Records of Web-based activity in the Commonwealth Government in 2001, available at www.naa.gov.au> Recordkeeping > Digital records > Digital records initiatives of the National Archives > Archiving web resources.

The Archives is committed to communicating to government agencies a single, coherent set of advice about approaches to the archiving of government web resources. In 2002, the Archives and the National Library cooperated with the then National Office for the Information Economy to produce a joint publication, Keeping Government Publications Online, available at ww.nla.gov.au/guidelines/govpubs.pdf A joint seminar for agency staff was run in conjunction with its release.

These policies and guidelines have also served as models for similar initiatives in North America and Europe.

The Archives digital preservation strategy uses open source XML technology to archive digital records (including websites) that were originally created using proprietary data formats. These digital archives are managed and preserved in a technical environment unaffected by the problems of software and hardware obsolescence.

This solution to digital archiving, known as Xena, was released for public review in September 2004.

Fortunately for Australia, the National Archives is moving with the times and is leading the way in digital preservation.

Further information on the National Archives of Australia can be found on the website at www.naa.gov.au

• Document ID: 31065 |
• Last modified: 6 February 2008, 11:52am