key considerations, challenges and strategies in managing legacy records

KEY CONSIDERATIONS, CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES IN MANAGING LEGACY RECORDS

Elizabeth Estbergs,ACT Government Reference Archivist

Considerations What is a legacy record?

• existing accumulations of older records, created by an organisation in the past or inherited from another organisation during a transfer of functions.

What forms do they take?• Rock art• Rune stones• Birch bark documents • Paper records• Cylinder audio discs – Edison phonographs• Floppy discs• Polaroid photographs

Considerations - Storage

Environmental requirements Transmittal packaging Contaminant examination Location tracking Labelling Physical storage standard Risk mitigation

Records kept in disused toiletsby Natasha Rudra in the Canberra Times 27/06/2008A report has criticised the ACT Government's record-

keeping, saying the territory's key records office is understaffed and accurate records may not be guaranteed. The report also said some records were being kept in basements or disused toilet blocks.

… Some agencies had so little storage space that

unclassified records were being kept in disused toilet blocks or in boxes outside staff toilets.

http://www.audit.act.gov.au/auditreports/reports2008/Report%203-2008%20-%20Records%20Management.pdf

Auditor-General’s reports

Considerations - Retrieval

Challenges Security

• Content• Container

Challenges Distributed archive

• Agencies own their records for the life of the record• Agencies have custody of the records for the life of

the record• Other jurisdictions have ACT records

9

Distributed archive - Photographs

In celebration of The City of Canberra maiden voyage in 1961, the bell was donated to the City of Canberra.

Photo owned by and in the custody of the ACT Legislative Assembly

10

Distributed archive - artefacts

The actual gift.Owned by the

Chief Minister’s Department.

Legacy records collection - description What we do have

• ACT/NSW border survey books

• Photos, maps, plans• Building files, leasing

files• Birth, death &

marriage records• Cemetery records• Wills

Legacy records

Maps

Legacy file History

Strategies Functional thesaurus Appraisal Records disposal schedules Sentencing decisions Disposal Retention

Sentencing legacy records Sentencing is the process of identifying and

classifying records according to a Records Disposal Schedule and applying the disposal action specified in it.

Examine at folio level Use current Records Disposal Schedules Sentence all parts Select the longest retention period

Sentencing example83/1496 part 2 National Capital Development Commission.

Narrabundah Long Stay Caravan Park Extension. 17 of the folios are engineering plans for utilities and

individual sites drawn by Weir and O’Neil Pty Ltd Consulting Engineers.

1 published brochure on delivering utilities to individual caravan sites

Folios on contract variations Folios on accommodation for contract workers 1 geotechnical investigation report Folios on claims for fees for producing the geotechnical

report 1 signed copy of approval of the final design 1 file note stating that part 3 of the file be made to hold the

drawings “forever”

Records disposal classes ACCOMMODATION SUPPORT SERVICES – Assessing

1.5.1 Destroy 7 years after residence vacated DEVELOPMENT APPROVALS & ASSET ACCEPTANCE –

Approvals 1.4.2 Destroy 10 years after last action FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT – Accounting 5.2.1 Destroy 7

years after last action LAND DEVELOPMENT – Certification (Construction) 2.10.1

Retain as Territory Archives LAND DEVELOPMENT – Infrastructure Implementation &

Coordination 2.28.1 Retain as Territory Archives PROPERTY MANAGEMENT – Construction 13.24.1 Retain

as Territory Archives PROPERTY MANAGEMENT – Contracting-out 13.25.1

Destroy 7 years after completion or other termination of contract

Strategies• Overcoming subject based titling• Listing – control records• Retrieval• Migration• Storage

Strategies

Impact of distributed custody Repository business rules Management of different agency

archives on site Return of archives to correct

repository

Strategies Risk assessment Resource usage Incremental progress

ConclusionWe need not destroy the past.  It is gone.  ~John Milton Cage Jnr

ContactsFor any additional information please contact;

Elizabeth EstbergsACT Government Reference ArchivistPh +61 2 6207 5726Fax +61 2 6207 5835

Email archives@act.gov.auWeb http://www.archives.act.gov.au