Members' Newsletter
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Newsletter No. 71, June 2008
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From the President
The excitement of a RAW March around the country – Records and Archives Week – has only just died down. It was a huge success, thanks particularly to a few key ARANZ members – Andy Fenton, Paddy Power, Sean McMahon, Di Dixon and Sarah Padey. There were many others involved, though, without whom it would not have taken off, so please also accept this message as our thanks to you all. The Roadshow held in Wellington clearly met a real need in the community and generated quite a buzz. We look forward to building on the work this year, so we can provide even more support for branches and organisations that wish to use the week for promotion.
In May Council undertook a review of our publications to ensure that they were meeting the needs of the organisation. A number of small changes have been, or are going to be, made to improve them, including the delivery of the newsletter electronically to most members, which you will have already noticed. We are also going to review our website with the aim of even further enhancing usefulness and usability. Archifacts will continue to be biannual, but we also aim to make improvements there, including reliability of production schedules.
I have been representing ARANZ on the National Digital Forum Board for the past two years. This is a key forum for discussion of digital content issues relating to the National Digital Strategy and for ensuring that archival concerns are taken into account in that arena. I am interested in exploring the issues members have around meeting the demand to put heritage content online, to ensure that the NDF Board understands of some of the particular challenges archives face. I intend to put out a discussion paper soon and will look forward to your feedback.
In the run up to the joint conference in Australia next year, ARANZ and ASA have drafted a memorandum of understanding to facilitate working together and share some membership benefits, such as member-rate attendance at each other’s conferences. We have been delighted at how easy this has proved and look forward to a growing relationship in future. The joint ASA/ARANZ/PARBICA conference in Brisbane is now just over a year away, and it would be great to see as many New Zealanders as possible giving papers and attending.
If you would like to give us feedback on any of these issues, feel free to email me at president@aranz.org.nz.
Joanna Newman
ARANZ Conference 2008 Update
Planning for the ARANZ Conference 2008 to be held in Dunedin is well advanced. Registrations have opened and the deadline for early bird rates is fast approaching. To qualify as early bird, the conference committee must receive your registration by 1 July. Invoices for payment will be sent out once registration forms have been received. The programme has been set, and is available for viewing at www.aranz.org.nz. In addition, two workshops are being offered on the afternoon of Wednesday 27th August, and details are as follows:
Workshop One: Using SharePoint to Support Public Records Act Compliance - $125.00
Microsoft SharePoint has been generating a lot of interest. With its collaboration features as well as document management functionality many organisations are considering whether this is an appropriate platform for records management. This workshop introduces how you can use SharePoint to assist with your Public Records Act compliance programme. Sarah Heal of Information Leadership Limited will run this workshop and topics to be covered include:
- Designing your SharePoint implementation to accommodate records management needs
- Managing hard copy and electronic records in SharePoint
- Adding and managing metadata
- Version control and approvals
- Applying security
- Searching and retrieving documents
- Applying retention and disposal rules to records.
Workshop Two: Connecting To Your Community Through Digitisation - $75.00
Presented by Andy Fenton and Janine Delaney of NZ Micrographic Services, the workshop will cover the following topics:
- Why digitise? Terms and concepts, access vs. preservation.
- Scoping an imaging project
- Project planning and external relationships
- Image quality – how do you judge?
- Image capture and processing – critical steps and things you should know and ask
- Imaging delivery – master files to access images
- Storage & hosting
- Case studies
Special Interest Groups for Collecting Archives, School Archives and Religious Archives will be meeting on the morning of Wednesday 27th August. If you are interested in attending one of these meetings, please indicate on the Registration Form so we can let the convenors know the level of interest.
A list of accommodation options has been posted on the website, and sent around the listservs. These are suggestions only, and many other options are available. At the time of booking, it also may pay to check the provider’s website, as we have been advised by some hotels that Internet specials may be available at certain times.
Finally, the Committee would like to acknowledge the Conference’s two major sponsors, Archives New Zealand and New Zealand Micrographic Services for their generous support of this event.
Any questions regarding the Conference can be directed to conference@aranz.org.nz. We look forward to seeing you all there in August.
Aimee Brown
Records and Archives Week
I would like to express my appreciation to all the members who got involved in Records and Archives Week 2008. It was great to hear about the successful RAW events and publicity happening all over the country. Some of the highlights included:
- In Auckland, 55 people turned out to hear Paul Taylor talk about ‘preserving your records in a changing world’.
- In Masterton, the Wairarapa Archive got three news stories in the local paper, including a feature article on care of personal and family records. They had a good response from readers, and an increase in visitors to the archive.
- In Wellington, more than 70 members of the public turned up to the Records and Archives Roadshow to get advice on caring for their family treasures. This event got full page coverage in the Capital Times community paper, and even a mention on national television!
- Archives and records services all over the country staged exhibitions and displays for the week, generating considerable interest and increased patronage.
I was impressed with way records managers and archivists throughout New Zealand took the opportunity to promote their records, their services, and themselves.
Next year we’d like to make RAW even more successful. To that end, we’ve set up a short online survey to help us gather feedback and ideas for improvement. The survey takes about five minutes. If you haven’t already completed it, please take the time to let us know what you thought, by clicking here. The survey closes on 30 June.
Patrick Power
National Catholic Archivists’ Conference 2008
An enthusiastic group of 70 archivists from all corners of New Zealand (even including one from Australia!) gathered on 9-12 March at the Mercy Centre in Thorndon, Wellington.
The participants represented an extremely wide background: Archives of the Catholic dioceses of Auckland, Christchurch and the Archdiocese of Wellington; 15 Religious congregations; 2 Catholic parish archives; National Council of St. Vincent de Paul; 12 Catholic colleges; a Presbyterian college; an Anglican primary school; the Quakers; the Presbyterian Church; NZ Church Missionary Society; an Anglican Diocese; the Salvation Army; Te Rununga O Raukawa; Wellington and Lower Hutt City Councils; National Council of Women; Vintage Car Club of NZ; 4 public libraries; NZ Defence Force; a District Health Board; an independent consultant and the Southern Bays Historical Society.
The convenor, Sister Stephanie Kitching RSM, welcomed participants and then invited Margaret O’Sullivan to introduce the opening speaker, Dianne Macaskill, Chief Archivist at Archives NZ. She reiterated the benefits of working together and sharing our knowledge as many of those present worked alone facing huge workloads, often with few resources and inadequate facilities.
Archbishop John Dew officially opened the Conference on Monday morning, due to prior commitments in the weekend. He described his delight at finding information on his grandfather in the Archdiocescan Archives and stressed the phrase known to many archivists : “Archives are the footprints of Christ” (Pope Paul VI)
Addresses given by experts in their field reflected the magnitude of the archivists’ challenges: Archives NZ’s standards for archival storage and access (Evelyn Wareham); managing and planning archival storage (Sandra Falconer); serving the needs of both internal and external creators and users (Joanna Newman). Sir Arthur G. Doughty, a former Dominion Archivist of Canada, 1904 -1935, was cited to much agreement: “Of all national assets, archives are the most precious; they are the gift of one generation to another and the extent of our care of them marks the extent of our civilization”.
Over Monday and Tuesday participants were offered a wide ranging selection of interactive workshops from local experts. These covered managing photos, maps and objects; oral history; disaster preparedness; using PastPerfect and other archival databases; digitisation; digital preservation; the care of historic church textiles; the care of art works; setting up a school archive; tips for looking after community archives; and appraisal and disposal of archives. The organising committee were most grateful for the generosity of those leading these workshops.
Members of Challenge 2000 provided entertainment at the Monday evening dinner with much humour, polished singing and a challenging quiz. The plenary session was led by Sister Catherine Shelton RSJ and off-site visits were well-attended at Te Papa Archives and the National Film Archives.
The undoubted success of the conference was the amount of sharing and networking which was done. The buzz was infectious and many participants wanted another conference next year! Some representatives of the sponsors who assisted were also present and commended the energy they experienced.
The next conference will be held in about 3 years, possibly in Wellington with its central location and state archival facilities. Several regional workshops have been held over the last year and have been enthusiastically attended. The Wellington Sole Archivists’s Group continues to meet each month at Mercy Centre, Thorndon. Contact Ken Scadden, Manager, Marist Archives 04-471-0600.
Sister Stephanie Kitching RSM
Pataka Ipurangi: Manawatu Memory Online
Palmerston North City Library recently launched their new digital library after 18 months of planning and a lot of hard work. Pataka Ipurangi: Manawatu Memory Online has gone live with over 1200 images, with more being entered almost daily. Currently the majority of images are photographs, with some maps and aerial photographs, archival records, e-books and artefacts included. Sound recordings, films and images of art works will be among the new categories to follow.
The aim of the Pataka Ipurangi is about providing increased access to records, particularly to those people living beyond Palmerston North. However, as only a small percentage of the overall records will ever be digitised a secondary aim is to publicise the Archives itself and what it ‘might’ hold.
Pataka Ipurangi: Manawatu Memory Online is a joint project between the City Archives and Library, which are housed together, and is another means of connecting to offer services to the public. Its first success came the day after the launch, when a man revealed that he had found a photograph of his mother, who died when he was 10, that he had never seen!
Pataka Ipurangi: Manawatu Memory Online was launched at an evening event attended by over 100 guests, with Jock Phillips as guest speaker. It was also part of the first ever Local History Week organised by the Archives and Library, which proved to be a great success. You can explore Pataka Ipurangi: Manawatu Memory Online at digitallibrary.pncc.govt.nz or via the home page of the City Library website, at citylibary.pncc.govt.nz
Doctors’ lives on line
The Cotter Medical History Trust in Christchurch has notes, clippings and memorabilia on over 1,000 doctors who practised in and around Christchurch and Canterbury from about 1840 to the present. This collection is the result of a long-time hobby of Pat Cotter, retired surgeon who has asked, cajoled, and generally coaxed the material for close families of colleagues and past practitioners. It was originally held in Pat’s house, but now is at the headquarters of the trust at Christchurch Hospital.
Gillian Beaven is donating her time to register the archive with NRAM, making it available on-line. About half of the collection is now registered, and we are receiving frequent enquiries from all over the world from genealogists and also from descendents who are keen to find out a bit more about Granddad Doc.
The collection has contributed to our internally produced notable short biographical monographs. Examples are: early Christchurch pathologist Arthur Bushby Pearson; academic pathologist Dennis Tiffin Stewart; wartime pilot and ophthalmologist James Rudd Hay; Otago Medical School Dean Sir Charles Ernest Hercus; pioneering paediatric anaesthetist Margaret Stuart Smith; Lyttelton doctor Charles Hazlitt Upham (uncle of CH Upham, VC and Bar); Auckland priest and early gynaecological surgeon Arthur Guyon Purchas; and mountaineer, photographer and Hokitika surgeon Ebenezer Teichelmann.
Max Abernathy
News from MOTAT
The Tolley photograph collection relating to the Walsh and Dexter run New Zeland Flying School which operated from Mission Bay in the early 20th century has now been added to the Walsh Memorial Library’s database and to NRAM. These pictures were taken by the donor’s grandfather as a teenager when his family lived in the Mission Bay area. The collection is a wonderful mixture of photos of the flying boats, the students and staff of the school, the buildings, camp and the surrounding area. Auckland historians, aviation historians and family researchers would be most interested and welcome to come in and view the collection Monday to Fridays 10-5 pm or on Saturdays in June.
A recent awareness raising tour by London businessman Trevor Smith to garner support for the idea of a statue of Sir Keith Park for the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square saw an opportunity for the Walsh Memorial Library to show off the archives we hold of material from Sir Keith park including the most impressive illuminated deed establishing Sir Keith Park Coat of Arms.”
Megan Wishart
New Archives Database for Upper Hutt City Library
In May the Upper Hutt City Library launched its new Archives Database.The database stores images relating to Upper Hutt’s history, allowing the public to view them from the comfort of their own home.
The images available are those that have been collected by the Upper Hutt Community Archive for the last ten years, and a recent Lotteries Commission grant has allowed for nearly 2000 images from the collection to be digitised and made available to the public electronically for research purposes, genealogy, school assignments or personal interests. The public also have the opportunity to purchase digital or photographic prints.
Along with the photographs, archival collections from various establishments within Upper Hutt are held in the Community Archive, along with a number of publications.
The database, DFC (Digital Filing Cabinet), is a product from New Zealand Micrographics Services, who also created the website as a separate component.
Although Upper Hutt City Library has had an existing archives database for the past ten years, the ability to upload images and also have control over the look of the website has changed the public’s endorsement of Upper Hutt’s history. After the launch of the database one of the first organisations to make contact was Matapihi, offering membership to their national digitised collection. The Library regards this invitation as validation of the hard work that has been put into getting the new archives database created and functioning.
Jolene Russell
News from Christchurch City Libraries
Amanda Brown’s appointment as our Digital Content Librarian means we now have a dedicated person to oversee the creation of digital reproductions from the Aotearoa New Zealand Centre collections.
With Amanda co-ordinating an expanded digitisation programme, the Library is now also able to borrow precious family material to create a digital copy - making previously unavailable local material accessible to customers on our website. An example of this is the new digital resource the Dwyer Police Reminiscences which make very interesting and entertaining reading.
Canterbury Opera records were recently deposited with the Library. This large collection documents the opera scene in Christchurch from the mid 1980s to the early 2000s and demonstrates that dedicated enthusiasts can produce quality productions at a local level. As it is large collection it will take some time to make it fully available to our customers; but once arranged and described it will be a valuable addition to arts-related archives in the Canterbury region.
Rosemary O’Neil, Aotearoa New Zealand Centre, Christchurch City Libraries
The New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society Inc.
We are a not for profit group who have an interest in recording the history and development of railway transport in New Zealand.
The objects of the Society include:
· To place on public record information related to the history and development of railway transport in New Zealand.
· To encourage and facilitate as far as possible, the preservation of railway literature, photographs, documents, tickets, models and other items of railway interest that will help to illustrate and preserve the history of railway transport in New Zealand.
The Society was begun in 1944, and since then archival material consisting of documentary records, pictorial records, maps, plans, library books and artefacts consisting of rolling stock, equipment and hardware have been collected. Most of the collection is held in our own premises which are located both at Lower Hutt and at Silverstream.
More information about our activities can be obtained by visiting our website at www.railsoc.org.nz
Ross Seaton
$69 million upgrade for National Library
“Be careful what you wish for ....
.... because you just might get it,” says a delighted Chris Szekely, Chief Librarian of the Alexander Turnbull, in reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of a $69 million dollar upgrade for the National Library of New Zealand’s building in Molesworth Street.
“We certainly need more space, and an upgrade of aging plant and facilities to accommodate the expanding collections and modernisation of services”, says Chris.
“It is terrific that the Government has approved the project. However, now the real work starts as we begin to plan how to make this happen.”
The refurbishment is a huge project, which will result in an additional 4,000 sq metres to the building. It will require staff, services and collections to be completely relocated from Molesworth Street for a two-year period.
“We are looking into a range of options for an alternative temporary home. The protection and preservation of the collections will be our foremost concern, along with a commitment to continue a more limited range of services and collection access.”
“The redevelopment will also reflect the Library’s transformation in a world that is increasingly digital”, says Penny Carnaby National Library Chief Executive and National Librarian.
“We will be able to fully realise the digital experience for our customers by providing interactive spaces for digital access to the Library collections, including integrating digital technology and physical space in a way that creates exciting new experiences.”
At the launch of the redevelopment, Penny Carnaby also gave a public reassurance around the safety of the collections.
“For all of you who know the inestimable value to the nation of the documentary heritage collections, largely held in the magnificent Alexander Turnbull Library, I give you my assurance that these collections will be kept safe during the construction period. Furthermore, we will make them as accessible as we possibly can during the redevelopment, and will keep the public and our customers regularly updated on key milestones and developments.”
“For the Alexander Turnbull Library, the redevelopment is a great opportunity to more prominently position the Turnbull within the National Library and enhance its role as one of New Zealand’s most significant research libraries.”
Increased funding for Archives New Zealand
Nearly $2 million in funding over the next four years will provide Archives New Zealand with the capability to establish a comprehensive recordkeeping audit programme across the public sector, the Minister responsible for Archives New Zealand Judith Tizard said on 27 May.
"Good recordkeeping is essential to good government and I am delighted that Archives New Zealand now has the capability to carry out world class audits," Judith Tizard said.
Over the next two years Archives New Zealand will establish the audit framework and run pilot audits to support government organisations in their recordkeeping functions. Archives New Zealand will be seeking input from the auditing community to ensure a good result.
From mid 2010 the audits proper will begin and some 2700 agencies will be audited from then until 2016 – that is over 500 agencies annually. The agencies that will be audited include government departments, crown entities, crown research institutes, state enterprises, district health boards, tertiary institutions, and state schools. The audits are required by the Public Records Act 2005. Archives New Zealand has already set mandatory standards against which the audits will be measured.
“One of the signs of a strong society is having good evidence of the decisions and actions of government. Good recordkeeping means the public can be confident that government is transparent and accountable,” Judith Tizard said.
“This Budget also recognises the importance of ensuring government records are maintained and a further $880,000 over the next two years has been set aside to identify the volume of records likely to come to Archives New Zealand in the future, and develop options to meet this need over the next 20 to 30 years.
“Once this project is complete government will be able to address storage requirements for the on-going capacity for keeping public archives and ensuring their accessibility for future generations,” Judith Tizard said.
NZ recordkeeper receives lifetime achievement award
ARANZ member and Wellington branch stalwart Mike Steemson recently received a singular honour. He was awarded the United Kingdom Records Management Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mike received the award in recognition of his contribution to the industry. His experience includes eight years at Express Newspapers plc (publisher of the Daily Express, the Express on Sunday and the Daily Star), where he was responsible for the development and application of imaging systems for photographs and news clippings. Mike is also a former chairman of the Records Management Society and has stood on two permanent British Standards Institution committees for document imaging standards and business development. Not to mention his tireless promotion of records and archives in New Zealand!
End of an era at the Hocken
Stuart Strachan recently retired as Hocken Librarian after 40 years in the archival profession. Stuart began his archival career at the Hocken in September 1968. In 1970 he completed a course at University College, London, to become New Zealand’s first trained archivist. He spent 8 years in Wellington at the then National Archives, before returning to the Hocken in 1985 as head librarian.
Stuart has been an active member of ARANZ and the archives profession throughout his career. He will remain a member of the Archives Council which was recently set up under the Public Records Act.
Sharon Dell has been appointed as the new Hocken Librarian. Ms Dell was previously director of the Whanganui Regional Museum.
Newsletter goes electronic
The ARANZ Council has decided to change the way that the newsletter is published. Starting with this issue, the newsletter will be published in electronic form on the ARANZ website. Members will be told that the newsletter is available via email. The email will include a link which will take you to the website, where you can read the newsletter on screen or print it out yourself.
Why did we make this change? Because it will make it easier for us to publish the newsletter on time, with improved content. For a start, you will notice that this newsletter has 6 pages instead of the usual 4.
Members who have not provided us with emails were sent a notice about the change with their last paper newsletter. However, if you know of anyone who is not aware of the change, please let them know.
If you know of a member who does not have access to email, please tell us, so that we can make alternative arrangements for them.
Contact the editor
The Editor is always delighted to receive news items, information or advertising enquiries for inclusion in the newsletter, published four times a year (January, April, June, & October). Contact the Editor by e-mail to newsletter@aranz.org.nz or by post: ARANZ Newsletter Editor, PO Box 11-553, Manners Street, Wellington.
