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Projects

PARBICA engages in projects to advance archival development and recordkeeping in the Pacific region. These projects are generally undertaken in partnership with allied organisations and sponsors.

Current priorities include:

Recordkeeping for Good Governance: Development of guidelines and manuals to support improved recordkeeping in support of good governance – click here to access the Recordkeeping for Good Governance Toolkit

Education and Training: Making information available to Pacific archives and records staff on existing opportunities and avenues for training and education, as well as promoting establishment of further education programmes and training opportunities in the Pacific Island

Pacific Archives Reader: Compilation and publication of a volume bringing together classic texts and new articles on archives in the Pacific in celebration of PARBICA’s 25th Anniversary

Recent projects have included:

Distance Learning Project: In 2001-2003, PARBICA worked with a team of highly qualified and experienced archival educators led by the International Records Management Trust (IRMT) to undertake a needs assessment study for education and training in Pacific Island countries. The project looked at the feasibility of establishment of a distance education programme, resulting in a comprehensive proposal to the University of the South Pacific (USP). The project was supported by UNESCO and ICA. For the results of the study, see:

Education and Training for Records and Archives Management in Pacific Island Nations: A Needs Assessment and Report (1.3 mb Word) prepared for PARBICA, by Laura Millar, International Records Management Trust, December 2003.

Low-Cost Archives Storage: In recognition of the difficulties faced by most tropical, small island countries in storage and preservation of records and archives, PARBICA undertook studies on different options for low cost storage led by Ted Ling. A scientific trial of use of non-air-conditioned shipping containers for low-cost storage of records in a tropical environment was undertaken in 2001-2002. This demonstrated that shipping crates were not a suitable option for long-term archives storage in the tropics. The project, which was supported by ICA and carried out in partnership with the National Archives of Australia, resulted in three reports:

The Darwin Shipping Container Trial: Report and Results (2002) pdf 689 kb 

Using Shipping Containers for Record Storage: Specification and Description (2002) pdf 280 kb 

Building a Low-Cost Archives in the Tropics: Specification and Description (2003) pdf 871 kb 

Archives Legislation: PARBICA has promoted passage of archives legislation in countries, states and territories in the Pacific through training at its conferences and by making existing statutes available to its members. In 2001, we published the PARBICA Compendium of Pacific Archives Legislation. The Compendium project was supported by ICA, and undertaken thanks to the generous contribution of time by Editor Nancy Lutton.

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