(this guide is provided courtesy of the Australian Society of Archivists Inc)
This guide is intended to provide some introductory help to persons who have been given the task of establishing an archives program.
When an organisation (for example, a school, diocese, business, club, community group, or local government in some States) first decides to look after its archives, the following issues are often important -
The organisation will have made a formal commitment to preserve its historical records, but is not sure what records it has, which ones could be important, or what resources and facilities (and money!) will be needed.
The person appointed as an 'archivist' may have no training or experience in this work, but will often have significant knowledge of the history or current state of the organisation.
This guide provides some elementary advice on how to get started, and (more importantly) where to seek help.
Here the word archives is used to mean the historical records of the institution that are worth preserving because they have historical value or long-term business value to the organisation. Archives with a capital 'A' means the place designated for housing and working on the archives. Archives program means all the work carried out to ensure that the archives are properly cared for and made useful to the institution.
Establishing a new archives program means proceeding carefully at first. The first steps to establishing a successful archives program are to …
Stop
Before committing yourself to any 'hands-on' work to establish your archives program, take time to discover what you are dealing with and what is expected of you. You should be able to answer the following questions before you begin serious work sorting out the archives and beginning to provide archives services:
What is the structure of the organisation? Is it divided into departments or offices with different responsibilities?
What functions or responsibilities does each part have?
What kinds of records are currently accumulated by the organisation and who has responsibility for them?
What is your place in the institutional hierarchy? To whom will you be reporting? Are you clear about what is expected of you?
Look
A newly-appointed archivist will often be confronted with quantities of old records that no-one has cared for, stored in bad conditions, and with few clues as to what they might comprise.
If at all possible, avoid the temptation to get started by 'wading in' to tidy up such a mess until you have looked around.
Contact other archivists responsible for similar archives programs and arrange to visit to see what they have done and get ideas for your own archives program.
Join the Australian Society of Archivists Inc. (ASA). Being an archivist is meaningless without a leavening of professional contact and interaction. Use the ASA to your own advantage, as group therapy, to make new friends and contacts, to acquire new ideas. It's not only what you know, but whom you know! Others share your problems and are willing to talk about them.
Read some basic literature about archives and the role of an archivist.
Do a survey of what old records exist in the institution that you will need to deal with as part of the archives program. What kinds of records, where they are stored, how much of each kind.
Think
Your knowledge of the organisation, ideas from other archivists and archives programs, reading, and survey work, will all be important to you as you think about and plan your archives program.
The organisation for whose activities you are responsible, will usually expect you to provide advice about what is needed to carry out the task successfully. This advice needs to be carefully thought out to ensure the archives program is properly understood, especially 'at the top' of the organisation.
Decide what resources, facilities and funds the archives program will need. The highest priority will often be a secure space for storing the archives and some room to sort them out, but this does mean a cupboard or a room? What about shelves and storage cartons?
Work out a basic business plan for the archives program. One way of doing this is to provide the answers to the following questions:
WHO are your clients?
People within the organisation who make decisions about the archives program such as allocating resources, or deciding which records are part of the archives program and which are not. Clients are also people inside and outside the organisation, who use the archives.WHAT do you intend to achieve during the first year?
Complete sorting some piles of old neglected records? Establish a storage place to house the archives? Make lists so you know what archives you have? List your tasks in order of importance.WHEN do you expect to achieve each of the tasks on your list?
HOW will you manage to make this progress?
What resources, facilities and funds will be needed (including of course the most important of all, your own time!).
You will usually find that others in your organisation have different ideas about the role of an archives program. You will need to define clearly what makes the difference between a successful archives program and mere storage. The requirements are:
The ASA is the professional organisation that represents archivists in Australia. There are Branches in every State and Territory, and Special Interest Groups that cater for archivists working on particular kinds of archives or with special archival interests and concerns. Some of these are Business; Schools; University; Electronic Records and Collecting Archives.
The ASA may be contacted through our national postal address, (PO Box 83, O'Connor, ACT 2601) and the nationwide freephone number (1800 622 251) which gives the contact phone numbers of Branch secretaries. Further information is available through our web site.
Ask for our information pack, which includes information about the benefits of membership, samples of our regular publications and a membership application form.
For those taking up archives work with no previous experience, the best basic textbook for learning about your new role is: Keeping Archives (2nd edition, edited by Judith Ellis) published jointly by DW Thorpe and the Australian Society of Archivists Inc., 1993. ISBN 1 875589 15 5. If this is unavailable through your bookseller, it can be ordered from DW Thorpe Ltd., 18 Salmon Street, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207.
Some branches of the Australian Society of Archivists make copies available to members only, at a discount price.
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