Storage Standard

Introduction | Purpose | Scope | Relationship with Other Processes and Standards | Advice and Guidance

1. Introduction

This standard specifies minimum requirements for storage of physical records and archives under the Public Records Act 2005. It was developed by Archives New Zealand to ensure the preservation and proper management of New Zealand government records over time.

The standard is the Chief Archivist's interpretation of those sections of the Public Records Act 2005, which impose statutory responsibilities for the protection and preservation of physical records and archives.

1.1 Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to support and improve government recordkeeping. Its goals are:

to specify minimum requirements for storage of public records and local authority records, in order to ensure their safe care and custody
to enable assessment of storage facilities, including commercial facilities.

The outcome of these goals will be the preservation of government records for as long as they are required, in order to allow future retrieval and use.

The safe care and custody of records from their creation enables the retention of official records which document the actions and decisions of New Zealand central and local government and the rights of the public. It ensures that those records which are authorised for destruction are managed efficiently, and that records which have significant ongoing value survive, and are preserved as archives.

The rights of Māori to their recorded knowledge, which is a taonga in the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi, should be respected when this knowledge is incorporated into government records and archives. The standard aims to support Māori cultural practice regarding care of records by encouraging protection of sensitive information and the long-term preservation of valued records.

1.2 Scope

1.2.1 Physical, Not Digital Records

This standard applies to physical records. That is, it applies to physical objects which have been used to record information. Examples of common types of physical records are:

paper files and documents
volumes and registers
photographic media including photographs, film, microforms, and x-rays
maps, plans, and drawings
magnetic media such as floppy disks, digital tape, video and audio cassettes
optical disks such as CDs and DVDs.

The standard does not apply to digital records. It does specify minimum requirements for the physical storage of digital media such as floppy disks, digital tape, CDs, and DVDs. However, because digital records are not permanently linked to their physical media, their preservation involves a different set of principles and conditions to that of physical records.

At the present time, most local authorities and public offices manage recordkeeping systems that contain both digital and physical records. For instance, physical paper documents may be registered and controlled by an electronic database. This standard applies only to the storage of the physical records within such a system.

1.2.2 Central and Local Government Records

The standard applies to central and local government records which are physical records, regardless of their location or disposal status. It applies to:

records which are still in active use within public offices or local authorities
records which are held in storage for occasional use
records held by third parties such as contractors or commercial storage providers
records appraised as having archival value
records which have been authorised for destruction after a finite period
records which have not yet been appraised.

In the terms of the Public Records Act 2005, the standard applies to all physical records which are public records, public archives, local authority records, or local authority archives.

1.3 Relationship with Other Processes and Standards

Storage interacts with other recordkeeping processes. Under the Public Records Act 2005, public offices and local authorities must create full and accurate records of their activities, and ensure that those records are captured into systems which will maintain them in accessible form for as long as they are required. These systems will include proper storage.

Under the Public Records Act 2005, disposal of public records and local authority records must be approved by the Chief Archivist. Records which are appraised to be of archival value will eventually be transferred to an archive, where they will be kept for the long-term. Records which are appraised to be of short-term value will be stored until the end of their retention period, and then be disposed of.

At any time during these processes, the records may be requested by a user, and it will be necessary to provide access to them.

Requirements for these processes are outlined in other publications issued by Archives New Zealand. These include:

the list of local authority protected records (usually known as the Local Government Schedule), which specifies which local authority records must be protected and preserved. This is available on Archives New Zealand's website at http://continuum.archives.govt.nz/
disposal authorities for public records, including the General Disposal Authorities. These documents specify which public records must be preserved and for how long. Copies of current disposal authorities are available in Archives New Zealand's Archway system at http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/
recordkeeping standards, including the Access Standard, the Appraisal Standard, the Electronic Recordkeeping Systems Standard, and the Digitisation Standard. These standards will be updated and revised over time. An up-to-date list can be found on Archives New Zealand's website at http://continuum.archives.govt.nz/.

Public offices and local authorities creating health records should also be aware of the New Zealand standard on health records, NZS 8153:2002, which gives some guidance on creation and maintenance of these records.

1.4 Advice and Guidance

This standard sets out to clearly specify minimum requirements for storage. Further information on storage of physical records will be available in the separate Archives New Zealand publication A Guide to Best Practice in Storage (forthcoming).

Advice and technical guidance on implementation is available from Archives New Zealand:

Government Recordkeeping Programme
Archives New Zealand
PO Box 12050, Wellington 6144
Telephone: 04-499 5595
Email: rkadvice@archives.govt.nz

The National Preservation Office are also available to assist:

National Preservation Office
National Library of New Zealand
PO Box 1467, Wellington 6140
Telephone: 04-474 3000
Email: preservation@natlib.govt.nz