“Mind the Gap! Recordkeeping Skills and the Public Records Act” was the topic addressed at this month’s recordkeeping forum. Presentations are now available online. An analysis of the public sector and local government recordkeeping training requirements is now underway. The aim is to develop recommendations for our involvement in training. Recordkeepers will have a chance to contribute their ideas via an online survey and focus groups over the next three months. Follow this link to get involved.
Government agencies received the online questionnaire for the 2006 government recordkeeping survey last week. This year, only one response has been requested from each public office. The 2006 survey also uses the mandatory reporting powers in the Public Records Act (PRA) to request information on legislative compliance, so the Chief Archivist’s annual report to Parliament is accurate and comprehensive.
Archives New Zealand together with Standards New Zealand is currently developing a strategy, timeline and methodology for development of standards under the PRA. Mandatory standards will be a strong focus over the next two years; these set the criteria for recordkeeping audits starting in 2010. Two sessions in May included recordkeepers from public offices, local government, approved repositories and the private sector to workshop the strategy. They recommended a robust process for standards development (similar to that used by Standards NZ and ISO), and identified priority areas. These included creation and maintenance of records, recordkeeping metadata, digital recordkeeping and physical storage, as well as disposal, disaster protection and access.
Some standards projects are already underway. The review of the Storage Standard for issue as the first mandatory standard under the PRA is charging ahead. Now is your chance to have your say on the existing standard, with feedback due by 30 June 2006. For details see the Storage Standard Review page. Also, keep an eye out for the new Digitisation Standard, which will define expectations for digitisation of analogue records — an exposure draft will be out for comment in July-August 2006.
A useful tool coming out soon is an index to disposal classes across all the general disposal authorities (GDAs). This will help public offices to determine more easily which of their records are covered by GDAs. A new proposed GDA has been released for public comment on Archives NZ’s website: the Administration GDA covers administrative or corporate services functions across all public offices. The proposed GDA is available online.
Government Recordkeeping has a number of newcomers this year. Patrick Power, Kevin Molloy and Stephen Clarke are now in our recordkeeping team, while Helen Vaughan-Dawkes and Mark Crookston have been appointed to new roles in the appraisal team. Manager of the Government Recordkeeping Programme, Evelyn Wareham, will be on maternity leave from mid-July to December 2006.
Last, but certainly not least, we’ve been working on updating all publications in the Continuum Recordkeeping Resource Kit to ensure consistency with the PRA. The full revised set is due for distribution to all Continuum Kit holders by August 2006. This includes several new fact sheets and guides (some replacing existing advisory notices), as well as a new introductory guide to the PRA and compliance assessment.
Recordkeeping enquiries: rkadvice@archives.govt.nz
Appraisal enquiries: appraisal@archives.govt.nz
Transfer enquiries: transfer@archives.govt.nz
Physical address: PO Box 12-050 / 10 Mulgrave St, Wellington
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