Last month we profiled the Government Recordkeeping Directorate and this week it’s the turn of the Holdings and Discovery Directorate.
Holdings and Discovery is responsible for the care of and access to the public archives held by Archives New Zealand (Archives). While Government Recordkeeping deals with public records up to and including a transfer to Archives, Holdings and Discovery is responsible for everything that takes place after transfer.
Holdings and Discovery is organised into three teams Research Services, Description & Discovery and Preservation and Repository Services.
The main role of the Research Services team is to facilitate access to the archives. There are three ways the Team accomplishes this.
The first way is through the Government Loans Service. This Service allows the temporary loan of an archive back to the controlling public office. The default loan period is three months. Government Loans is an option for offices that need to use an archive for legal discovery or a lengthy consultation.
The baseline Government Loans Service is free but charges apply for urgent processing, copying, late returns, excess ordering and the loss or damage of loaned archives. The Government Loans section of the Archives website has full details of the Service: http://archives.govt.nz/services-government-loans
The Team also runs the reading room service. In the Reading Room researchers can view public archives (a public record that has been transferred to the control of the Chief Archivist) they have ordered.
All that is needed to place orders is to sign up for a reader card (this can be done at any office of Archives). The archives are expected to be available to view within an hour of the order being placed. For researchers from a public office using the Reading Room is a speedy way to access records held at Archives.
The desk staff in the Reading Room can assist researchers from a public office in getting used to the reading room processes. It is particularly important to note that the access restrictions listed on Archway for some records and collections apply to all users of the Reading Room. Researchers from a public office will need permission from the access contact listed for a restricted record even if the record is controlled by their office.
The third way is to request that a member of the Research Services Team searches and/or copies an item on your behalf via the Remote Reference Service. You can request this Service by emailing the Team at research.archives@dia.govt.nz. Charges apply for the copying or consultation of archives by Archives staff on your behalf. Similarly to the Reading Room, research will not be undertaken on any restricted records until Archives is able to confirm that permission has been given by the designated access contact.
Another team in the Directorate is Description & Discovery. This Team is responsible for ensuring the holdings are fully described and available on our online finding aid Archway (www.archway.archives.govt.nz). A public office will interact with this Team if it needs to change the access status applied to records transferred to Archives. The Description & Discovery Team also works to improve the usability of the Archway system ensuring that the holdings are comprehensively listed and easily located.
This responsibility extends to making sure that changes to public offices are properly documented. When an office is created, merged or disestablished Description and Discovery has the work of updating and documenting the changes thereby preserving the history and context (‘provenance’) of the public archives.
The Description & Discovery Team coordinates work with public offices on the archives that have been transferred to Archives. An example of this is the ongoing programme of work with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade involving the annual updating of access restrictions of the files that have been cleared for public access.
The third team is Preservation and Repository Services. The main duty of this Team is the preservation of the archives.
While public offices will not usually directly interact with this Team, the other teams in the two Directorates rely on Preservation and Repository Services for advice and assistance with the proper handling and care and storage of the archives. Preservation and Repository Services has responsibility for conserving and protecting fragile and damaged archives and ensures that the holdings are maintained safely and securely. The Team also has responsibility planning storage allocation in the repository and ensure archives are located and returned where they belong. In addition to being responsive to incidents and issues the Preservation and Repository Services Team proactively monitors storage conditions. They, along with the other teams, help in the process of making records available digitally (as well as digitising some of the most fragile records themselves).
Because of the wide variety of roles throughout the Directorates and teams a public office will not always deal with the same staff members or the same team. Enquiries will be directed appropriately which ensures that Archives provides targeted advice and assistance.
The two Directorates complement each other to ensure that public records are being created, assessed, transferred, cared for and made accessible to the public.