The New Australian Records Management Standard

David Roberts

This paper was presented on 19 July 1997 at the Annual Meeting of the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA), Sustainable Change: Getting to the Heart of Our Challenge, held in Sacramento, CA, 16-19 July 1997.

Acknowledgment

I wish to acknowledge the generosity of the National Association of Government Archives and Records Administrators and the Australian Archives in sharing the funding of my participation in this Annual Meeting with my employing institution, thereby making it possible to present this paper. My thanks also to Greg O'Shea of the Australian Archives for bringing me up to date on the situation in the Commonwealth Government.

Table of Contents

The origins and development of the Standard

The draft Standard

Recent developments

An outline of the Standard and its features

Purpose of the Standard

Features of the Standard

• The concept of a record
• Electronic records, as well as conventional or physical records
• A methodology for designing and implementing recordkeeping systems
• Strategies for ensuring the creation and capture of records
• Appraisal includes decisions about what records to create and capture
• Classification serving multiple uses
• Focus on business functions and activities
• A continuum-based approach
• Suitable for the small office or business
• Suitable for the corporate and public sectors

Implementation

Place in the recordkeeping regime

Adoption by Government agencies

Acquiring records management software

Electronic recordkeeping

Training and professional education

How to obtain the Standard