New Zealand Vol III No 3 Spring/September 1992 ISSN 0114-7676 , Pluralism, and Information Policy A Review Article Frank Upward

It used to be common to divide librarianship and The paper covers a wide range of issues including: archivy on the basis that one group looked after availability of information; helping consumers to get published material and the other group looked after information; commercial viability; the public interest; non-published unique material. Managing Data the need for credible information; accountability; public Knowledge and Know-How, a preliminary expedition ownership; the role of governments; intellectual into the complex world of National Information Policy property; data privacy; trans-border data flow; the commissioned jointly by the National Library of New impact of technologies... and the list goes on. The issues Zealand and the Institute of Policy Studies (hereinafter are tied together by the notion of information as a called the "paper") shows how outdated that distinction generic product - as a resource that is both a commodity hasbecome.2 The introduction by the National Librarian and a public good. There is strong advocacy of states (p vi) that the paper gives "one view of information community rights of access, with copyright seen as an issues" designed to "create a greater understanding of obvious complicating factor. In fact, anything which information as a resource which is added to, exploited, cuts across the imperative of making information traded and made available within and across national available is seen as a complication. Discrimination in boundaries" - which conceptually is miles away from the information communication chain is allowed for, the notion that libraries are interested only in published but it is positioned at the user end, and less attention documents. The tempered and non-hectoring tone of (sometimes no attention) is given to the creation or the introductory acknowledgement that only one view channelling processes. is expressed is appreciated by this reader, and the Thereis an invariable tendency to deify theeconomic challenge it throws out to us, to come to terms with that value of information, al though this paper is less religious one view, and supplement or replace parts of it in than many Australian or British examples I could cite. debate, is one that should not be put aside. It quotes on page one a piece of puffery from my home In this note I will attempt to use the paper to State, Victoria, which proposes that "information is the summarise key perspectives of the "information age" foundation upon which a market economy, modern librarian as I see them, and to provide some thoughts on government and society is built", and in general that how their views relate to the perspectives of the "front- assumption is held to - although sometimes it is clearly end" archivist (ie those with an interest in current qualified as in the availability/copyright example.3 recordkeeping). Because on a first reading I will seem to In philosophical terms, information is portrayed as be very critical in my comments, I should say at the a platonic unity. The unitary approach means that I outset that the paper provides a much better coverage should not have been surprised as I was that the notions of the issues than that which existed in 1990 when an on the relationship between kno wled ge and information Australian parliamentary committee commenced are not explored, and that there is a ready equation looking at the question. A lot of ground is covered and between the two. Given the title of the paper, it was it is done so with clarity within a perspective which is reasonable for me to expect some exploration of widely held in English-speaking countries. This knowledge, and of different perspectives upon praxis perspective, however, is so different from those of an (know-how). These have been stimulating areas of recent archivist that even to present a view will run the risk of academic debate and the academic rethinking is closing off discussion. I can accept their view of beginning to impact on the community in general. How information with modifications. Can the information many of us have not heard that knowledge is chaos? age librarian however accept a minority view derived The unitary view of information, however, enables from totally different experiences and seemingly beyond challenging philosophies to be sidestepped. Thus, on their self-interest, particularly when the modifications page eleven we are informed (misinformed?) that "the involve a fundamental recasting of their view of purpose of information is to impart and store information itself? knowledge". Chaos on a compact disk? The unitary approach is seemingly very useful for in this area. Availability is more easily seen to be the the arguments which are developed and for the imperative, and the user directed approach is needed presentation of the issues. It enables the paper to cover because many forfns of discrimination at the creation or many issues concisely, with due recognition for the channelling stages of information communication are complexity of the elements and sub-elements. It presents the equivalent of censorship. In regard to the reflective us with the possibility of complying with a unified view record, information is central to our freedom within a and it restricts the points of disagreement with those democracy, is about our ability to make choices, and is technologists who share the same view of information about the imperative of availability. This has been at the as a good, in several senses of the word. From this core of the substantial contribution librarians have made perspective it would seem reasonable that shared to modem democratic societies and which comes out so responses can be developed within the community and strongly, but in such a complicated fashion, in the paper thence into government and private sector, and the I am reviewing. paper finishes on that expectation. The other strand is recorded information about But how useful is such an ordered approach in transactions (archival documents) which capture practical terms? As Sue McKemmish has pointed out, experience more directly than the reflective record and the net result of homogenising information is to create can be thought of as the record of response. For the a situation where most of us can be defined as archivist our democratically inspired imperatives seem information workers.4 So what? Does that mean we to be the genuineness of the record of a transaction and have to accept the value of information, if it is valueless? the maintenance of its context, for only by establishing That we need an information policy to be successful genuineness and considering context can anyone make economic competitors? That we have to worry if there discriminating use of it. Re-stating this in another one of are any mixed policy initiatives from government? Hugh Taylor's finely-tuned phrases, "the document is These are considered significant concerns on the 'blurb' not a passive container of content"/ on the back cover of the paper, with a ready assumption Availability is not an imperative in relation to that it is to New Zealand's disadvantage that there has documents of transactions. Access can in fact run counter been no recognition of the "one view" through an to the democratic rights of citizens, or the legal rights of information policy. But if information is a generic business to protect themselves against information theft. product of much breadth, much of it has to be worthless, We need not talk of privacy as a complication, or as much of it will lead us to economic disasters, and it something to be balanced against access. To us it is a covers so many issues that it will lead to mixed initiatives. competing democratic right which needs to be protected. To imagine otherwise is to be naive, or to have a The community has a reasonably well developed view religious faith in thegoodnessof information, dismissing of it, whereasin relation to access to recorded information its dark side as satanic misinformation. about transactions, their views are confused and that is Archivists, from their experiences, can hold to a very the complication we have to address. different view of information. Many of us can identify Availability is not insignificant to the archivist, and with the statement in an unpublished paper by Colin is worked out through mechanisms like FOI legislation, Smith, which proposes that just as librarians have their archival legislation, recordkeeping provisions of special interests, "archivists meanwhile do battle for individual items of legislation, and through watchdog the equivalent of the smelly wetlands, mosquitoes, and agencies such as auditors, ombudsmen, or archival obscure lichens". Our domain is the marsh country, an authorities. Occasionally we might even run an area of high transactionality providing different exhibition or display. While most archivists would experiences from those of the altered landscapes that concede that the use side of our profession has been a librarians deal with. Archivists are the ecologists of the little neglected in our thought and practice, it still information world, as Hugh Taylor pointed out almost remains pointless for us to make availability our ten years ago.^ imperative, because access to a fake document of No amount of argument by faith should be able to response, or one which has been ripped from its context, convince many archivists that information is a unitary is often worse than no access at all. concept, or a foundation for anything other than a Our perspectives are relevant to issues like society which wants to collapse around itself. As the accountability, trans-border data flow, privacy, the paper points out strongly, information tests our ability establishmentof meta-data about transactional records, to be receptive in a discriminating manner, but in its the guarding against excesses of self-interest in the purest sense information leaves no traces to enable that recording of transactions, in regulating access to archival discrimination to occur. As a foundation for anything, documents as defined above, and in ensuring that other than appropriate or inappropriate responses which modem transactions are appropriately and genuinely depend upon the recipient, information is useless.6 documented. These are issues where the concepts and Traces can be left behind, however, and these traces are methods behind the management of documents of what we once comfortably called documents. Archivists reflection have little demonstrated relevance. should have less trouble accepting that society is heavily The most welcome aspects of the New Zealand shaped by two strands of recorded information. paper, apart from the canvassing of many significant One of those strands is the record of the type that led issues, are at least two-fold. It very clearly shifts Stephane Mallarme to imagine that "all earthly existence information resource management out of a narrow must ultimately be contained in a ", although now organisational focus and consolidates part of the case we might have to start calling the reflective for it being considered in social terms. To be against record to take into account the multiplicity of formats such a proposition is to be against democracy. Secondly, available today, and new notions about knowledge. throughout the text there is clear rejection of the "keep The unitary approach to information makes more sense it simple" mentality which supports the unitary view of information in the first place. The complexity is because fewer and fewer people are making the simple acknowledged; the next step is to convince librarians of identification between information content and the validity of views which focus on the plurality of knowledge upon which the unitary view is based. It is information and its non-generic attributes. likely that thought and practice related to recordkeeping The two strands of thought, the unitary and the and the document will return to the information age plural, are not incompatible, although inevitably there more quickly than many of us imagined. A new praxis will be readers who think I am setting up opposite will develop because it is needed. Librarians and views, rather than different ones. There are many archivists perhaps do have an imperative they can differentviewsof information,but the viewsof archivists share together - that of regaining respect for the record and of librarians have traditions behind them which of the past, the present, and the future, including the should make them powerful in the changing context in reflective record and the record of the transaction. which we find ourselves. Together, the two views should be all the stronger. The notion that archivists look after 4 Eg: Ann Pederson (ed), Keeping Archives, Sydney transactional documents, and that librarians are (Australian Society of Archivists) 1987, p9. concerned with the documents of reflection may seem 2 Adele Carpinter, Managing Data Knowledge and Know­ overly traditional, but I suspect it, or something similar, How - Information Policy Issues for the 1990s, Wellington could lead to much better information systems and will (National Library & IPS) 1991. take us both back into contact with experiences that are 3 For alternative views of the importance of generic familiar to us. Such an approach will require due information from a librarian, I particularly like those recognition of the specialisations of each other, and will of former New Zealander, Mary Ronnie, who has involve substantial modification to the platonic model suggested, for example, that the Australian Library & of information that the librarians are too locked into for Information Association's education policy is so our comfort, or for their own success. obsessed with information that library services seem Recognition of our differences, and some cross­ to be equated with the doling out of a pound of sugar overs of our conceptualisations, will be needed for the (ALIA/Monash University correspondence). creation of both organisational and national information 4 S McKemmish, 'Australia as an Information Society: policies. The policies will have to be an outcome of Grasping New Paradigms; An Assessment'. Archives experience. Those experiences are plural and are more and Manuscripts, Vol 19, November 1992. than just our own. The notion that policy decisions are 5 H Taylor, 'Information Ecology and the Archives of the equivalent of pulling a lever to produce required the 1980s'. Archivaria, 18 (Summer 1984). outcomes is copping a battering at present, both 6 The notion of information as 'signal', which this academically and in the general community, although paragraph alludes to, was at the heart of the our politicians and some managers still seem to have development of Management Information System some faith in the mechanistic approach. Understanding approaches, which have been forestalled in their pluralism, and accepting the importance of development and utility by the lack of contextual contingencies (context in archival terms) are becoming concepts. Put simply, they have not worked as well as more than post-modern catch-phrases. They are starting expected because there has not been enough to influence the way we manage "knowledge and know­ discrimination built into them, which is easy to how", as we move towards our networked future. conclude, but will only be rectifiable by the If a re-thinking of archivist/librarian relativities development of more sophisticated concepts of involves such a basic reversion to the experiences of information. both groups, why are archival perspectives missing 7 Cited in T Cook, 'Viewing the World Upside Down...'. from the information age debate? The short answer is Archivaria 31 (Winter 1990-91 ),pl31. Cook's article is that until recently no-one has been presenting them. itself an account of the importance of context within Why should librarians listen to the few archivally- new ideas of knowledge. influenced voices that are starting to emerge? Simply

Anglicans Deny Mormons Access to Parish Records In a report to the General Synod, the Archives to copyright laws. Committee of the Anglican Church in New Zealand Responding to a letter published in the media said it should continue to deny requests from the suggesting the church had taken a bigoted and doctrinal Genealogical Society of Utah to microfilm records. approach to the issue, Mr Limbrick responded by Warren Limbrick, chair of the Committee, said that pointing out that the microfilming was ultimately done previous requests from the Mormon-founded Society for a sectarian purpose which could cause distress to had caused concern to Anglicans in the past, and many the descendants of persons named in the records. He Anglican churches around the world also denied also stated that the Anglican religious community found Mormons access to parish records. it deeply offensive that their records would be copied Archives guidelines issued by the New Zealand with the express intention of purporting to reverse or Anglican Church to its dioceses said that records (which alter their original religious significance, despite some can contain personal information, such as records of members of the public finding the Mormons merely births marriages and deaths) are "a special category of 'quaint'. taonga requiring sensitivity and care", and controlled Evening Post, 18 & 25 May, 6 June 1992. Listener & access. Church records are church property, and subject TV Times, 11 July 1992. Michael Wordsworth Standish Chief Archivist 1962

Michael Standish (right) with Theodore R. Schellenberg, during the latter’s visit to New Zealand in August 1954 (Alexander Turnbull Library: 2949 1/4).

Michael Standish was bom in 1920. He began his In 1957 Michael obtained leave to travel overseas career in the Alexander Turnbull Library in 1937. to gain experience in England and Europe, and re­ Thenceforth followed war service in New Zealand turned greatly stimulated and determined. before he was again appointed to the staff of the Although in practice he had been head of Na­ newly-formed War History Branch. tional Archives for several years it was not until 1962 With the retirement of Dr GH Scholefield, the that Michael Standish was officially appointed Chief General Assembly Librarian who also held the post Archivist under the terms of the Archives Act. Tragi­ of Controller of Dominion Archives in 1947, and the cally, he died suddenly soon afterwards, on 25 May departure of EH McCormick the former Chief War 1962. Archivist to a post at the University of Auckland, Michael was a quiet, scholarly, unassuming man, Michael was seconded to the archives. of light build but with great determination and He was virtually on his own, with little or no dedication. Seen in its context his achievement was formal training but an exceptional dedication and outstanding and his vision of archives in New Zea­ natural aptitude, and he set about reading all he land far-sighted. He was, incidentally, prominent in could on archival theory. Most of this was geared to the Archives Committee of the NZLA, precursor to European archives of an earlier era, but he laboured ARANZ and the NZSA. to great effect to adapt it to the needs of an archivally- developing country in the modem world. Judith Homabrook Reappraisal and at the Glenbow Archives

* Susan Kooyman

This article was originally presented as a paper at the 16th Annual Conference of the Association of Canadian Archivists, Banff, May 1991, as part of a session entitled “Having Second Thoughts: Reappraisal and Deaccessioning”

The Glenbow is celebrating its 25th anniversary as a go. Since we became a museum we have been grappling museum this year. In 1966 Eric Harvie, a Calgarian who with such questions as what our collecting mandate had made millions in the oil industry, donated the should be, what we should keep, what strengths we archifacts, artworks and archival material that he had should build on, and what parts of the should been collecting for more than a decade to the people of be deaccessioned. Over the past year this process has Alberta. A special exhibition now on view at the intensified as everyone at Glenbow has been involved Glenbow, entitled Eric Harvie: The Eclectic Collector, in the development of a comprehensive five-year celebrates the vision and enthusiasm behind Harvie's strategic plan for the Museum. collecting practises. Two of the most important goals of the Archives, as When Harvie set up the Glenbow Foundation in set out in the plan, are to improve accessibility to the 1954, as a privately-owned charitable organisation, its collections and to improve the quality of the archival sole mandate was to collect, not to exhibit. Harvie told collections. In order to accomplish these goals the his staff"... to go out and collect like a bunch of drunken Archives has made what could be viewed as some very sailors." And they did. He hired professional collectors rash promises. Asa means to improve the quality of our to scour the world on his behalf. The Calgary Herald once holdings, for example, we have stated that by the end of reported, "During his global shopping sprees, he the five years, we will have deaccessioned 100% of our shipped to Alberta thousands of stuffed birds and holdings which do not meet our collection plan criteria. mounted butterflies, crates of medieval armour, vast Like most institutions, the Glenbow Archives has shelves of rare books, priceless pre-Columbian not undertaken reappraisal and deaccessioning in and a pair of bloomers once owned by anything but an adhoc manner, because our energies Queen Victoria." On two occasions he gave his senior, are spent in processing records not yet available to the non-collecting staff and family members $1000 each to public, as well as in acquisitions and public reference purchase something for the Foundation, so they would work. Last year, for example, we deaccessioned only become more sensitive to the Foundation's goals. His three collections. Although there has been plenty of collecting knew no limits. He purchased personal discussion in the archives community about the pros collections and libraries, entire photographic studios, and cons of reappraisal, few institutions have and even other museums, such as the Royal United undertaken major reappraisal of their holdings. Large- Services military museum in London, the Schuller scale reappraisal is often instigated due to crisis Museum of Art and Chivalry in New Hampshire, and situations, rather than as part of regular collection the Roe Indian Museum in Minnesota. He also purchased management practises. The University of Cincinnati's an entire frontier ghost town. On a smaller scale, he reappraisal and deaccessioning project, for example, bought up the cabin of a Dawson City recluse and was undertaken only because the fire marshall kicked packrat, and had his hoard shovelled off the cabin floor. all staff and holdings out of the archives build ing during The objects, books, documents and artworks Harvie three years of renovations, and the temporary storage acquired soon filled several Calgary warehouses. In area available was not large enough to accommodate 1966 Harvie gave the lot, the whole unappraised lot, to the current holdings plus three three years of new the people of Alberta. The Glenbow Museum was bom. accessions.2 Many of the most highly-treasured holdings of the We, fortunately, face no crisis. The reason we were Archives were acquired during the Harvie years, able to make this deaccessioning promise is that we are including the diaries and letterbooksof someof Alberta's linking our reappraisal program to the creation of a earliest missionaries, fur traders and settlers. But, as guide to the holdings of the Glenbow Archives. In might be expected, a lot of questionable, albeit often January we began a two-year project to create an on-line intriguing, material was also acquired. A read through database giving fonds-level descriptions of textual and the earliest accession register brings to light such entries multiple-media fonds. Those holdings which are purely as: "Label from a can of ox-cheek soup from a cache of photographic in nature will not be included in the Sir Francis McClintock who searched Melville Island database at this time, but will be the object of a future for missing arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, 1852-53", project. and "Clippingspertaining to VikingrelicsinBeardmore, The objects of the project are three-fold: Ontario, nd."1 (1) to create an on-line, searchable guide to our 1991 is a good year for Glenbow to pause to see holdings; (2) to redescribe these holdings according to where we have been, and to decide where we want to RAD3; and (3) to identify records for reappraisal and deaccessioning. To accomplish the third objective, we but so was the description of those things collected. The must identify those records which do not warrant soup label mentioned earlier, for example, has no less inclusion in the repository guide, and then decide just than eight access points in our card catalogue. Researcher what we should do with them. requests for certain records almost certainly have more I would like to emphasise that we would not be to do with over-cataloguing than with actual usefulness. undertaking this level of reappraisal if it was not a In fact, two of the three accessions which we spinoff of another project. The benefits of reappraisal deaccessioned last year came to light because they were and subsequent deaccessioning probably do not requested by researchers. In neither case was the outweigh the time and effort involved in such a project.4 retrieved material of any use to the researcher. A positive The appraisal, arrangement and description of new result of our reappraisal project should be less wasted acquisitions, and of important records still lying time and frustration for our researchers. unprocessed in the stacks, will always have priority in There are several other ways that this project will the Glenbow over records already processed and benefit the Archives. We hope to be able to improve the available. quality of our holdings by arranging some mutually What do we hope to gain by such a project? Our beneficial trades with other institutions. This kind of main purpose, as stated in the strategic plan, is to rationalisation has been undertaken in the past, and has improve the quality of our holdings. The quality of resulted in records finding a final home in the institution archival holdings is a very difficult thing to measure. in which they will be best cared for and used. Reappraisal Getting rid of the garbage decreases the volume of our will also ultimately save staff time. No-one wants to holdings but does not in itself increase quality. Only expend valuable staff time processing or retrieving wisely-chosen new acquisitions can do that, and it is records which are of marginal or no value to researchers. here that the Archives differs most dramatically from And lastly, space comes inevitably to mind. Space is the other departments in the Museum. indeed at a premium at Glenbow, as it is elsewhere. It is Departments such as Art, Military History and not a criterion for deaccessioning, and should not be the Cultural History regularly deaccession artworks and sole reason for a deaccessioning project, but it is artifacts and use the funds to purchase items to improve undoubtedly a beneficial outcome of the process. their collections. This is possible because of the existence What are we going to reappraise and ultimately of a buyers' and sellers' market for the objects and art deaccession. As we redescribe our fondsand collections they collect. The Glenbow Museum's deaccessioning for our database, we will be identifying accessions policy recognises this reality and even encourages such which we do not want to include. Glenbow's current sales. In tune with current ethical standards, however, policy gives only three reasons for deaccessioning: (1) it does limit the use of proceeds from any sale to "... the insufficient quality; (2) duplicate material; or (3) when purchase of new objects and materials for the Permanent proceeds of its sale can be used towards the purchase of Collection... or the conservation of the Collection." superior objects. Muse, the magazine of the Canadian The fact that most archival collections are not readily Museums Association, in a special issue dedicated to marketable means that the Archives cannot hope to the question of deaccessioning, includes a much more improve its collections in the same way. We do have comprehensive list of criteria for deaccessioning. They some very marketable paper artifacts in our holdings, are: poor quality, intrinsically or relatively; in such poor such as an autograph collection, and original cartoons physical condition that conservation or restoration is by well-known editorial cartoonists. But even if we not feasible; duplicate or redundant; not legitimately chose to deaccession these and sell them for great profit, acquired; a fake or forgery; or not within the scope of the it would not necessarily gain us one valuable archival museum's collecting goals and purposes.** fonds. One can't simply shop around for the most Of the latter criteria, we will attempt to identify three informative and well-written diary of a southern Alberta during our project: duplicate or redundant records; rancher the same way you can shop around for a poor quality records, which in archival terms I take to painting from a certain school of art. The vast majority mean those with no research value; and records with of our acquisitions are gifts, acquired through direct research value which do not fall within our collecting contact with the family or organisation. Last year for mandate. We will not be able to identify records which example, only 12 of our 229 accessions were purchases, have deteriorated beyond conservation, fakes, and those and the rest were donations. One thing is clear. There is acquired fraudulently. We can only deal with these as little point in undertaking deaccessioning as a means to they come to light. And they do indeed come to light finance new acquisitions. Perhaps we should be glad from time to time. One of our three deaccessions last that, as archivists, we do not face the same temptation year was a file of documents so covered with black to sell our "permanent" collection as museum . mould that it was unreadable. Glenbow's paper So how will deaccessioning improve the quality of conservator, nevertheless, is going to use them as our holdings? If quality is equated with usefulness, examples at future workshops, so al though not of use to deaccessioning will increase the quality of our holdings our researchers, they are not totally without value! simply by refining them. Weeding out the chaff will Redundant or duplicate records will be the most give our researchers the benefit of more positive hits straightforward category to deal with, and the smallest during their research. It has been suggested that user in volume. The bulk of the records we identify will be statistics might be used to determine whether or not an records with no research value, and records not within accession is worth keeping.^ The argument is basically our collecting mandate. I will not discuss how we will that if it has been requested it is useful and if it has not decide what has no research value. You will just have to should be deaccessioned. The correlation does not trust that we will make objective and informed decisions always hold true at the Glenbow. In the early days of on the research value of our holdings. Glenbow, not only was the collecting over-enthusiastic, I would however like to to discuss the idea of using one's collection plan as a basis for deaccessioning. It It all comes down to a question of access, and making sounds straightforward and convincing, so much so our holdings accessible is at the heart of what an archivist that we cited it in the Glenbow's strategic plan as the does. In this day and age, the existence of a properly criterion for deaccessioning. It is not, however, a perfect arranged and assembled fonds in an unexpected location tool. A collection plan is not written in stone, is revised is not the inconvenience to a researcher that it once was. frequently, and is based on current trends and values. With repository guides, automated retrieval systems, The Director of the Baltimore Museum of Art, for faxes, interlibrary loans, microfilms etc., even distant example, while attempting to acquire a specific type of researchers can be well served. Of more concern are painting to add to the collections, discovered to his those records sitting unappraised, unarranged and horror that the Museum had once owned a fine example undescribed because they are deemed unimportant to of exactly what he hoped to acquire. It had been our holdings and are at the bottom of our priorities for deaccessioned and sold several years earlier because it processing. These records, which may have great was deemed out of fashion by the collection plan of the research value, are truly inaccessible, and should be time7 transferred as quickly as possible to institutions where Another problem with collection plans is that they they will receive the attention and care they deserve. are affected by external factors beyond our control. To illustrate my point, we have in our holdings the Glenbow's mandate has always been very broad. With original 1880 cattle brand registration book for the respect to North America, its mandate is to document North-West Territories. Technically, it is a government the area from Nootka Sound to the Lakehead, and from record. If offered today, we would not accept it. Yet it is the Arctic Circle to the Great Salt Lake. With respect to one of Glenbow's treasures. It is safe, accessible, and the Archives, this has been refined to documenting the well-used. It would, arguably, be a great disservice to social, political and economic history of western Canada researchers to transfer it to the Provincial Archives. with particular emphasis on southern Alberta. When Everyone knows Edmonton is not in ranching country, Harvie was at the peak of his collecting in the 1950s and and their paucity of ranching records is reflected in 1960s, there was little competition. There were no other their subject heading authority, which does not even major art museums, history museums, or archives in have a subject heading for ranching. We, on the other Alberta, and few in western Canada. The Provincial hand, have rich holdings with respect to ranching. We Museum and Archives was not built until 1967. Since do not plan to deaccession the brand book. then many other regional, municipal and university In another example, we have a large and rich fonds Archives have been established in Alberta, and more of a Yukon personality, which has sat unprocessed in will undoubtedly be established in the future. With the our stacks since 1974, and if not for this project might sit advent of other institutions, we have narrowed our there, totally inaccessible, for the next decade. It is vision to a certain extent, and have often acknowledged clearly outside our mandate, and we are doing both the limitations to our collecting mandate. For example, the records and potential researchers a great disservice by Provincial Archives of Alberta and the Glenbow keeping it. The fonds has been recommended for Archives have an understanding that the P AA will limit deaccessioning and transfer to the Yukon Archives. its non-government records acquisitions to northern A final example is the Loman Brothers photographic Alberta, and Glenbow to southern Alberta. fonds. The Lomen Brothers ran a photographic studio Our collection plan has been revised accordingly. As in Nome, Alaska, in the early 1900s. In 1955 Harvie a result, there are many things in our holdings which do purchased over 5000 glass plate and nitrate negatives not fall within our current collection plan, and which from a Seattle bookstore. There is no doubt the negatives we would not accept today if they were offered to us. would not exist today if they had not been acquired for Nevertheless, virtually all of them did fall within our Glenbow. They are safely stored, have been described collecting mandate at one time, and very little of it is and copied, and are well used. The photographs were totally unrelated to our other holdings. To deaccession recently featured in Alaska History and are currently and transfer records simply because yet another being used in a Glenbow exhibition of rare Eskimo Archives has been established would seriously masks from our Ethnology Department. I could continue undermine our value as a major western Canadian to give compelling reasons to keep them. Nevertheless research centre, as well as needlessly disperse and they do not fall within our current collection plan, and fragment unpublished primary sources.® I am not, if offered them today we would not accept them. Should however, arguing that Glenbow should obstinately we deaccession them, or keep them? We havn't decided. retain records which clearly belong elsewhere. But we Some decisions are going to be extremely difficult to do have to strive to maintain a balance between the make. To reiterate, although our current collection plan increased specialisation of the present and the broader is being used to identify records to be reappraised, it is vision of the past. not the sole basis for deciding to deaccession those Rather than apply our current collection plan records. retrospectively, as some would advocate^, we recognise Once we have agonised over what to deaccession, it for what it is - a current document meant to be applied we must submit our recommendations to Glenbow's to current acquisitions. Nevertheless, it is a very useful Collection Management Committee for approval. We and reasonable tool to use to initially identify fonds for must at the same time propose just how we intend to reappraisal. This is precisely the manner in which we dispose of the unwanted records. The current Glenbow are applying it. Once identified as not being within our deaccessioning policy offers four possibilities: transfer current plan, the records ar then judged at a further toanotherinstitution;exchange with another institution; level. We ask ourselves these questions: Are we doing sale; or intentional discard. In light of recent requests by researchers a disservice by keeping these records? Are the native community for return of sacred objects. Muse we doing the records a disservice by keeping them? magazine adds another possibility: return to rightful owner as result of a repatriation request or when the Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards. The object was obtained illegitimately. As an archivist, I Bureau is the body which combines representation by would like to see another option added: return to donor. the anglophone and francophone professional In the case of records deemed to have no research or archivists' associations in Canada - Ed. resale value, the Glenbow's policy would have them 4 Karen Benedict, 'Invitation to a Bonfire: Reappraisal destroyed. Records which have no value to us or another and Deaccessioning of Records as Collection institution, however, may still have value to the donor Management Tools in an Archives - A Reply to Leonard or the donor's descendants and we would like the Rapport', American Archivist, V47 Nl (1984). p45. added option of being able to return the records to 5 Maynard J Brichford, Archives & Manuscripts: Appraisal them. and Accessioning. Chicago (Society of American At present (May 1991) we have described and entered Archivists) 1979. pp9-10. Leonard Rapport, 'No 1000 of 5000 accessions into our database. During the Grandfather Clause: Reappraising Accessioned process, we have identified ten duplicates, seven Records', American Archimst, V44 N2 (1981). ppl45- accessions with no research value at all, and thirteen 146. which fall outside of our collecting mandate and would 6 Elaine Tolmach, 'A Case Study: The Deaccession and be better placed in another institution. It may seem Disposal Controversy at the New Brunswick Museum insignificant, but it is a start. Only time will tell if the (1985-1990'), Muse, V8 N2. p24. project is a success, and if the benefits are worth the 7 Lee Rosenbaum, 'How Permanent is the Permanent effort expended. Ask me in 1993, and I may have some Collection?', ARTnews, May 1990. pl96. answers for you. 8 For further discussion of the proliferation of Archives and disposal of archival documents, see Jutta Reed- 1 This paragraph is based on Hugh A Dempsey, Scott, 'Collection Management Strategies for Treasures of the Glenbow Museum, Calgary (Glenbow Archivists', American Archixnst, V47 Nl (1984). pp47- Museum) forthcoming. Chapter 1. 51. 2 Richard L Haas, 'Collection Reappraisal: The 9 Frank Boles, 'Legitimacy of Reappraising College and Experience at the University of Cincinnati', American University Archives', Retrospective Appraisal and Archivist, V47 N l, (1984). pp51-54. Deaccessioning (session of SAA Conference 1990). 3 RAD (Rules for Archival Description) is the standard Largo, (Convention Recordings International) nd. Canadian format for archival description, currently 10 Elaine Tolmach, 'Avant-Propos: Definitions of under progressive development and promulgation 'Deaccession' and 'Disposal' ',Muse, V8 N2. p!2. by the Bureau of Canadian Archivists through the

Local Government Archives: Two Case Studies Manukau City and Rotorua District Council Terri McClintock & Andrew Thompson

Two local government archivists describe how their organisations came to establish archival programmes, and the progress that has been made to date.

Records & Archives Management in the Manukau On moving into the building, Council amalgamated City Council its filing and created a central registry in which each (Terri McClintock) Department continued with its own filing clerk. The Manukau City is the fastest growing city in New 'plus' was that all the files were centrally located. Zealand. It serves a population of 240,000 and covers an In 1983 when the first publicity material emerged area of 501 sq km in the South Auckland region. It which dictated that local authorities had to make plans prides itself on being a very progressive city. to protect their archives, Manukau set about planning In 1978 Council's Central Administration Building for an archives building at the East Tamaki depot site. was completed. In the planning for this building was This 232 sq m building wasa basic iron clad construction, the request for 220 sq m for "old files" storage, plus the with a concrete floor, and was completed in early 1985. accommodation for the records/central registry on the It had no humidity or ventilation controls. The result sixth floor. The request for the storage space was not was a building which was very cold and damp in granted. winter, and very hot in summer. Prior to 1985, the Northern Archives & Records records areas. Now that procedures are in place for the Trust (NART) had been active in promoti ng the cause of handling and dispatching of records, more time can be archives in the Auckland region. It was through contact spent on the refining/reviewing of the archival material. with NART that Manukau City was introduced to the What is meant by this, is that the previous transfers then Regional Archivist for National Archives, Mark were undertaken by non-Manukau people. In view of Stevens. He was commissioned in late 1984 to investigate the task they did a marvellous job. But because they did and report on the situation of Manukau's archives. not understand the ethos of the organisation they often The final report in itself was quite damning, but it were cautious when deciding what material should be was accurate - "the records stored ... were all or nearly archived. The end result being probably 20% more all the classes of records designated in the Local records archived than were necessary. Government Archives Schedule (Gazette 5 June 1980, It is now an appropriate time with the establishment pl695). In this case the Council is fulfilling its minimum of the new Archives to review the existing records and duty to identify and preserve archives." to archive any material since 1989. National Archives With the recommendations from the report in hand, have agreed with the strategy, and if they agree to any Council set about to ensure that its records management material that Manukau requests approval to di spose of, was more professional. The Archives was established then Manukau City will achieve its objective to counter in 1985 and with the assistance of the Local Government those remarks made in the 1984 report. Advisory Archivist (a joint NART - National Archives The history of the development of records and sponsored position) Rachel Lilbum, the archival and archives management for Manukau City is not unique later the inactive material was transferred from various for local authorities in New Zealand. However the locations in the City. challenge of the 1984 report gave Manukau the edge 1985 was a landmark year for records management over other local authorities. It was not until the 1989 in Manukau City. It was the year when Council adopted reform of local government that the requirement for a property-based filing system for all its records. Only accountability, effectiveness and efficiency became a few hundred topic files were allowed to remain. mandatory. With this requirement came also the Between 1985 and 1990 the six Departments realisation that for organisations to survive they needed continued to operate separate files within the Central good records and archives management. However Registry (each Department still had its own filing clerk because funding is completely reliant on the local and duplicate copies abounded). However with local authority itself, the standard is not consistent.1 Manukau government reorganisation and anew Council structure has a philosophy of being ahead of the time, and this is in November 1989, opportunity was taken to put into true in its attitude towards records and archives place a single centralised system. management. The shortcomings in procedures as In March 1990 Council created the position of Records described in the 1984 report have been overcome. and Communications Manager who is responsible for all aspects of Council's records management - especially A Local Government Archives: The Rotorua to matters relating to s256 of the Local Government Act Experience 1974. With the establishment of this position, Manukau (Andrew Thompson) City showed its commitment to be to the fore of records The Rotorua District Council Archives was and archives management in New Zealand. established in 1984 as part of the Records Section. The In 1991 the vacant Libraries central processing Archives primary aim is to ensure the Council meets its building was acquired and all of Council's archival and legal administrative and social obligations to preserve much of its inactive records were transferred from the its piece of local history. old Archives building and other storage sites. The T o understand the role of the Archives it is necessary environmental conditions of this building are more to look back through its development. Thirteen years suitable for the proper storage of records. In this building ago the Rotorua City and County Councils amalgamated are now stored the records of the former authorities of to become the Rotorua District Council. The records of Manurewa Borough, Manukau County, Howick the City and the County had to be made available to the Borough, Papatoetoe City, and the former Manukau new Council which was initially located in several City - which have all become parts of the present different buildings. This was achieved by redistributing Manukau City at various times over the past twenty- the records to the 'new' Departments. The filing systems five years. For the first time since the 1989 amalgamation were taken apart and shared out. By 1980 all previous of local authorities all the records are in the same filing systems had been closed off and replaced by new repository. A total of 200 archives series are stored, as systems. Responsibility for the 'old' records rested with well as over 600 linear metres of inactive files. This is in the Department to which they had been transferred. addition to over 600 sq metres of storage space in the By 1984 it was clear that there were problems with main Central Administration Building. the new filing systems, not least the research of With the variety and demand of the workload and outstanding issues documented in the former City and responsibility it may be imagined that a large staff County records. The solution was presented in the form would be required. Rather, besides the Records and of a computerised central filing system, with an attached Communications Manager there are two full-time 'archives' in which to store the 'old' files. At the same records staff and assistance from three part-timers. time it was decided to identify and gather together all Enquiries are answered whenever requested by our the Council's archives for permanent retention, as clients. These are both the staff as well as members of required under the amended Local Government Act. the public who request specific information under the Two ladies were appointed part-time to do this, and Local Government Official Information Act 1987. At by 1986 all pre-amalgamation files and other assorted any one time over 500 records could be out of the records of possible archival value had been located and transferred to the attic of the old City Council building. confined to making the pre-amalgamation files At this time, thenew Municipal Building wascompleted, accessible. That role has now been greatly expanded. and the these records were moved again, to a much The policy states'that it is the responsibility of the improved situation in a purpose-built air-conditioned Archives to ensure records created by the Council, room. Rate books dating from 1911, and all the Minutes which are worthy of permanent preservation, are books from 1883 to 1979 were then added to the preserved. Staff are now required to consult with the collection. Archives before any record may be transferred or In 1986 one member of the 'archives' duo had destroyed. This means the Archivist is much more resigned, and in 1988 the second followed. For a year involved with records management decisions than in the Archives programme stalled as Council debated the the past. This has only been feasible since the creation of need for a full-time archivist. It was found the records the full-time position, and with the co-operation of Section did not have adequate staff numbers to maintain Council staff. the records system and continue the archives project. In Suddenly the Archives programme went from November 1989 I was appointed to the position. virtually standing still to full steam ahead. At the close Given the work already achieved by my predecessors of 1991 the majority of the archives have been listed and I did not walk into a room of records in chaos, or spend boxed using a standardised system. The first steps time poking around old buildings looking for potential towards computerisation were made inNovember 1991, archives. with the transfer of item lists from the wordprocessor to By 1989 almost 500 linear metres of wooden mobile a database developed in-house. The programme lacks a shelving, and 40 metres of fixed shelving, had been number of features but manipulation of the item lists is installed. Each series had been identified and recorded now much easier. Standard appraisal procedures have in a register with a brief description. The records of each been developed and appraisal started on the large agency were stored together on the shelves, and arranged backlog of records in the Archives. A non-current storage in their series. The Minutes books were all bound, in area has been set up with the assistance of the Treasury order and in a separate room of their own, attached to Section, and retention and disposal schedules for the Archives. Appraisal had been started early on and financial recordsare currently beingdeveloped. Finally, most of the housekeeping records had been purged, promotion of the Archives through the staff newsletter either by the archives staff or general staff during the and presentations on the Council's history to new staff move. Outwardly the Archives looked great. However have been introduced. all was not so rosy behind the scenes. Despite a slow start, the cautious approach is now The need to provide a secure physical environment paying dividends. Good planning and policy have in which to store the archives had been met. However proved their worth. The Rotorua District Council access was restricted by a lack of adequate finding-aids, Archives are now in a stronger position than ever, and no standard item lists, and no-one familiar with the set­ should provide a valuable local resource in the future. up. The successful operation of the Archives had depended on the enthusiasm and working knowledge 1 Unlike funding in New York State, for example. See of the part-timers, and when they left the project fell Lozowsky, John: 'Local Government Archives & apart. By 1989 most of the old users from the pre­ Records in New York', New Zealand Archivist (Summer amalgamation days had moved on and the records 1990, p p l0-ll). Manager was one of only a few people who could access the archives with any confidence of findingan item. The Archives had the reputation of a 'black hole'. Once Mormon Microfilm to Rescue something went in, it was hard to get back. When I started, my instructions were to improve in Cook Islands access to the Archives for the general staff. Preserving When an arsonist set fire to government buildings in a piece of local history was a secondary consideration. the Cook Islands [recently], the country lost nearly a This was my first experience with archival records, so century's worth of birth, death, marriage and land for the first six months I settled for familiarising myself records. The disruption to all forms of civil life could with the collection and the problems associated with have been huge. But years of microfilming by the the current management. Mormons meant that all the island's records were on 51 In July 1990 the Council agreed to bring in a consultant reels of microfilm in vaults in the Rocky Mountains in to suggest how we could better organise the Archives. Utah. The replacement copies will cost the Cook Islands This was the first time professional advice had been $500. sought, and it proved the turning point for the Archives Sydney Morning Herald, 8 June 1992 programme. The recommendation was to begin again, almost from scratch, only this time the role of the Archives Section should be clearly set out beforehand. Transitions By October, myself and the Records Manager had written At the NZ Film Archive, Lynne Carruthers has been an in-house archives policy and it was approved by appointed to the newly-created position of Marketing Council. The policy outlined the aims of the Archives Manager. She has public relations and public education Section, and how those aims would be achieved. experience gained in both NZ and the USA. Mark The second part of the policy was the more important. Stevens (Editor of NZA), has been elected Convenor of The position of Archivist is supervised by the Records the NSW Branch, Australian Society of Archivists. At Manager, and comes under the umbrella of the National Archives, Phillipa Fogarty has moved from Corporate Services Department. Until the policy was the Christchurch Office to Wellington, as Appraisal written, the activities of the Archives were largely Archivist. Kicking the Sacred Cows Calling the Tune While Someone Else Pays the Piper? Cheryl Simes

You have been the Archivist at A1 Shipbuilding contracted asbestosis as a result of working for A l. Company for the last decade. The Company has They have also been used by medical researchers, been building, overhauling and fitting out ships sociologists, and historians interested in since 1890. Late last year the Company was taken documenting the labour force involved in maritime over by an overseas conglomerate. industries. You were the first archivist employed by Al. The new owners of Al believe that the retention Your first appraisal project was on the Company's of these personnel files is unwarranted beyond the personnel files. The appraisal decision for these files statute of limitations. The advice you have received was that they would be destroyed one hundred is that they believe the retention of these files is too years after the birth of the employee. expensive and could be even more expensive if they The personnel files of the Company are could be used to prove the Company's liability in voluminous (around 600 shelf metres are extant) but any compensation cases. they have proved to contain extremely valuable What are you going to do? information and evidence. Al was an innovative shipbuilding company which pioneered the use of a Case (2) from Legal & Ethical Issues seminar, variety of building materials and techniques. ASA Conference 1991. Reproduced w ith The personnel files have been used by employees permission. seeking damages because they allege they have

The assumption, of course, is that you disagree with exist, their destruction could itself create a detrimental the new owners' views. You would have a range of effect, even in law. The archivist could suggest the files options: do nothing, pretend to support the proposal be offered to a collecting institution with strict restrictions (how else to win friends and advance the broader cause on access, or that a grant be sought to pay for their of archives in the Company?), oppose the proposal microfilming or imaging. She could also point out their within the Company, resign in protest, leak to potential value as a source of advertising material. She sympathetic colleagues or researchers outside the could of course also recommend a high search fee be Company, or the union, or the press, or a wailing charged for researchers using the files, but there would Listener columnist, or remove the files to only you know have to be a lot of researchers (or a few very rich ones) where. to cover the approximate $10,000 annual cost of storing In theory, your primary duty is the defence of the the files. archives (Hilary Jenkinson and all that). That could But in the end, the archives belong to the Company justify any of the above options except doing nothing. - not to the researchers, not to posterity, not even to the Is it ethical to work against your employer's decision individuals whom they document. And the archivists's while still accepting a salary? Whose archives are they, services likewise, unless she decides to resign in protest anyway? ( a noble but ineffectual gesture, especially as it would It has been usual in archives circles to imagine that still be unethical for her to publicise the issue). Even free access (no charge) to archives is a basic right, no Jenkinson would agree with that - see what authority he more open to question than other "rights" such as gave the Administration (ie record-creator) in appraisal. health, liberty, free speech, etc. See for instance the Just as the Marketing Manager has to live with the Access Policy approved by ARANZ in 1990. Likewise Board's decision to choose a different advertising the archivist's duty to the archives has been stressed approach from his recommendations, so the archivist with minimal accompanying reference to other has to live with the Board's decision about its archives. responsibilities. Because real life is sometimes like that. It all adds up to a disregard for the real world and Postscript: (1) Rumour has it that the last KTSC real life, a preference instead for a happy Wonderland column produced comments that "Cheryl ought to where Alice enjoys all the adventures while someone have known better", which at least indicates that else picks up the tab. someone reads it. Your editor and your columnist In the question posed above, the archivist has only would delight to receive comments or counter­ one legitimate option: to set out the arguments as best arguments. (2) The Council of the Society is currently she can, and put them as forcibly as practicable to the looking at several codes of ethics and considering highest authority in the Company. Any company worth possible NZ versions. Do consider these issues and working for will at least consider the matter carefully, contribute your views. (3) The opinions expressed in probably at Board level. Such arguments might include this column are not necessarily those of my employer, the warning that since the files were already known to Telecom. Obituary In This Issue Father Ernest Richard Simmons Archivists, Pluralism & Information Policy Fr Ernie Simmons, who died on 25 March, lived a Frank Upward full and fruitful life. He was bom in Napier seventy years ago, and became a schoolteacher before seeing Michael Wordsworth Standish, Chief Archivist active service in World War Two. A late vocation to the 1962 Catholic priesthood, Ernie impressed hisbishop enough Judith Hornabrook to be sent to Rome for further study. After a spell of parish work he found his true home as editor of Zealandia, Reappraisal & Deaccessioning at the Glenbow the Auckland Catholic weekly. Archives Here was a challenge suited to his lively and critical Susan Kooyman mind; too critical, as it turned out, for his ecclesiastical superior. In 1969 Archbishop Liston dislodged Ernie Local Govt Archives: Two Case Studies from his editorial chair, only to open up a new field for Terri McClintock (Manukau City Council) him some years later. Liston was delighted with the Andrew Thompson (Rotorua District Council) new light thrown on Bishop Pompallier, his revered predecessor in the Auckland see, by Ernie's joint research Kicking the Sacred Cows with Mrs Ruth Ross in the diocesan archives. He left a Calling the Tune While Someone Else Pays the strong recommendation to his successor that they be Piper? Cheryl Simes allowed to continue their work. This unlikely pair shared a passion for the past, and devoted the next decade to News Items creating order among the piles of dusty manuscripts in Mormon Microfilm to Rescue in Cook Islands; the attic of the Bishop's House - what Ruth Ross later Anglicans Deny Mormons Access to Parish Records; termed 'putting bishops in boxes'. Transitions. As diocesan archivist from 1973 Ernie worked miracles. He would later gravely infor/n visitors that Obituary: Fr E R Simmons the archives library had a regular state subsidy - his own pension. He wrote three books in quick succession: About the Contributors a short history of New Zealand Catholicism; a life of Bishop Pompallier; and a history of Auckland diocese. The latter, In Cruce Salus, is an open invitation to other historians to come and explore the wealth of historical data in his archives. Not that Ernie ever fell into the trap of considering them his archives, or that he was the historian of the Catholic Church in New Zealand. Of his generosity and hospitality, his ever-flexible hours of About the Contributors access, his supportive and perceptive advice, many Judith Hornabrook, now retired, is a former Chief researchers will gladly testify. Archivist of the National Archives of New Zealand and As an historian his work suffered from a limitation of Papua New Guinea. Susan Kooyman has been of sources, a curse he worked harder than anyone else Archivist at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary since to remove. The Auckland Catholic archives under his 1986. Her previous experience included working at the management were a model for his counterparts in the Hocken Library and Dunedin City Council Archives, south; one as yet too poorly followed. He regarded as a 1982-85. Terri McClintock is Records & heresy the belief that the truth could hurt the church. Communications Manager at Manukau City Council. His patient cultivation of historical inquiry and Cheryl Simes is a consultant archivist in Hamilton, intellectual honesty will bear fruit in time. This specialising in arrangement and description. She also knowledge comforted Ernie's last years of declining works as an Information Specialist with Telecom. health and status, both of which he bore with a dignity Andrew Thompson is Archivist at the Rotorua District and wry humour that delighted his many friends. R.I.P. Council. Frank Upward is a lecturer in archives and Rory Sweetman records management at Monash University, Melbourne.

New Zealand Archivist (ISSN 0114-7676) is the quarterly journal of the New Zealand Society of Archivists Incorporated. It is published each year in: Autumn/March; Winter/June; Spring/September; and Summer/ December. The editor is Mark HS Stevens, whose authorship may be assumed for all items not otherwise credited. Copyright© NZSA & contributors 1992. Views expressed do not necessarily represent those of the NZSA. The editorial address is PO Box 136 Beaconsfield NSW 2014 Australia (Fax {02} 313-6680). All other correspondence to the Secretary NZSA, PO Box 27-057 Wellington New Zealand. Contributions for publication are invited. Deadlines for next issues are: 13 November 1992 and 12 February 1993. The journal is available through membership of the Society ($40.00 in NZ, $50.00 overseas) or separately by subscription ($40.00 in NZ, $50.00 overseas). Overseas airmail, add $10.00. Rates may change for 1993.