Recordkeeping for government web information

Archives New Zealand have issued a Request for Proposal for "Development of Web Information Continuity Guide". There is a four page description of the work, available for download from the NZ Government website.

Information produced and maintained on the web as part of public sector business is covered by the Public Records Act 2005. This includes information on public websites, intranets, shared workspaces, wikis, blogs and other types of sites, as well as information in the administrative systems used to run these sites.

Archives New Zealand is receiving increasing requests for advice on recordkeeping for web information. Current guidance contained in the Continuum Recordkeeping Resource Kit was largely developed in 2003 and needs to be updated and expanded to provide more useful support to public sector agencies on strategies and tactics for current web information management that will support the aims of the Public Records Act.

Archives New Zealand is looking for a contractor to undertake the project over the period to 31 June 2009:

Interested individuals or consultancies are invited to submit an expression of interest along with a proposal outlining how you would approach the work and details of relevant experience by Friday the 21st November 2008. ...

From: Development of Web Information Continuity Guide, Archives New Zealand, 21/11/08

Digital Archive System for New Zealand

Archives New Zealand has invited companies to register interest in "The Supply and Implementation of a Digital Archive System". They are planning to create a system to store electronic government records for long term preservation. They are looking for organisations already providing software and hardware for this sort of application. There is a detailed seven page document describing the project. They will obviously want to look at the approach National Archives of Australia took with its digital archive.

GETS Reference: 23046
Title New Zealand based opportunityThe Supply and Implementation of a Digital Archive System
Registration of Interest

General Information

Archives New Zealand is planning to create a digital archive system in which to store electronic public sector records for long term preservation and access. We wish to identify organisations already active in providing software and hardware solutions to address this.

Archives New Zealand has produced the attached Registration of Interest (ROI) to help identify organisations interested in working with us on a digital archive system.

Archives New Zealand is mandated by the Public Records Act 2005 for the custody, care, control, and administration of public archives. This includes information created and stored in digital format.

Archives NZ are using the ROI process to gain a greater understanding of the availability of applications that might meet their requirements.

Archives New Zealand’s next step following the ROI is the development of a business case. Further information may be sought from respondents as input to the development of this case. Respondents will be advised of subsequent procurement steps. ...

Relates to the following TenderWatch Categories
842 Software implementation services
844 Database services
847 Records and information management
849 Other computer services ...

From: The Supply and Implementation of a Digital Archive System, Archives New Zealand, 22 Aug 2008

Government electronic document policy

Do you have an e-document policy? Later in the year I will be facilitating a workshop on government electronic document policy with people from Australian and New Zealand state and federal governments. We will aim to come up with some guidelines for Government CIOs. But first I need to get an idea of what is out there now. Any pointers to policies, relevant standards or other documents would be most welcome. I will then collate the results and make it available.

My thinking is that most e-document and e-archiving policies are misdirected. Records managers and archivists need to stop being passive receivers of whatever junk they are given. Instead they need to start with the new "killer applications" such as social networking for business, mash ups and the like and build the policies in there. But I would suggest a more cautious approach than that of the UK Government's "Power of Information TaskForce".

Please include a web address where the policy is available, if possible. After all who would be silly enough to distribute their e-document policy on paper? ;-)

By the way the intention is to use a similar computer assisted format and some of the content from the Electronic Document Management course I ran last year. This used a computer equipped lab and a Moodle based system for content and exercises.

Here is a quick list of items I found with a web search:

1. International: Recommended Practice - Analysis, Selection, and Implementation Guidelines Associated with Electronic Document Management Systems (EDMS), Association for Information and Image Management International, April 12, 2006.
2. Australian Federal: "Improving Electronic Document Management: Guidelines for Australian Government Agencies", Office of Government Information Technology, Commonwealth of Australia 1995
3. NT: Position Statement on Electronic Recordkeeping in the NT Government, Northern Territory Archives Service, September 2004
4. Queensland: Digitisation Disposal Policy, Queensland State Archives, April 2006
5. NSW: State Records NSW has an extensive set of documents and references one-documents:
   

   • Policy on digital records preservation
   • Policy on electronic recordkeeping
   • Policy on electronic messages as records
   • Standard on Recordkeeping in the Electronic Business Environment
   • NSW Recordkeeping Metadata Standard (NRKMS)
   • Checklist for assessing business systems (RIB 42)
   • Strategies for documenting Government business: The 'DIRKS' manual
   • Introducing recordkeeping metadata (RIB 18)
   • Selecting records management software (RIB 2)
   • Guidelines on keeping web records
   • Managing the message: Guidelines on managing formal and informal communications as records
   • FAQs - Emails and recordkeeping (RIB 49)
   • Desktop Management: Managing electronic documents and directories (RIB 30)
   • Email and other templates for creating digital records
   • Destroying digital records: When pressing delete is not enough (RIB 51)
   • Future Proof: Ensuring the long term accessibility of equipment / technology dependent records
   • Archives Advice: Protecting and handling magnetic media (NAA)
   • Archives Advice: Protecting and handling optical disks (NAA)
   • Information rights management and recordkeeping (RIB 36)
   • Digital records preservation in the NSW public sector: A discussion paper
   • Digital Records Advisory Group
   • Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (ADRI) website

By the way the new ISO/IEC 38500:2008 Corporate governance of information technology, based on AS8015-2005, includes a requirement for records management for IT systems. There is also a requirement for record keeping in the Australian Standard on Good Governance Principles (AS 8000-2003), as State Records NSW points out.

Digital Preservation of Government Documents

Archives New Zealand have issued a Request for Tender to digitize government records:

GETS Reference: 21751
Title New Zealand based opportunity
Digital Preservation – Wellington - Archives New Zealand
Request for Tender ...
General Information

Archives New Zealand has statutory responsibility to ensure that full and accurate records of the affairs of central and local government are preserved and are accessible to the public.

Archives New Zealand has in its holdings 23 books of national statistics for the years 1840 to 1855, (known as the Blue Books). The majority of the books are hand written in a variety of inks. Whilst some have retained their clarity, others have faded considerably. The books are bound and average 286 pages per volume.

Archives New Zealand seeks tenders from service providers who can create high quality digital images from the original works. A range of compression options should be offered. Our intention is to make pages available online and to reproduce high quality prints as and when required.

Inspection of the volumes can be arranged with Alan Ferris, contact details below.

Tenders will be accessed against three essential criteria:

• The original archives must be handled to standards acceptable to Archives New Zealand.

• The work must be completed by 30 June 2008.

• Quotes for the work should stipulate the methods to be used and the unit cost per method of digital capture.