A few years ago, the National Archives of Australia began a journey to a new space and new place, one which is developing new practices and ways of operation as an archive. We recognised that that the archival landscape is changing, not simply to digital, but an integration of many ways of doing the work that we do. To face this challenge, we began the change that is the Integrated Archival Management System Program of work – more than just a technical uplift of capability, an embracing of new ways of working to meet the challenges of tomorrow that we see emerging.
This paper explores some of the developments and learnings we have made as we have implemented (and continue to develop) our Integrated Archival Management System. Starting with the backstory for why we saw it as imperative to move in a new direction, we touch upon the co-design methods employed to ensure business buy-in and iterative delivery, and discuss the next steps we will undertake over the coming few years.
The National Archives of Australia is undertaking digital transformation and moving into new spaces. We are building on current phases of IAMS Program to enable better public access to our digital collections and to upscale ingest activity to meet the demands of Australian Government activity. Our journey is moving us closer to our vision to be a world-leading archive in this digital age. We are ensuring that authentic government information is created, secured, preserved and accessible for future generations – protecting our precious collections and nation’s memory through an Integrated Archival Management System.
Paper by: Karuna Bhoday and Sean Wright.