The National Archives of Australia (NAA) has introduced new standards for digitising its collection of physical records.
Marking World Digital Preservation Day 2018, the NAA’s Preservation Digitisation Standards set out the technical requirements for digitising physical records in line with international best practice.
Director-General of the Archives, David Fricker said the NAA safeguarded the essential records of the Australian Government and held more than 40 million items in various formats.
Mr Fricker said these included files, documents, volumes, artworks on paper, registers, index cards, maps, plans, charts, photographic prints and negatives, microform, motion picture films, and video and audio recordings.
“The Preservation Digitisation Standards ensure creation of ‘master’ digital copies that act as effective long-term surrogates for the analogue originals,” Mr Fricker said.
“They also enable the creation of derivative files for public access and minimise physical handling of fragile records,” he said.
“Importantly, the standards are an effective tool to preserve records at risk of being lost if they are held on unstable media or subject to technological obsolescence.”
He said digitisation was central to securing the national archival collection for future generations.
“The National Archives’ digitisation standards enable us to preserve and maintain the Commonwealth’s records to an evidentiary standard; to provide the basis for integrity, transparency and accountability of Government actions; to transmit our nation’s memory from one generation to the next; and to uphold the rights and entitlements of Australians,” Mr Fricker said.
“Digitising records to the standards will help ensure all Australians can access our national documentary heritage well into the future, wherever they live, from their computer or device.”
