Current Records Issues Working Group
The Current Records Issues Working Group was a CAARA Working Group that comprised of representatives of the government archives authorities of the Commonwealth of Australia, New Zealand and each of the Australian States and Territories. The group was operational from August 1999 until March 2006 when the group was dissolved due to CAARA’s changing project requirements.
Aims
The Working Group provided coordination between CAARA members on issues of common concern regarding the management of current records, regardless of the format of those records. In general, these issues relate to the creation, description, storage, retrieval, custody, ownership and disposal of government records.
The Group aimed to:
- exchange information on management practices within different jurisdictions;
- identify and collaborate on projects;
- foster consistent approaches among CAARA authorities on management issues; and
- develop and recommend particular guidelines, standards and statements of principle for CAARA endorsement and utilisation throughout Australia.
Meetings
The Working Group met twice a year, with one of its meetings timed to coincide with the annual conference of the Australian Society of Archivists or the Records Management Association of Australia.
The Working Group first met informally in Brisbane in August 1999. Since then, it has formally met on the following occasions:
- Meeting 1 – 25 May 2000, Adelaide
- Meeting 2 – 7 December 2000, Sydney
- Meeting 3 – 25 May 2001, Adelaide
- Meeting 4 – 6 September 2001, Hobart
- Meeting 5 – 10 July 2002, teleconference
- Meeting 6 – 19 September 2002, Adelaide
- Meeting 7 – 6 February 2003, teleconference
- Meeting 8 – 5 August 2003, teleconference
Projects
The Working Group was responsible for the following projects:
| Topic | Responsible member | Timeframe |
| Examination of models for the distributed custody of records of archival value and development of best practice principles | State Records Authority of New South Wales | Completed January 2006 |
| Maintenance of listing ‘Management of electronic records’ | Queensland State Archives | Bi-annual |
Documents developed and maintained by the Working Group
- Policy on Ministerial Records (1999)
- Principles on Full and Accurate Records (2000)
- Ephemeral Documents (2001)
- Management of records relating to Native Title Claims (2002)
- Guidelines for the treatment of records of Inter-Governmental agencies (2002)
- Recordkeeping Issues associated with Outsourcing and Privatisation of Government Functions (2002)
- The Management of Electronic Records – Listing of Resources (removed September 2006)
- Models for the distributed custody and management of government archival records (2006)
