Access to Archival Records by Council Officers
Within this section
Access to Archival Records | Access to Archival Records by Council Officers | Conditions of Access | Disposal of Records | Reproduction of Archival Documents | Transferring Records to the Archives
These procedures apply to the issuing of archival records to Council officers (including Councillors and their office staff, and temporary contract staff appointed for special purposes). These procedures apply from 1 January 1999.
Who is Entitled to Borrow Records From the Archives?
- All requests from Councillors (including their staff) to borrow records are referred to the City Archivist. It is Council policy that all such requests be referred to the Office of the CEO for approval. The City Archivist will normally liaise with the Personal Assistant to the CEO when a request is received from a Councillor.
- Requests received from consultants hired by the Council for special projects and based in the Town Hall are handled on a case-by-case basis. Generally such requests will be dealt with by requesting the consultant to access the records by visiting the Archives. Consultants not based in the Town Hall are not permitted to borrow records.
- Subpoenas received by the Council, demanding Council records, are handled by providing the records to the Legal unit or the Document Officer coordinating the response.
- Council officers may borrow records from the Archives subject to the conditions below.
What Records May be Borrowed
Council officers may borrow from the Archives records which they require in order to conduct their current business responsibilities. The LM or CEO (or any officer with their explicit authority) may borrow any record.
The following categories of material are not available for borrowing:
- Records more than twenty years old will normally not be available for borrowing, because of the risk of damage to the documents.
- Records that have been copied to digital format will normally be made available digitally.
- Items in the Sydney Reference Collection (SRC) (including books, reports and folders of documents) are not normally availble for borrowing. However duplicate items may be loaned if they are needed for a business-related purpose. Access to these categories of archival records is available at the Archives, by arrangement
- Items identified as 'fragile' and undergoing (or in need of) conservation treatment.
Requests to Borrow (or Consult) Records
Council officers who wish to borrow or consult records must send a written request to the Archives. If possible this should be e-mailed to the archives' group address. E-mail requests should not be sent to individual Archivists. Alternatively, requests may be sent to the Archives by fax. The Archives will not loan records requested verbally, and cannot guarantee an appointment to consult records that is not requested in advance.
A request may ask for more than one record. Each request must contain the following information:
- Name of the officer making the request
- Name of the officer for whom the record is requested (if different). This is so the Archives is aware when one officer requests records on behalf of another.
- Business unit of the borrowing officer (so that we can track borrowings for internal service delivery and costing purposes).
- For each record item to be borrowed: the item number and (if applicable) item title. For subject files (such as planning application files) back to 1979 these can be identified in TRIM. For other records, officers unfamiliar with the archival access systems (especially Archives Investigator) can request assistance from an Archivist.
Conditions of Borrowing
Officers who have borrowed records from the Archives are responsible for them for the duration of the loan. Good recordkeeping practice is an implied condition of employment for all Council officers.
- No documents may be added to or removed from a record borrowed from the Archives, or altered in any way. If such changes do need to be made, the officer should consult the Archives for advice. Generally, the options are to: open a new file cross referenced to the old file; reactivate the old file; or make the necessary changes, with a record of what has been done and with what authority.
- Records must be borrowed only for Council business purposes. Records must not be borrowed for purposes of (for example) private study or to provide information to third parties outside Council business requirements. Officers wishing to make use of the Archives for private purposes must do so under the same rules and conditions as members of the public.
- Records must not be removed from Council premises (including being sent to external legal advisers) or forwarded to another Council officer, without notifying the Archives by e-mail or fax.
- All records borrowed from the Archives must be returned within one month of the date of loan, unless an extension has been negotiated.
- All Council officers have a responsibility to ensure that records in their care are kept safe from damage or loss, and secure from unauthorised access.
- Officers are also responsible for ensuring that their use of records does not breach the copyright, privacy, commercial-in-confidence or freedom-of-information obligations of the Council.
Service Levels
Records requested for borrowing, received by 10:00am will be delivered by 5:00pm the same day. Requests received by 3:00pm will be delivered by 12:00 noon the next business day. Urgent requests can be delivered within two hours of the request being received by the Archives.
These requests are very expensive to fulfil and officers are requested to make use of the 'urgent' service only in cases of genuine need. Normally such requests will be expected from unit manager (M3) level and above.
Requests for large numbers of records (more than five items in a single request), or where the request does not specify record item control numbers and the Archivists must undertake research to identify the records to be retrieved, may sometimes take longer to complete.
If a record is not available for borrowing, but can be consulted in the Archives offices, an Archivist will contact the requesting officer to arrange a visit.
If a record is not available to be borrowed or consulted (too fragile, not held in the Archives, already on loan to another officer, previously destroyed etc) the requesting officer will be advised within four working hours of the request being received.
Following Up Breaches of These Procedures
Periodically, the Archives will notify officers who have not returned records within the one month borrowing period. Notifications will be sent by e-mail and identify the records in question and the dates they were borrowed. The officers will be requested to return the records, or confirm they have the records and still need them for business purposes, or give some other explanation.
Officers who have had records outstanding for two months, and have taken no action to account for this despite a request from Archives, will be reported to their managers. Until the matter is settled to the satisfaction of the Document Technology Manager no further records will be loaned to these officers. They may arrange to have access to records by visiting the Archives, by appointment, instead.
Last Updated: Tuesday 22 May, 2007