Academic or community resource? Stakeholder interests and collection management at Charles Sturt University Regional Archives, 1973-2003.

Academic or community resource? Stakeholder interests and collection management at Charles Sturt University Regional Archives, 1973-2003. This analysis of the transformation of the Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an Australian multi-campus university in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Orange and Wagga Wagga. Regional Archives from a library special collection to a multi-functionregional repository highlights the importance of stakeholder interestsin determining institutional configurations and collection developmentpriorities. It also demonstrates the critical importance of academicpatronage, and explores how collection managers have mediated thediffering expectations of academic and community users. This is a refereed article ********** THE IMPACT OF ACADEMIC STAKEHOLDERS--PARTICULARLY HISTORIANS--onthe collecting activities of Australian university archives is widelyacknowledged, but seldom explored. (1) An exception is BobSharman's paper on the Noel Butlin Archives Centre (NBAC NBAC National Bioethics Advisory CommissionNBAC New Brunswick Arts Council (Canada)NBAC Non-Blocking Atomic Commitment (protocol)NBAC National Brick Advisory Council ) at theAustralian National University. It demonstrates how 'scholarlyarchives builders' determined acquisition priorities, methods ofarrangement and description, and access conditions 'with a view tofacilitating research'. (2) There is no comparable work aboutcommunity stakeholders. However, Sue Fairbanks' recent study ofcollecting by NBAC and the University of Melbourne AsiaWeek is now discontinued. Comments:In 2006, Times Higher Education Supplement ranked the University of Melbourne 22nd in the world. Because of the drop in ranking, University of Melbourne is currently behind four Asian universities - Beijing University, Archives (UMA)suggests that the 'social warrants' or authorities whichacademic sponsors and collection managers invoked to justify acquisitionadvantaged scholarly users. UMA, for instance, represented itscollecting of business records as a partnership between 'town andgown', and its decision to acquire private records as a'community service', but made no immediate provision foraccess to these records by community members. And NBAC's academicsponsors actively enhanced its success in securing records frombusiness, employer and labour organisations worried aboutconfidentiality by undertaking to exclude the general public, andallowing depositors to regulate scholarly access on a case-by-casebasis. (3) The possibility that relationships with community stakeholdersmight be more critical for regional university archives than for theirmetropolitan counterparts is flagged in Chris Buckley's history ofthe University of New England The University of New England can refer to: University of New England, Maine, in Biddeford, Maine University of New England, Australia, in New South Wales and Regional Archives (UNERA). (4) Henotes that the university's foundation vice-chancellor, Dr R BMadgwick, although himself an historian, was emphatic that depositedrecords were not to be reserved solely for academic research workers. Ininsisting on a 'policy of full public accessibility', Madgwickundoubtedly was influenced by ambitions to establish a combined functionregional repository: that is, an institutional and collecting archivewhich might also serve as a repository for the State Records Authority(until 1998 the Archives Authority of New South Wales New South Wales,state (1991 pop. 5,164,549), 309,443 sq mi (801,457 sq km), SE Australia. It is bounded on the E by the Pacific Ocean. Sydney is the capital. The other principal urban centers are Newcastle, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Wollongong, and Broken Hill. ), providingcustodial management of records of continuing value created by state andlocal government agencies in a designated region or regions. (5) Yet ifcommunity access to what after all were public records was one issue, anequally important question for the vice-chancellor of the regionaluniversity was engagement with, and outreach to, a variety of differentinterests in the predominantly pastoral northern district. (6) Similar alignments of interest emerged once the archival collectionat the then Riverina College of Advanced Education (RCAE RCAE Riverina College of Advanced Education (Australia)RCAE Reliability Computer Aided Engineering , since 1989Charles Sturt University) was segregated from the library's'Special Riverina Collection' and began operating as acombined function regional repository on the New England New England,name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. pattern. Incontention was whether the holdings had been acquired primarily tosupport research and teaching, as the academic sponsors maintained, orto serve broader community needs. A related concern was whether, tosupport its diverse clienteles, the Regional Archives needed to acquireand manage complementary library formats such as ephemera e��phem��er��a?n.A plural of ephemeron.ephemeraNoun, plitems designed to last only for a short time, such as programmes or postersNoun 1. , newspapers,government publications, and even monographs and serials. Aligned withthe academics were several university executives responsible forresource allocation resource allocationManaged care The constellation of activities and decisions which form the basis for prioritizing health care needs , planning and audit, but to their discomfiture dis��com��fi��ture?n.1. Frustration or disappointment.2. Lack of ease; perplexity and embarrassment.3. Archaic Defeat.Noun 1. , thecollege principal and foundation vice-chancellor of Charles SturtUniversity (CSU See DSU/CSU. 1. CSU - California State University.2. CSU - Cleveland State University.3. CSU - Channel Service Unit. ), Professor C D Blake, threw his weight behind thecommunity stakeholders. The ensuing, sometimes very public, exchangesled to a searching external inquiry in 1990. Because the proceedingswere closely documented, it is possible to explore the impact ofacademic patronage, the conflicts of interest between academic andcommunity stakeholders, and the effects of the inquiry itself oninstitutional configurations and collection management in the broadestsense of the term. Keith Swan (1916-1996) already had accumulated a collection oflocal records for the Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga(wŏg`ə wŏg`ə), city (1991 pop. 40,875), New South Wales, SE Australia, on the Murrumbidgee River. It is the center of an agricultural district with food-processing and rubber-goods plants and foundries. and District Historical Society(WNV&DHS DHS Department of Homeland Security (USA)DHS Department of Human ServicesDHS Department of Health ServicesDHS Demographic and Health SurveysDHS Dirhams (Morocco national currency)) during the 1960s. (7) So when the senior lecturer senior lecturern. Chiefly BritishA university teacher, especially one ranking next below a reader. inhistory proposed in February 1972 that RCAE establish a regionalresearch unit, it was unsurprising that a key element should be a'Riverina Archives'. (8) The offer of annual gifts ofmonographs and serials from the big working library of Margaret Carnegie(1910-2002) of Kildrummie, Holbrook, enabled Swan and his librarianspouse, Vera Swan, nee Moore, to win Blake's backing and make astart on the project in 1973, albeit at the cost of setting aside theirproposed archives in favour of a 'Special Riverina Collection'in the college's Information Resources (1) The data and information assets of an organization, department or unit. See data administration.(2) Another name for the Information Systems (IS) or Information Technology (IT) department. See IT. Centre. (9) Carnegie'swell-stocked library was not a regional collection, however. It wasstrongest in Australiana from the colonial period Colonial Period may generally refer to any period in a country's history when it was subject to administration by a colonial power. Korea under Japanese rule Colonial America See alsoColonialism , with significantnumbers of rare and scarce items purchased at the Ingleton and Mackanesssales. Yet Swan was adamant that in acquiring private records for thearchival portion of the special collection they should maintain aRiverina focus. He consequently devoted considerable energy to courtingwhat he saw as genuinely regional organisations such as the MurrayValley Development League, and individuals like the Hay engineer andgrazier J Alan Gibson Norman Alan Stanley Gibson (born May 28, 1923 at Sheffield, Yorkshire; died April 10, 1997[1] at Taunton, Somerset) was an English journalist, writer and radio broadcaster, best known for his work in connection with cricket, though he also sometimes covered football and , one of the founders of a rival regional lobbygroup, the Murrumbidgee Valley Water Users' Association. (10) In formulating a warrant for his collecting activities, Swan usedlanguage not dissimilar to that employed by his UMA counterparts. TheSpecial Riverina Collection would foster 'vital links between thecollege and the Riverina community' and facilitate co-operationwith local historical societies. But it primarily was a scholarlycollection intended to support teaching and provide 'researchopportunities' for staff. For this reason access would 'onlybe given to senior students and scholars who [could] establish theirbona fides without doubt'. (11) Nevertheless, library staff memberswere making items available to professional historians external to RCAE,to local residents ('for genealogical purposes'), and even toschoolchildren. (12) Swan was either unaware of these exceptions, orchose to ignore them, probably because he and Vera effectively retainedcontrol over collection development. The annual selection of items fromCarnegie's library was Vera's responsibility, while Keithconcentrated on locating and acquiring virtually any primary sources ofutility to scholars, including newspapers, business archives, privatepapers, records of community organisations, photocopies of originalmanuscript material held in other collections, photographs, cartographic car��tog��ra��phy?n.The art or technique of making maps or charts.[French cartographie : carte, map (from Old French, from Latin charta, carta, paper made from papyrus material and oral history. (13) In this he was following a path welltrafficked by his NBAC counterparts, who regularly accessionedcollections of original and copied documents put together by academics,as well as 'ad hoc political collections' of pamphlets andother publications from 'trades union men'. These'artificial research collections', Sharman noted, were'denominated our "P" collections, though whether thisstands for "Personal", "Pamphlet" or"Periodical" I have never been able to discover'. (14) The acquisition of some seventy metres of records from Tubbostation prompted Swan to retain a consultant in September 1976 to adviseon the future management of archives in the special collection. DigbyHartridge had previously worked at the National Archives of Rhodesia.Despite his public (or institutional) archives background, he was readyto accommodate academic preferences by conceding that 'grey'material such as 'college publications, the papers of researchprojects, local publications, "fugitive material" or"ephemera", cuttings, indexes to newspapers and otherhistorical resources' could be housed in a university archives. Onthe other hand, he was critical of Swan's exclusive focus on thecollecting function and neglect of the college's records. He arguedthat by also assuming the institutional function, and managing its ownrecords, RCAE would significantly strengthen its warrant to collect andservice those of other people and entities. He accordingly urged Swan to create a separate archives unit withcombined functions and employ a professional archivist ARCHIVIST. One to whose care the archives have been confided. accountable to asenior executive rather than to the librarian. (15) Swan was stillattracted to the 'one stop research shop' convenience of thespecial collection model. But a tour of library special collections In library science, special collections (often abbreviated to Spec. Coll. or S.C.) is the name applied to a specific repository within a library which stores materials of a "special" nature. anduniversity archives in Britain and North America North America,third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. during 1977 alerted himto the deleterious consequences of subjecting archives to librarycontrol. Back home, in his new post-retirement role as 'archivalconsultant', Swan persuaded Blake to establish a professionallymanaged combined function regional repository on the UNERA pattern, andarranged with the [State] Archives Authority for it to be responsiblefor the state survey and planning regions of Riverina and Murray.According to according toprep.1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians.2. In keeping with: according to instructions.3. Swan, these approximated what historically had beenregarded as the Riverina. (16) Don Brech from the RAF Museum The Royal Air Force Museum (RAF Museum) is a museum dedicated to the history of aviation, and the British Royal Air Force in particular.The museum is spread over two sites in England; The RAF Museum London at Colindale (Hendon) in north London at Hendon [UK] took up duty asarchivist in February 1979. He reported to the librarian, and thearchives continued to be housed in the library because there was noother suitable accommodation. Swan did not regard this asdisadvantageous dis��ad��van��ta��geous?adj.Detrimental; unfavorable.dis��advan��ta . Indeed, he maintained that newspapers, parliamentarypapers and other similar library formats should be managed in thearchives, which was "geared for conservation andpreservation'. Senior library staff disagreed. Brech speedilyresolved the impasse by negotiating with Vera Swan to repatriate repatriateTo bring home assets that are currently held in a foreign country. Domestic corporations are frequently taxed on the profits that they repatriate, a factor inducing the firms to leave overseas the profits earned there. theseitems to the Carnegie collection The Carnegie Collection is a series of authentic replicas based on dinosaurs and other extinct prehistoric creatures, using fossils featured at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History as references. . (17) Keith Swan, however, provedunaccommodating. He had confided in Blake that he hoped to assume'authority more overtly, even when the archivist isappointed', and soon was at odds with Brech over whether he shouldenjoy privileged access to restricted accessions. (18) Disgruntled atbeing treated like any other scholarly user, Swan threatened to exercisehis right as one of the local historical society's trustees towithdraw the WW&DHS archival collection from the RCAE archives. Inan attempt to head off possible damage to community relations 1. The relationship between military and civilian communities.2. Those public affairs programs that address issues of interest to the general public, business, academia, veterans, Service organizations, military-related associations, and other non-news media entities. , Blakeconvened a two hour meeting with Swan and Brech in mid-January 1980, andarranged a luncheon for members of the society's board ofmanagement in March, but made little headway. Three months elapsedbefore Swan wrote to Blake: 'I greatly regret thus severing mypersonal connection with the College Archives--perhaps, indeed, with theCollege--but I can see no alternative'. (19) Nevertheless, Brech had largely given effect to Swan's vision.A policy statement, drafted during his first week in the job, emphasisedthe 'unique opportunity for innovation within the field of archivesand education' and for the development of 'a community servicenot previously available within the region'. (20) The statementnevertheless gave priority to supporting 'bona fide research'.Intending users were required to write for an appointment, a strategythat effectively discouraged the casual or merely curious and keptresearcher visits below 165 annually. This allowed Brech, who had alibrary attendant (John Winterbottom) as his only full-time assistant,to concentrate on the provision of records management and archivesservices for the college on the one hand and, on the other, the'collection, preservation and control of records of administrativeand historical importance relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accthe Riverina'. The first of these functions was not especially onerous so early inthe college's corporate life. The second was made manageable byadopting 'a passive role' in relation to material which mightlie in the ambit of State Archives and concentrating actively onacquiring private records from 'selected persons, commercial andother organisations'. Although Brech believed a survey oflecturers' teaching and research interests might 'assist inestablishing criteria for the selection of such archives', there isno evidence of a survey being conducted. Instead he identified creatingagency categories he wished to target, and compiled listings of thoseagencies he approached (or intended to approach) for deposits, givingattention in the first instance to the Wagga Wagga locality. The biggest single category was companies, followed by members ofparliament and significant individuals (many of them candidates forpolitical office), then pastoral stations and properties, with most ofthe comparatively small numbers in the associations, clubs and societiescategory being drawn from pastoral and agricultural societies, andracing or gentlemen's clubs. A parallel project--inspired bySwan's original proposal for a Riverina Archives--was thecompilation of a bibliography of records relating to the region in othercollecting institutions, ranging from state libraries to localhistorical societies. By the time Brech departed in December 1982, tomanage the Northern Territory Archives, the Riverina College Archivesand Records Service (RCA&RS) held eight accessions of collegerecords, fifty-eight accessions of State Archives and 178 accessions ofprivate records. (21) Brech's successor, Alan Ives, commenced work in mid-June 1983.An enthusiastic book collector and trained librarian with elevenyears' experience at the National Library and AustralianArchives' main library in Canberra, Ives swiftly reverted toSwan's special collection model. By November 1987 (when a recentlyemployed clerical assistant began de-accessioning on her own initiative(22) he and his staff had accessioned 451 consignments of governmentpublications, serials and works of reference. They also had accessioned170 consignments of 'grey' material, much of it ephemera.Whether consciously or otherwise, Ives reversed his predecessor'scollecting priorities, acquiring 342 consignments of State Archives and253 consignments of private records during the period between hisappointment and his departure in January 1994. Most of this collecting appears to have been unsystematic, but acommon element in many of the public and private archival accessions wasa preponderance of name-identified data, which Winterbottom began tocard index in what became known as the 'Riverina Name Index'.Ives and he now quite consciously catered to a growing communityinterest in genealogy Among their earliest accessions were some 500metres of hospital patient files. To these they added extensiveconsignments of solicitors' client files, and registers ofbaptisms, marriages and burials from parishes in the Anglican Diocese ofRiverina The Diocese of Riverina is one of 23 dioceses that make the Anglican Church of Australia. The diocese covers 37% of New South Wales, including the Riverina and the Far West of the State. . Prospective researchers no longer needed to write for anappointment; Ives and Winterbottom opened the search room to the publicduring business hours BUSINESS HOURS. The time of the day during which business is transacted. In respect to the time of presentment and demand of bills and notes, business hours generally range through the whole day down to the hours of rest in the evening, except when the paper is payable it a bank or by a on weekdays, with regular Saturday and eveningopenings for meetings of both the WW&DHS and the Wagga Wagga &District Family History Society (WW&DFHS DFHS Devon Family History SocietyDFHS Dutch Fork High School (South Carolina)DFHS Dobbs Ferry High School (Dobbs Ferry, NY)). These initiatives brought them into conflict with Ives'supervisor, Carol Mills, who became college librarian in July 1984. Ireshad been 'part of [her] social circle in Canberra', and theyshared interests in bibliography and book collecting book collecting,or bibliophily, the acquiring of books that are, or are expected to become, rare and that possess permanent interest in addition to their texts. Collecting has traditionally concentrated on first editions in the field of pure literature. . (23) But they soonwere at odds over his purchase of library materials, his failure to usethe Dewey classification system and Library of Congress subject headings The Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) comprise a thesaurus (in the information technology sense) of subject headings, maintained by the United States Library of Congress, for use in bibliographic records. in cataloguing publications, and his efforts to displace Vera Swan asthe Carnegie collection manager. Concerned that bona fide (academic)researchers were taking second place to family historians from the localcommunity, Mills and the bursar bur��sar?n.An official in charge of funds, as at a college or university; a treasurer.[Middle English burser, from Medieval Latin burs , John Biddle '''John Biddle may refer to John Biddle (Unitarian) John Biddle (Michigan), U.S. politician John Biddle (United States Army General) , voiced their misgivings tothe principal. (24) Blake had been providing ex gratia ex gratia (eks′ grāˑ·shē· payments toacquire genealogical resources and made it clear that his sympathieswere with Ives. So much so that he began to explore how he might moreclosely 'associate' the Carnegie collection and RCA&RSwithout further alienating the Swans. (25) Failing to find asatisfactory solution, he reconstituted the Riverina Archives as anautonomous unit, initially accountable to himself, then afterwards tohis deputy, Dr Jack Cross (1928-2002), and established an archivesadvisory committee under the chairmanship of a senior lecturer inhistory, Dr David Denholm (1924-1997). In 1984 Denholm had begun teaching an undergraduate subject whichgave students hands-on experience with archives from the Tumbarumbalocality. Ives had allocated him an office in the repository, andDenholm had taken charge of map holdings, preparing meticulous findingaids that continue to provide the primary access point to annotatedparish maps. Not surprisingly, he moved to shore up the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. ,telling Blake that in his 'own repeated experience',RCA&RS's descriptive practices guaranteed 'production of arequested item in two minutes or less'. The 'centralproblem', according to Denholm, was not Ives' limited archivalexperience--some ten months in survey and disposal at AustralianArchives--but rather the 'ill-defined setting' in which he hadto work at Riverina-Murray Institute of Higher Education (RMIHE RMIHE Riverina-Murray Institute of Higher Education (Australia)), asRCAE now became known. (26) To remedy this deficiency, Denholm drafted afive-page document detailing 'purposes' of the archives,'acquisitions policy' and 'usage policy'. Apart from its usage section, the document's priorities werebroadly consistent with Brech's 1979 policy, so Denholm had littledifficulty in getting approval from the advisory committee. He thenallowed the committee to slip into recess, seemingly unconcerned aboutmonitoring implementation or compliance. When forwarding the policystatement to Blake in September 1985, Cross commented that it made theInstitute Archives 'more formally supportive to ... research andteaching functions than ... hitherto. (27) Yet in doing so it widenedthe Archives' mandate to embrace 'primary and secondaryeducation in the region' and multiplied its functions to include'publication, exhibition and reciprocal enterprise with externalinterested groups'. In discharging this last function, the Archiveswas permitted to 'extend ... co-operation to the ... mutual use ofspace and other appropriate resources': an authority Ivessubsequently invoked to legitimate housing the WW&DFHS and itscollection of books and microform In micrographics, a medium that contains microminiaturized images such as microfiche and microfilm. See micrographics. in the Archives building. By June 1987 Jack Cross felt obliged to point out that'educational use of the Archives [was] below the level of policyexpectation'. There were abundant indications that steps had beentaken 'to provide community service', but there had not been'visible effective steps ... to encourage development of theresource for academic purposes'. A proposal by Denholm to establisha research and teaching facility at the Riverina Archives seemed to himsimply to impose another layer of administrative machinery, withoutdoing anything to address these shortcomings. (28) Blake agreed. Hemoved in 1988 to associate the Archives with the major administrativedivision Noun 1. administrative division - a district defined for administrative purposesadministrative district, territorial divisionborough - one of the administrative divisions of a large citycanton - a small administrative division of a country of Educational Services and, in March 1989, reconstituted thearchives advisory committee under the chairmanship of Professor RichardJohnstone, dean of the school of Humanities and Social Sciences and soonto be dean of the faculty of Arts Historically the Faculty of Arts was one of the four traditional divisions of the teaching bodies of universities, the others being theology, law and medicine.[1] Nowadays it is a common name for the faculties teaching humanities. References1. . Blake was emphatic, however, that therelationship between the Archives and the WW&DFHS was not a policyissue within the advisory committee's remit. (29) The concurrentcreation of Charles Sturt University, through the amalgamation of RMIHEand the Bathurst-based Mitchell College For the North Carolina college formerly known as Mitchell College, see Mitchell Community College.Mitchell College is a college in New London, Connecticut, USA. It was founded in 1938. of Advanced Education (MCAE MCAE Mechanical Computer-Aided Engineering (mechanical engineering, design or analysis)MCAE Massachusetts Coalition for Adult EducationMCAE Minnesota Center for Arts EducationMCAE Mitchell College of Advanced Education ),meanwhile presented the committee with the opportunity to commission anexpert external panel to review the Archives' management andrecommend how it might most effectively accommodate the newuniversity's 'expanded regional obligations and ...aspirations for significantly enhanced research and higher degreeprofiles'. Chaired by the University of Melbourne archivist, Frank Strahan,the five-member review panel received written submissions and met withinterested parties during a two-day visit to the Wagga Wagga campus on27-28 November 1990. Its report recommended the appointment of a fullyqualified and experienced university archivist, accountable to theWagga-based deputy vice-chancellor (academic). In the interim a board ofmanagement should control policy, budgets and personnel. Blake alreadyhad assigned responsibility for the University Archives to theBathurst-based deputy vice-chancellor (services), Professor JohnCollins, and charged him with chairing the board of management anddeciding how the university should implement the review's keyrecommendations. Central to these was the ranking of functions to givepriority to the management of the university's own archives,followed by the personal papers of its staff and alumni. Thereafter itshould serve 'as a repository for state and local government andprivate papers' relating in the first instance to the existingregions of Riverina and Murray. Finally, it should 'fulfil agenealogical and local history role for the university'scommunities', though the report emphasised that the commitment tothis role would need to be reassessed as the usage rate by academics andstudents increased. In assigning these priorities, the review quite consciouslyfollowed the Brech and Denholm policy statements. However, it differedfrom Denholm by highlighting the inappropriateness of the specialcollection model and pointing to the inadequate arrangement anddescription of the already processed portion of the archival collection.It acknowledged that the Archives were seriously understaffed inrelation to the functions staff members were expected to perform. But itreiterated that, if the collection was to be used in support of teachingand research, accessions needed to be processed more thoroughly inaccordance with the principles of provenance and original order, and notmerely shelf-listed in the order in which they were boxed on receipt.Should additional staffing not be available to tackle the backlog ofunprocessed accessions, this could still be accomplished by closing tothe public one day a week, and by restricting acquisition to theexisting regions of Riverina and Murray. Collins was afterwards to claim that neither the vice-chancellornor the board of management had endorsed any of the review'srecommendations, apart from establishment of the board itself. On theissue of making time to tackle the processing backlog, board membersfreely voiced their opposition. But on the more substantive issues ofdescriptive practices and the acquisition of library formats theydeferred consideration until the university archivist was appointed: anoccurrence that Collins admitted was unlikely in the foreseeable futuredue to budgetary constraints. This did not prevent members fromendorsing Ives' proposal to acquire hardcopy runs of metropolitannewspapers including the London Times, the New York Times, the New York Times, TheMorning daily newspaper, long the U.S. newspaper of record. From its establishment in 1851 it has aimed to avoid sensationalism and to appeal to cultured, intellectual readers. BrisbaneCourier-Mail and the Hobart Mercury. Challenged to justify this decision by Johnstone and the directorof planning and development, Bernie O'Donnell, Collins replied thatwhile there was 'some reservation expressed' as to whetherthis was consistent with the board's 'agreed collectionpolicy, the final decision was that the papers were appropriate to theneeds of the Archives' and a resource 'for both community andUniversity researchers'. (30) The priority was clear, and notmissed by Johnstone, who felt 'bound to register [his]disappointment that the opportunities for positive and productive changecontained in the report ... [had] been so comprehensively missed'.Blake responded by recommending to the university's governing body Noun 1. governing body - the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance of an association is responsible to its members"; "he in mid-1992 that responsibility for the Regional Archives, as they werenow to be known, should rest with the executive director of LibraryServices, Margaret Macpherson. (31) It is unlikely that Macpherson embraced this new responsibilitywith any great enthusiasm. In 1980 she had advised the MCAE principalagainst establishing a combined function regional repository inBathurst. Nine years later she declared that the new university had'many more vital matters to pursue than establishing a regionalarchive for more than one-third of New South Wales'. (32) Amongthese matters she instanced the management of its own corporate records.She consequently can have found little comfort in the 'policystatement and implementation plan' approved by the RegionalArchives' board of management on 4 March 1992. Drafted by a workingparty consisting of Ives, an associate professor of publicadministration and two lecturers in history, it identified ten mainfunctions, the most significant of which was the collecting of privaterecords. The preservation of corporate records of the institution andits precursors was then ranked second, the community function fifth, andthe regional repository function ninth. Acting 'as a publisher formaterial based on or about the collection' was in seventh place andarranging 'exhibitions from time to time' in eighth place.(33) By giving priority to the collecting function, and authorising theacquisition of records 'representative of the urban centres ofAlbury, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga and their immediate agricultural andpastoral hinterlands', the board signalled its intention to breakdecisively not only with the review's recommendations, but with thepolicies enunciated by Denholm and Brech. Its decision was partlypragmatic, because Ives and Winterbottom had been collecting fromcourthouses in the central-west since 1990. But it was driven mainly bythe determination of one of the historians, Dr Bruce Pennay fromCSU'S Albury-Wodonga campus, to align archival collecting and usemore closely with the university's mission to address thedistinctive needs of each of these urban centres and its ruralhinterland. Rather than focussing on 'state administrativeboundaries of dubious utility', Pennay believed that thoseresponsible for collection development needed to come to grips with theprovincial character of settlement in non-metropolitan Australia. (34) Thus far collecting had been Wagga-centric and insufficientlyinclusive of inclusive ofprep.Taking into consideration or account; including. the city's rural hinterland. The board'simplementation plan accordingly proposed the immediate acquisition of'additional agricultural-based archival material from ...vineyards, farms, pastoral properties, wineries, etc.' within thethree localities defined in the accompanying policy statement. Tocollect in these localities was an ambitious but ultimately unrealisticproposal, since the board already had decided not to act on thereview's recommendation to appoint a field officer, and had notsecured sufficient human or fiscal resources to cope with existing work,let alone the increased volume of arrangement and description that wouldbe generated. Although the proposal was revisited in 1994, and again in1997--when the Bathurst City Council encouraged CSU to explore thefeasibility of establishing a central-western repository in partnershipwith the Archives Authority--it was to founder on each occasion becauseneither the university nor the authority was prepared to commit enoughresources. In March 1993 an advisory committee chaired by Macpherson succeededthe board of management, but things at the archives appeared to continuemuch as they had before the review In a spirited exchange with Johnstonewhen the review was first proposed, Ives had been adamant that CSURA wasdifferent from 'any other university archives in Australia. Theclosest parallel ... [was] the Geelong [Historic] Records Centre'.(35) The Geelong facility functioned as a community resource forgenealogy and local history, and in many respects CSURA now had more incommon with it than with the other university-based combined functionregional repositories at Armidale, Newcastle and Wollongong. Central toits role as a family history resource was its extensive collection ofprinted reference material and microform guides and indexes. WW&DFHS members, lobbying the vice-chancellor to set aside theStrahan report, spoke proudly of the genealogical books and associatedmicroforms as among the 'largest' collections of their kindoutside Sydney. (36) Academics and information professionals, bycontrast, drew attention to the heterogeneous character of CSURA'scollections of library material, the absence of any discernible purposeunderlying their acquisition, and the difficulty in accessing the mostlyuncatalogued items, many of them duplicated in the campus libraries.Several of the submissions from academics advocated the maintenance ofsmall collections of regionally-related reference books and universityephemera, but noted that pressure of space in an already overflowingrepository made it essential for the boundaries of such collections tobe very strictly policed. (37) Senior staff from the Archives Authority offered comparable adviceafter they carried out a two-day inspection in May 1993. They found a'substantial amount of space' was taken up with'extraneous reference material', newspapers and quantities oftime-expired records not required as State Archives. Publications werestacked in aisles. Intellectual control of State Archives wasrudimentary. Efforts to identify provenance did not distinguish creatingfrom controlling agencies and series identification was 'verypoor' or non-existent. Even though the standard of collectionmanagement was 'well below that expected of [their] ownorganisation', the authority's officers hesitated to recommendthe recall of State Archives to Sydney. (38) Relations with theuniversity were uneasy because the authority had failed to deliverdirect funding to support the regional repository function, and itschief executive had clashed with Ives over unauthorised acquisition ofpublic records from the central west. For this reason the report waswithheld, and only forwarded to Blake in summary in January 1994, afterhe had made it known that he had decided on a change of management atthe archives. Denholm, who had retired at the end of 1989, immediately proposedthat Winterbottom be designated 'acting archivist' and hehimself be employed 'to help advance the re-ordering' of thecollections before the university appointed a new archivist. Thefundamental issue, as he saw it, was 'the extra-muralholdings' of 'non-regional newspapers, loose parliamentarypapers, books and other forms of reference' that he now proposedselectively dispersing. Three years previously in a dismissivecommentary on the Strahan review, he had opposed this action. Moreprovocatively, he had insisted that his 'feel' for thearchival portion of the collection suggested the review'srecommendation about addressing inadequate arrangement and descriptionmisrepresented the situation. If 'my "feel" issound', he concluded, 'the recommendation is on its way to thediscard basket'. (39) Whether he had changed his mind was not madeclear. Blake meanwhile was persuaded that palliative measures werewoefully woe��fulalso wo��ful ?adj.1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful.2. Causing or involving woe.3. Deplorably bad or wretched: incommensurate in��com��men��su��rate?adj.1. a. Not commensurate; disproportionate: a reward incommensurate with their efforts.b. Inadequate.2. Incommensurable. with the problem. On the recommendation ofJohnstone, now the deputy vice-chancellor, he seconded the author ofthis paper to serve as manager for ten months, commencing at thebeginning of February. The challenge I faced in implementing the recommendations of theStrahan review was fourfold. Firstly, to disperse library materials andget the archives functioning as a combined function regional repositoryrather than a special collection. Secondly, to enhance intellectualcontrol over records already in custody. Thirdly, to implement thecollecting priorities set out in the review. Fourthly, to realignreference and other client services to support corporate accountabilityand orderly administration, research, teaching and learning, andoutreach to the university's regional communities. The principal constraint was inadequate resources. With 1.5effective full-time equivalent staff apart from myself, it was vital touse available labour as judiciously as possible. It soon became apparentthat some 5000 metres of repository shelving (erected without backs)would require reconstruction. To minimise double handling we began byremoving all non-archival holdings, and sentencing corporate and publicrecords to identify time-expired series of no continuing administrativeor research value. Officers of the WW&DFHS interpreted this as thefirst step towards transforming CSURA into a facility predominantly foracademic research. Within a week of my arrival, Wagga Wagga's DailyAdvertiser made the changes taking place at the archives front-pagenews. Under the headline, 'London Times on Death Row', itreported that some newspapers were still headed for the shredder, thoughthe intervention of the Advertiser's editor, Michael McCormack Michael McCormack is a justice of the Nebraska Supreme Court, appointed by Governor Ben Nelson in 1997. He graduated from Creighton University School of Law in 1963 and worked as an Assistant Public Defender in Douglas County from 1963 to 1966. , hadensured that long runs of several of the most important Australiannewspapers had been reclaimed by their publishers. (40) McCormack proveda valuable ally. During the next few weeks his paper ran stories andphotographs as out of town editors and librarians called to collecttheir booty. Concurrently, literally thousands of monographs and severalhundred long runs of serials on shelves in the search room or loadingdock were distributed to the university's campus libraries, topublic and other university libraries, and to district schools. A coupleof hundred genealogical books were placed on loan with the WW&DFHS,and relocated in November 1996 when the society moved out of thearchives building and into its own accommodation on theuniversity's south campus. By December 1994 over a quarter of CSURA's total holdings ofrecords had been destroyed or returned to creating agencies. Transfersof public records had been suspended temporarily and a small commercialintermediate storage facility established. The introduction offee-for-service storage of public records not required as State Archivesconsiderably reduced the number and size of consignments, with 121accessions of State Archives received between January 1994 and March2003. During the same period we accessioned 253 consignments ofcorporate records from CSU and its precursors, and 270 consignments ofprivate records. Resources were not sufficient for proactive collecting,so priority was given to documentation projects. The appointment of James Logan James Logan is the name of: James Logan (statesman) (1674–1751), colonial American statesman. James Logan (author), Scottish author, wrote Scottish Gael (1831), list of clan tartans to the new position of collectionmanager in November 1995, and the employment of ten clerical assistantsunder the federally funded New Work Opportunities scheme, enabled us tomake a start on the backlog of arrangement and description. Thepublication of Logan's Concise Guide to State Archives from theRiverina and Murray Regions (1997) and the uploading of it and hisRegional records on-line guide (1999) on our website marked asignificant milestone in intellectual control over both public andprivate records. Currently, Logan and the project archivist, WayneDoubleday, are in the second year of a three-year project, funded byState Records, which is documenting the corporate records of CSU and itsprecursors using the Australian series system. From the beginning it seemed probable that the very extensiveholdings of public records at CSURA would ensure our usage profile wouldcontinue to be closer to that of a state archival repository than acombined function university archives. And this indeed has proved to bethe case. While community usage dropped from over ninety per cent of allresearchers in 1995 to seventy-five per cent in 1998, it stabilised ataround seventy per cent thereafter. The concurrent rise in academicusage can be attributed to a number of initiatives, including myappointment in December 1994 to the joint position of director of CSURAand senior lecturer in history, the involvement of Logan and myself inteaching and supervision in history and politics, and our introductionof archives summer research scholarships funded from our fee-for-servicestorage operations. Like all university-based combined function regional repositories,our most pressing concern remains the scarcity of resources in relationto the number of functions we are expected to perform. Under thesecircumstances active prioritisation is the key to successful management.Contrary to Denholm's claims in 1991, when responding to therecommendations of the Strahan review, CSURA is not a public archivesthat ought to have 're-geared [itself] to deal primarily with [its]non-academic publics'. (41) It first and foremost is a universityarchives whose first duty is to its host institution: to its orderlyadministration on the one hand, and to its prime functions of research,teaching and learning on the other. Only when these have been adequatelyaddressed is it reasonable actively to divert resources to supportcommunity usage. And even then it is crucial that a broad range ofcommunity interests are served, and not simply the needs of a singleorganised interest group. My thanks to Nancy Blacklow, Lyn Gorman, Richard Johnstone, DavidLevine, James Levine, James,1943–, American conductor, b. Cincinnati, Ohio. A piano prodigy, he was a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony at the age of 10. After extensive musical studies, he served (1964–65) as an apprentice to George Szell with the Cleveland Logan and Troy Whitford for reading this article in draft. Endnotes (1) Boadle, D, 'Australian university archives and theirmanagement of the records continuum' in Archives and reformCanberra, ASA Asa(ā`sə), in the Bible, king of Judah, son and successor of Abijah. He was a good king, zealous in his extirpation of idols. When Baasha of Israel took Ramah (a few miles N of Jerusalem), Asa bought the help of Benhadad of Damascus and 1998 p247-255 (2) Sharman, RC, 'Collections of archives maintained forteaching and research purposes' in LAA LAA Los Angeles Angels (baseball team)LAA Local Area Agreements (UK)LAA Latin American AssociationLAA Lifetime Achievement AwardLAA Locally Administered AddressLAA Library Association of Alberta Proceedings of the 16thbiennial conference Sydney, LAA 1972 p183 (3) Fairbanks, S, Social warrants for collective memory: casestudies of Australian collecting archives MA (Archives & Records)thesis Monash University Facilities in are diverse and vary in services offered. Information on residential sevices at Monash University, including on-campus (MRS managed) and off-campus, can be found at [2] Student organisations 1999 p67-72, 104-105 (4) Buckley, C, 'History of the University of New EnglandArchives' Armidale and District Historical Society Journal 40 1997p117 (5) Boadle, D, 'Origins and development of the New South Walesregional repositories system' Archives and Manuscripts 23 (2) 1995p274-288 (6) Ryan, JS, 'Early university responses to the matter ofcollecting and using archives in New England' Armidale and DistrictHistorical Society Journal 41 1998 p40 (7) Boadle, D, 'The historian as archival collector: anAustralian local study' Australian Academic and Research Libraries34 (1) 2003 (8) Swan, KJ, 'The establishment of a Riverina Research Unitwithin the College' 21 February 1972 RCAE SBLS SBLS Standard Base Level System Dean's subjectfiles Riverina Research Institute CSURA, CSU1857 Box 2 (9) Swan, KJ, 'Some Thoughts on a "Special RiverinaCollection" in the Information Resources Centre of the RiverinaCollege of Advanced Education' 18 August 1972 RCAE SBLS Dean'ssubject files Miscellaneous 1972-76 CSURA, CSU1857 Box 1 (10) Swan, KJ, 'The middle reaches since 1900' in TheMurray Waters Sydney, Angus & Robertson 1974 p137 (11) Swan, KJ, Report on activities as consultant for the Archivesand Riverina Collection at Riverina College for the quarter ending 30June 1977 Swan papers CSURA, RW1586 (12) Hartridge, D, Memo to registrar 10 October 1977 RCA&RSPolicy file RCA See RCA connector and video/TV history. 79/2 CSURA, CSU1923/2 (13) Swan 'Some Thoughts ...' (14) Sharman op cit Op Cit Opere Citato (Latin: In the Work Mentioned)p186 (15) Hartridge, D, Report by archival consultant December 1976RCA79/2 CSURA, CSU1923/2 (16) Swan, KJ, Draft letter to principal archivist ArchivesAuthority 13 July 1977 CSURA, RW1586 (17) Brech, DB, Notes on Margaret Carnegie Collection 28 May 1979RCA&RS Margaret Carnegie Collection file RCA79/33 CSURA, CSU1923/20 (18) Swan, KJ, Letter to Blake 10 March 1978 RCAE Central recordsM79/113 vol I CSURA, CSU2040; Brech, DB, 'Aide memoire--meetingwith principal and director IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Computer conferencing on the Internet. There are hundreds of IRC channels on numerous subjects that are hosted on IRC servers around the world. After joining a channel, your messages are broadcast to everyone listening to that channel. Monday 14 January 1980 to discuss letterfrom KJ Swan ...' RCA&RS Archives Policy file pt 2 RCA80/4CSURA, CSU1923/40 (19) Swan, KJ, Letter to Blake 18 June 1980 Copy on accession fileSwan papers CSURA, RW40 (20) RCA&RS Policy Statement 8 March 1979 RCA79/2 CSURA,CSU1923/2 (21) [Brech, DB,] Holograph A will or deed written entirely by the testator or grantor with his or her own hand and not witnessed.State laws vary widely in regard to the status of a holographic will. notes 'Acquisitions--RiverinaArchives' [April/May 1979] RCA79/2; 'News Notes' Archivesand Manuscripts 7 (5) 1979 p296-297 (22) Harris, J, Submission to Strahan review committee 9 November1990 CSU Central records Archives, review of 90/245 pt 1 CSURA,CSU2075/57 (23) Mills, C, Submission to Strahan review committee 7 November1990 90/245 pt 1 CSURA, CSU2075/57 (24) Biddle, J, Memo to Blake 6 November 1984 RCAE Central recordsM79/113 vol II CSURA, CSU2040 (25) Blake, CD, Memo to deputy principal Cross 6 August 1985M83/113 vol II CSURA, CSU2040 (26) Denholm, DD, Memo to principal 12 March 1985 CSURA, Denholmpapers (27) Cross, JA, Memo to principal enclosing 'RMIHE Archivesand Records Service Policy Statement' 11 September 1985 M83/113 volII CSURA, CSU2040 (28) Cross, JA, Memo to Denholm 30 June 1987 M86/113 vol IV CSURA,CSU2040 (29) Blake, CD, Directive to deputy principal Brooks 13 March 1989M88/113 vol VI CSURA, CSU2040 (30) Collins,JM, Memo to Johnstone 24 April 1992 90/245 pt 6 CSURA,CSU2075/58 (31) Blake, CD, Memo to Collins 19 May 1992 90/245 pt 6 CSURA,CSU2075/58 (32) Macpherson, M, Memo to acting principal MCAE 14 December 1989Executive director Library Services Archives 1986-90 CSURA, CSU 2183/13 (33) Collins, JM, Memo to university secretary 24 March 1992covering CSURA Policy statement and implementation plan 4 March 1992 CSUCentral records Archives CSU 90/078 pt 2 CSURA, CSU2075/27 (34) Pennay, B, Memo to Boadle 25 June 1994 CSURA Director'ssubject & correspondence files Archives--review of policy andprocedures 1994 CSURA, CSU2096/2 (35) CSU Archives Advisory Committee agenda papers 20 August 1990item 4(b) (36) Fellowes, D, Letter to vice-chancellor 6 February 1991 90/078pt 1 CSURA, CSU2075/27 (37) Submissions from J Mills and W Eather, C Mills, S Morris, DBoadle 90/245 pt 1 CSURA, CSU2075/57 (38) NSW NSWNew South WalesNoun 1. NSW - the agency that provides units to conduct unconventional and counter-guerilla warfareNaval Special Warfare public records in the CSU Regional Archives, Wagga WaggaReport of inspection visit 4-5 May 1993 Copy in CSURA Staffing 1994CSURA, CSU2096/37 (39) Denholm, DD, Letter to dean of studies (copied tovice-chancellor) 17 January 1994 90/078 pt 2 CSURA, CSU2075/27;'Comment on report of review of the university archives' 8February 1991 90/245 pt 5 CSURA, CSU2075/58 (40) The Daily Advertiser 9 February 1994 pl, 33 (41) Denholm 'Comment on report of review ...' Don Boadle is director of the CSU Regional Archives and a seniorlecturer in history at Charles Sturt University. He read history at theUniversity of Sydney The University of Sydney, established in Sydney in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia. It is a member of Australia's "Group of Eight" Australian universities that are highly ranked in terms of their research performance. and St John's College, Cambridge and hastaught at the University of Sydney and Charles Sturt University. He haswritten about British foreign relations Foreign relations may refer to: Diplomacy, the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or nations Foreign policy, a set of political goals that seeks to outline how a particular country will interact with other countries of the , Australian regional history,and Australian university archives. He may be contacted via Locked Bag588 Wagga Wagga NSW 2678 Australia, or by e-mail at dboadle@csu.edu.auTelephone 02 6925 3666 Facsimile 02 6925 3992