12.5 Archives
- Archives are records created or received by the council or legacy councils required to be kept permanently under the Public Records Act 2005. Good information management practices and record-keeping enables the council to:
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know what information it holds
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know where that information is kept
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know that it can rely on accessing the correct version of information.
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Archived collections and services are available to council staff, elected members and the public. Records can be searched via the archives database (which contains descriptions of more than 311,000 records) [1] and viewed by visiting repositories in south, west, north and central Auckland.
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The Government Chief Archivist has published a standard for the appropriate management of public sector records and information. This covers the:
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creation and maintenance of records
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classification and organisation of records
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assignment of metadata to records and aggregations
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provision of access to records
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appraisal of records and disposing of them appropriately
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maintaining the integrity of records
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managing records systematically.
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Council does not have to keep all the information it creates or hold it indefinitely. However, the council is obliged to take a systematic approach to records management.
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There are more stringent requirements for material that is defined as a protected record [2], including agendas, minute books, records of senior management meetings and other key documents. This material must be archived for posterity.
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In common with other entities, the council is also required to keep records for tax and employment purposes.
More information about our Corporate Records and Archives can be found here.