7.7 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 know:
- what information it holds
- where that information is kept
- that it can rely on accessing the correct version of information.
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.
The Government Chief Archivist has published a standard for the appropriate management of public sector records and information. This covers the:
- creation and maintenance of records
- classification and organisation of records
- assignment of metadata to records and aggregations
- provision of access to records
- appraisal of records and disposing of them appropriately
- maintaining the integrity of records
- managing records systematically.
The 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.
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.
In common with other entities, the council is also required to keep records for tax and employment purposes.
For more information about our corporate records and archives check Council-specific archives.
Footnotes
[1] https://collections.archives.govt.nz/en/web/arena/search#/?q=auckland