War of words over state of Archives NZ
Archives NZ is in its worst state in decades, those who use its services say, but the minister responsible for the national archive disagrees, saying the current arrangement is working ‘‘really well’’.
Last week, Archives NZ, the Government’s record-keeping authority, removed public access to its online collections search tool – which had been live since February – due to a potential privacy and security breach, after restricted files became visible.
Late yesterday it reinstated access to the search tool, with chief archivist Anahera Morehu saying she was satisfied there was no breach.
‘‘These issues are not what we anticipated, or expected, from a new system when it was introduced. Collections search will continue to be monitored closely . . . and we’re prepared to quickly respond to any potential future issues,’’ Morehu said.
But experts say issues with Archives NZ have been festering since it was placed under the authority of the Department of
Internal Affairs in 2011.
‘‘I have had about 50 years’ association with Archives NZ ... Never have I seen it at a lower point,’’ said retired academic and former president of the Archives and Records Association Dr Brad Patterson. ‘‘It just gets worse and worse year by year.’’
Labour promised to reestablish Archives NZ as a standalone agency in its 2017 election manifesto and make the chief archivist an officer of Parliament, but that never happened.
Asked why, Internal Affairs Minister Jan Tinetti said officials had looked into the matter and decided the new arrangement ‘‘seems to be working really well’’.
But Patterson said Tinetti needed to own that Archives NZ was in crisis.
Patterson’s wife, Kathryn Patterson, a former chief archivist, was equally worried about its state of affairs, he said.
Former general manager of business and finance at Archives NZ Lindsay Ferguson said: ‘‘[Archives NZ] would unquestionably be at its lowest point – and there have been some quite low points.’’
Tinetti’s description of Archives NZ working well was ‘‘farcical’’, Ferguson said, adding that since 2011 it had not been meeting its statutory or recordkeeping functions.
The Government appeared to have no sense of the importance or scale of the problems facing Archives, said Victoria University of Wellington professor of history Jim McAloon.
Historians researching Treaty settlements and Takutai Moana applications had been affected by issues with Archives, Te Arawhiti spokesperson Darrin Sykes said.
Axiell, the provider of the new search tool, apologised to users for the problems.
Axiell chief operating officer Maria Wasing said improvements and fixes to the search tool were ‘‘ongoing’’.