College and Research Libraries University Archives: The Australian Scene Nessy Allen A recent suroey of the development and administration of archives in Australian universities reveals similarities with those in North America and difficulties for units in both regions. While many of the Australian archives have been developed according to the special needs of a particular university and, in some cases, of the community it seroes, they share with their United States and Canadian counterparts problems of finance, staffing, space allocation, place-: ment, and management. • hen institutions of higher edu- cation decide to establish an ar- chive, as opposed to simply ac- cumulating records, they must make decisions about matters common to all organizations planning a similar move. Such decisions include the physical loca- tion of the archive and the allocation of space to meet immediate and future needs; the specific functions of the archive and whether it is to serve only as a reposi- tory of the institution's records or whether it will also hold the archives of other orga- nizations; the management of the archive and whether it will come under the super- vision of the central administration or that of the library; and the financing of the ar- chive for both its establishment and its fu- ture development. Some of these issues, as well as more technical ones, have been . discussed by others and various models for dealing with them have been pro- posed. 1 Data of general interest are set out in this article to show how such matters have been handled by Australian univer- sities in setting up their archives; where appropriate, comparison is made with North American patterns. DEVELOPMENT OF ARCHIVES AND THE UNIVERSITIES The Australian higher education system developed gradually. In 1956 there were only nine universities in Australia. As un- dergraduate student numbers grew, how- ever, colleges of advanced vocational edu- cation were established and new universities were set up. By 1976 nineteen of the twenty-one Australian universities had been established. The two not consid- ered here were upgraded from college sta- tus after this study was completed. In 1977 the commonwealth government brought all postsecondary education under the control of one body, the Tertiary Educa- tion Commission (later the Common- wealth Tertiary Education Commission, CTEC), which advised the government af- ter consulting with its various advisory councils established for the different ter- tiary sectors. Although the recommenda- tions of the commission were not neces- sarily accepted by the government, the commission put into effect the govern- ment's subsequent decisions. Although the nomenclature of institu- tions is similar in North America and Aus- tralia in that both have colleges and uni- versities, and although there are parallels, the two systems are not identical. Until 1987, for example, there were no privately funded universities in Australia; and the status of an institution called a university was higher than that one called a college. Nessy Allen is Lecturer at the School of Science and Technology Studies, University of New South Wales, P. 0. Box 1, Kensington, 2033, N.S. W., Australia. 657 ~--------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- 658 College & Research Libraries In recent years pressure by the staff of col- leges of advanced education has resulted in an upward trend, moving from college to university status; however, the first ex- ample since 1976 of such an upgrading oc- curred only in 1987. The governance of higher education in Australia is clearly changing. In late 1987 the commonwealth government an- nounced that CTEC was to be abolished and replaced by a Higher Education Council which will advise a National Board of Employment, Education, and Training. Soon afterwards the minister for employment, education, and training cir- culated a policy discussion paper on higher education which proposed the dis- mantling of the present binary system and the setting up of a unified national higher education system. The new system will af- fect not only existing archives and possi- bly their functions but also the establish- ment of any future archives. As in the United States and Canada, the establishment of archives at Australian universities has been a relatively recent development, which began to gather mo- mentum about thirty years ago. The first Australian university, the University of Sydney, was founded in 1850, followed shortly by the University of Melbourne in 1853. Appropriately enough, these two oldest universities were among the first to set up archives, albeit not until100 years after their founding. In the United States, Harvard Univer- sity, although it began compiling and keeping records in 1851, did not set up an official archive on a statutory basis until 1939. 2 Only in the 1950s and 1960s did other universities and colleges in the United States begin their archival pro- grams. 3 A similar pattern emerged in Can- ada. Formal university archives were started there in the 1960s, when some of the older universities appointed profes- sional archivists. 4 In both countries, how- ever, the rate of establishing archives has been relatively slow, and this is equally true of Australian universities. Of the nineteen universities established in Australia by 1976, fifteen now have for- mal archives. The Australian National University (ANU), Griffith University, November 1989 "Of the nineteen universities estab- lished in Australia by 1976, fifteen now have formal archives." James Cook University, ·and Murdoch University have not yet begun archives, although they do, of course, keep univer- sity records. At all four of these archive- less universities there have been discus- sions about the establishment of archives. The ANU is anomalous in that it keeps very extensive collections of business and trade union records. These collections were begun in the 1950s by academics in various departments who were interested in materials for their research. Within a few years, an archives unit was started in the Research School of Social Sciences to house and develop these collections. 5 The ANU administration keeps material re- lated to the establishment of its various schools and private papers of eminent people connected with the university. In other words, archival material is being conserved. There is no move, however, to systematize all the holdings in a central ar- chive, although the university is well aware of the need. A committee exists to consider the matter, but it has not met for some years, and while the university budget makes annual provision for one salary for archives, the amount is subse- quently struck out as a savings measure. It is ironic that this university, the only one in Australia that has an abundance of space for records-a vast underground storage area-has not yet been able to set up an official archive. Since the other three universities with- out archives are relatively new, they find that their present needs are met by central registry records. One of them, however, set up a working party which in 1985 rec- ommended the establishment of an offi- cial archive. For financial reasons, the rec- ommendation has not yet been adopted. In fact, given current economic trends, it appears unlikely that any of these univer- sities will be able to establish archives in the near future. But institutions anxious to have archives should not despair: in the United States "one university waited forty-three years before a recommenda- tion to establish an archive was acted on!"6 The archives of the other fifteen univer- sities were all established during the last 35 years. The first was in 1954; in the next decade, three more were set up; then five were established in the 1970s and the other six in the 1980s (the last in 1986). The data in this paper were collected by interview, in person or by telephone, with the most appropriate person. Generally this was the archivist, but in some cases it was the assistant vice-chancellor, the reg- istrar, the deputy registrar, or the central records officer as well. Table 1 shows the dates of foundation as autonomous bodies of the fifteen universi- ties under discussion, together with the year in which their formal archives were established. No obvious pattern of development emerges from table 1. Appropriately, the oldest university in Australia was the first to establish an archive, followed by the second oldest. Interestingly, the third was a small regional university in New South Wales (New England), which established a unit only six years after its foundation. Two of the earliest and largest universities (Adelaide and Queensland) did not start their archives until the early 1980s, though of course they had been keeping records for many years. On the other hand, three of the newer universities (Monash, La TABLE 1 FOUNDATION DATES OF UNIVERSffiES AND THEIR ARCIDVES Universi!r Archive ~dney 1850 1954 elbourne 1853 1960 Adelaide 1874 1983 Tasmania 1890 1969 Queensland 1910 1982 Western Australia 1911 1979 New South Wales 1949 1980 New England 1954 1960 Monash 1958 1976 LaTrobe 1964 1982 Macquarie 1964 1978 Newcastle 1965 1975 Flinders 1966 1986 Deakin 1974 1983 Wollongong 1975 1969 University Archives 659 Trobe, and Macquarie) established their archives within a relatively few years of their foundation, as did another (Newcas- tle) which had begun life as a university college. The last university to be founded (Wollongong) began its archive even be- fore it became an autonomous university. For the purposes of this paper, "old" universities are those founded before World War II. The ''large'' universities are Adelaide, Melbourne, Monash, New South Wales, Queensland, and Sydney, each of which has student numbers ex- ceeding 13,000. Data are presented for old versus new and large versus small univer- sities to determine to what extent, if any, age and size have influenced archival de- velopment. See table 2. Archival needs cannot always be met by the number of staff universities are able to provide. Four of the fifteen universities (27 percent) do not have a full-time archi- vist but have a person who works between half- and four-fifths time. Of the others, six (40 percent) have a full-time archivist, two have in addition an archivist/ assis- tant, and another two have extra part-time assistance. The remaining institution, the University of Melbourne, with seven staff members, is a special case. The University of Melbourne followed the example of ANU and began a program of collecting business records; at Melbourne, however, the success of the program stimulated the creation of the university's official ar- chive. Because of the extent of the support it receives from the business community, Melbourne's unit has the most sophisti- . cated facility of any in Australia, as well as having a bigger staff than any other uni- versity's. Ian Wilson stated in 1977 that, in some Canadian universities, ''the archival programme can be viewed as an extension of the archivist's personality. ''7 This is cer- tainly true of Melbourne, which owes TABLE2 STAFFING OF ARCIDVES One or more full-time members of staff Less than one full-time member of staff Type of University Large Small Old New 5 6 5 6 1 3 1 3 660 College & Research Libraries much to the vision and energy of its first archivist. Three of the university archivists are not professionally trained; tha~ i~, t~ey do n~t hold formal archival qualifications. This seems to be due partly to the relatively re- cent introduction of formal training pro- grams and partly to historical accident. One university archive, for instance, was set up because of the enthusiasm and de- termination of a particular staff member who was not appointed for the purpose but who had a sympathetic administra- tion. Again, the Australian situation re~~d­ ing staffing is comparable to that existing in North America where several surveys of college and university archives have been undertaken. The most recent survey deals with the United States in the early 1980s. 8 The authors found that 30 percent of public institutions had no professional archival staff and that nearly the same per- centage had only one full-time profes- sional person. They compared their find- ings with those of a 1980 Canadian survey and identified a similar pattern there. A leading archivist in the United States recommends the establishment in univer- sities and colleges of an archives commit- tee which, he says, "can be a valuable tool in educating faculty, students, and ad- ministrators to the role of an archives. ''9 It is doubtful whether archives committees in Australian universities serve this role. Nevertheless, at all the universities that have such a committee, the archivists have indicated that they find its advice and guidance useful. In the same context, another U.S. author advocates that the committee be formed because it can give special help in obtaining an adequate ar- chival budget. 10 As can be seen from table 3, only six of Australia's universities have an archives committee; one of these, however, exists only in name, as it has never met. Of the others, two meet at irregular and infre- quent intervals and the remainder meet between two and four times per year. At a seventh university, it is expected that a committee will be established in 1988. Membership on committees varies from November 1989 TABLE 3 UNIVERSITIES THAT HAVE AN ARCHIVES COMMITTEE Type of University Large Small Old New Committee 2 4 2 4 No committee 4 5 4 5 five to eight. One committee, that of an ar- chive with external commitments, has fourteen members, including four from outside the university. Given the general irregularity of meetings, it is unlikely that the few committees in Australia are influ- ential in attracting funds; no archivist re- ferred to a committee's having played any role in obtaining financial support. FINANCES Restricted finances are a major problem for all university archivists. In the United States, the level of funding varies greatly, depending on whether the institution is public or private and whether it is large or small. Large public institutions are funded much more adequately than small private ones. 11 Wilson reports that the financial problems of Canadian university archives are exacerbated when the archive is ad- ministratively located in the library. 12 For reasons of confidentiality, not all Austra- lian archivists were able to talk about their budgets but it was clear that, with only a few exceptions, archives are not funded generously. See table 4. . . The archives at seven of the fifteen uru- versities surveyed receive a separate budget, though this statement requires qualification. In only two cases does the budget cover both salaries and materials; one archive is funded for salaries only and four are funded for materials only, in one instance just a few hundred dollars per year. Yes No TABLE4 ARCHIVES RECEIVING EARMARKED FUNDING Large 3 3 Type of University Small Old 4 3 5 3 New 4 5 SPACE Lack of space was the greatest problem reported by all North American archival institutions. 13 No Australian archivist con- sidered that the space at his or her dis- posal was adequate; although, of course, the statement is difficult to interpret con- sistently unless a definition of adequate is given. See table 5. Some Australian archi- vists stated that they are able to make do by weeding. One reported that only the refusal, because of lack of staff, to accept much of the material offered made the available space adequate. Comparisons are difficult because of the differences be- tween archives in the range of materials being collected and the length of time for which they have been collected. Never- theless, it can be stated that, at present, the space of eight of the archives is ade- quate; that is, there is provision at least for . the immediate future. The space available to two archives is only just adequate. For another two it is not adequate, but the sit- uation will improve with the allocation of new or extended space within a year or so. The space given to the other three archives is inadequate. In fact, from this author's personal observation, it is ludicrously in- adequate, and there is no prospect of im- provement for some time to come. Most archives provided some space for researchers to work, even if, as in three cases, it was just a desk in the archivist's office. Only three universities provided no such facility. One of these, a new and small university, said there was not as yet sufficient demand by staff to warrant it. Six provided space for between three and five people. At two universities, research TABLES SPACE FOR ARCIDV AL COLLECTIONS Adequate Adeguate for the time bemg Only just adequate Inadequate at present but will soon become adequate Inadequate Type of University Large Small Old New 2 3 2 3 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 2 University Archives 661 TABLE6 PERSON TO WHOM ARCHIVIST IS RESPONSIBLE Type of University Year Officer Lartze Small Old New 1985 Registrar 6 6 6 6 Liorarian 3 3 1987 Registrar 4 6 5 5 Liorarian 2 3 1 4 ~pace was shared with the library, which m both cases meant sharing a special room accommodating more than twenty peo- ple. The university with the largest ar- chive (Melbourne) was able to provide re- search facilities for sixteen people. In summary, nine universities (60 percent) provided adequate research space. This situation is similar to that in the United States where 40 percent of institutions re- ported having no separate room for re- search.14 COLLECTIONS . In Australia, university policies regard- mg the types of records to be collected in their archives vary. All keep the records of their central administration. Two do not accept departmental material, in one case due to a lack of space. Another archive keeps all university records, including de- partmental, but does not actively seek the latter. This archive also retains the records of bodies associated with the university (for example, student societies). In this re- spect, the Australian situation differs from that in Canada where, Wilson reports, some archives do not collect the records of their own institutions but only those of re- gional ones. 15 Eight Australian universi- ties have begun an oral history program related to the university, but none has progressed very far because of a lack of funding. Whether or not an archive serves only as a repository for its university records or also undertakes a wider research role is also a policy matter, one which may have been determined even before the archive officially-came into existence. Five Austra- lian universities keep external records in addition to their own. The archives of three (Newcastle, New England and Wol- 662 College & Research Libraries longong) serve a regional function by keeping records of the local area such as papers relating to the farming commu- nity, station records, employee ledgers of local properties, business archives, and trade union archives. One archive, New England, serves as the regional repository for the state archives on a permanent ba- sis. The two oldest universities keep large collections of nonuniversity records. Ap- proximately 25 percent of the holdings of the University of Sydney's archive com- prise personal and private papers. A full 83 percent of the collection of the archive at the University of Melbourne consists of such papers together with the records of certain large companies and business or- ganizations which, as has been men- tioned, contribute in great measure to the funding of the archive. All five universi- ties, as well as ANU, intend that there- sources of their archives be available for research. '' 'Discouragement and frustration for archivists are inherent in their re- lationship with university libraries,' according to Wilson.'' CONTROL Appropriate arrangements for the con- trol of archives, in particular whether or not archives should be administered by li- braries, have long been debated in Austra- lia. Thinking in other countries has varied, too. Some argue for placing the archive under the library, while recognizing the advantages (mainly financial) of central administrative control. 16 Others argue forcefully against such an arrangement. ''Discouragement and frustration for ar- chivists are inherent in their relationship with university libraries, according to Wilson. ''17 In Canada, most archives were situated in and responsible to the library, but the trend in the late 1970s was to sepa- rate them. 18 In this regard, the situation in Canada may differ from that in the United States where 90 percent of college and uni- November 1989 versity archives were located in the li- brary, though not all of them were respon- sible to the library administration. 19 Nicholas Burckel has stated fairly dispas- sionately the advantages and disadvan- tages of both alternatives-placing an ar- chive under the supervision of the university administration and locating it under the library. 20 In Australia, it has recently been ar- gued, the real debate on the administra- tive control of archives took place in the 1950 and the arguments put forward at that time by both sides have not changed but have only been reasserted. 21 Some of the participants in the debate, particularly archivists, were against library control. 22 Others, like R. C . Sharman, who were in favor at the time, 23 have since revised their views: ''Relationship with a library had its importance in the pioneering days, but these days are now past. " 24 By 1979 it could be stated that "the archives institu- tions and the archive profession in Austra- lia are developing along their own lines and with a distinct identity. ''25 The place- ment of university archives up to 1985 tended to confirm this observation. Since then, however, as indicated in table 6, re- sponsibility for the archives of two of the oldest and largest universities has been shifted from the administration to the li- brary. As shown in table 6, in 1985, twelve ar- chivists were reporting to the registrar (or other officer of equal or higher rank in the administration) and only three to the li- brarian. The three universities that have always had their archivists responsible to the librarian are all small and relatively new. Perhaps it is not strange that two of them, whose archives were established in the 1960s, elected to place them in the li- brary. The other, however, was not estab- lished until the mid-1970s, a fact which, given the widespread discussion that had taken place and the trends that seemed to be emerging, made the choice of library control more surprising. On the other hand, these are the three regional New South Wales universities referred to ear- lier, which keep community as well as uni- versity records in their collections, a factor which could well have influenced the choice. THE FUTURE FOR ARCHIVES Given the economic climate of the past few years, the fact that on average a uni- versity archive has been established every year for the past ten years or so is encour- aging for archivists. It is promising that only four of the nineteen universities un- der discussion do not yet have one. The tertiary education sector represents an ex- pensive endeavor, and funding for higher education has been scrutinized more and more closely in recent years. Calls for ac- countability, not just from the govern- ment but from the community as a whole, have become more frequent and more vo- ciferous. As the cost of staffing constitutes more than 80 percent of the cost of higher education, the emphasis has been on this much more than on other areas of expend- iture. It is significant that no CTEC report since 1979 has mentioned archives. Government plans to fund institutions within the proposed new system of higher education do not preclude the funding of an archive if a particular institution wishes to do so. The amount of funding, how- ever, is likely to be so low that it will dis- courage universities from spending scarce resources on archives. As the Canadian University Archives 663 survey pointed out, ''In Universities . . . archives are seldom seen as central to their operating objectives or to their efficient management. " 26 If, as seems likely, this comment may be applied equally to the Australian situation, the mooted develop- ments in higher education do not augur well for the creation or further develop- ment of archives in Australian universi- ties. On the other hand, the Australian gov- ernment has indicated that it will encour- age closer cooperation between tertiary education institutions and the private and business sector, a relationship that could include the business community funding some aspects of university operations. One instance of such cooperation which involves archives was described at the University of Melbourne. Whether other Australian universities will decide to adopt this model remains to be seen. Many universities may need to rethink the purpose and function of their archives if the archives are to survive and grow in a less buoyant economic climate. The pro- posed restructuring of the higher educa- tion system in Australia, however, may well create new opportunities for greater flexibility and lead to academic innova- tions encompassing many areas, includ- ing archives. REFERENCES 1. Nicholas C. Burckel, "Establishing a College Archives: Possibilities and Priorities," College & Re- search Libraries 36:384-92 (Sept. 1975). 2. Ernst Posner, "The College and University Archives in the United States," in· Colleges and Univer- sity Archives: Selected Readings (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1979), p.80. 3. Maynard Brichford, "The llliarch," in Colleges and University Archives, p.19. 4. Ian E. Wilson, "Canadian University Archives," in Colleges and University Archives, p.167. 5. R. C. Sharman, "Archives and Research," in Design for Diversity: Library Services for Higher Educa- tion and Research in Australia, ed. Harrison Bryan and Gordon Greenwood (St. Lucia: Univ. of Queensland Pr., 1977), p.227. 6. Brichford, quoted by Annabel Straus, "College and University Archives: Three Decades of Devel- opment," College & Research Libraries 40:435 (Sept. 1979). 7. Wilson, "Canadian University Archives," p.166. 8. Nicholas C. Burckel and J. Frank Cook, "A Profile of College and University Archives in the United States,'' American Archivist 45:410-28 (Fall 1982). 9. Burckel, "Establishing a College Archives," p.386. 10. Linda J. Henry, "Archival Advisory Committees: Why?," American Archivist 48:317 (Summer 1985). 11. Burckel and Cook, "A. Profile," p.426. ~--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 664 College & Research Libraries November 1989 12. Wilson, "Canadian University Archives," p.169. 13. Burckel and Cook," A Profile," p.426. 14. Ibid., p.422. 15. Wilson, "Canadian University Archives," p.167. 16. For example, Miriam I. Crawford, ''Interpreting the University Archives to the Librarian,'' in Col- leges and University Archives, p.58-67. 17. Wilson, "Canadian University Archives," p.169. 18. Ibid., p.174. 19. Burckel and Cook," A Profile," p.424-25. 20. Burckel, "Establishing a College Archives," p.385. 21. Michael Piggott, ''Library Control of Archives: An Historical Debate and its Current Relevance,'' in Library History in Context: Proceedings of the Third Library History Forum, Sydney 1987 (Kensington, Australia: Univ. of NSW School of Librarianship, 1988). 22. Peter Biskup, "A Case against Library Control of Archives," Australian Library ]ournal10:40-41 Oan. 1961). 23. R. C. Sharman, "Library Control of Archives," Australian Library Journal9:125-28 Ouly 1960). 24. Sharman, "Archives and Research," p.238. 25. Greig Tillotson, "Archive-Library Relations in Australia," Australian Library Journal 28:73 (Apr. 1979). 26. Quoted by Burckel and Cook, "A Profile," p.428.