Australian Society of Archivists
1999 Conference
The UWA Archives Experience of Economic
Rationalisation
Christine Bapty
Abstract
This paper addresses the issue of economic rationalization and its
effects on a small Archive within an academic institution. It
describes the issues and problems faced over a ten year period of
increasing budgetary restraint but focuses mainly on the last five
years when the Archive has been most at risk. It describes the
solutions adopted to ensure survival against this background.
It examines the relevance of an Archive in an academic institution
in the late 20th century and suggests some possible directions to
ensure survival into the 21st Century.
Introduction
I was rather disconcerted when I was asked to write this paper. I
wondered if there was anything at all that I could add to the
discussions on University Archives. The University Archives at the
University of Western Australia is a small Archive in a medium sized
university. We do the same things as other Archives in similar
institutions and we face the same problems as most Archives across the
country Perhaps what makes us special is that we are one of a
seemingly dying breed. At a time when other University Archives are
disappearing the UWA Archives appears to have a future. Also, I think
our approach to economic rationalism has been slightly different. We
accepted the reality of cutbacks from the early 1990’s onwards
and we planned our future based on the premise that funding would grow
scarcer as the years went by.
I want to look at the reasons why we have survived this situation,
reflect very briefly on the relevance of an archive in an Academic
institution as we prepare to enter the 21st century and look at the
future for the UWA Archives.
The reasons why we have survived fall under six headings. These are
arranged in order of priority.
- Senior Management Support
- Organizational support
- Organizational culture
- The unity of Archives and Central Records
- Professional Staff
- The electronic revolution
Before I look these reasons a short background on the University and
the Archives is probably useful.
Setting the Scene
The University of Western Australia opened its doors for business in
March 1913 in Irwin Street in Perth. In the 1920’s and 1930’s
it moved to its present site at Crawley and has flourished there ever
since. The citizens of Perth and WA were immensely proud of their new
University. The University of Western Australia was the first free
University in the Commonwealth. Its new buildings were highly
acclaimed when first erected in the late 1920’s and its main
campus is renowned for its gardens.
Today, the UWA has around 14,000 students and prides itself on being
a top University in Australia for both teaching and research. It
portrays itself as a University looking to the future. However, much
of the publicity material about the University uses historical themes
and reflects the University and Perth’s pride in its heritage and
small beginnings.
Archives at the UWA - beginnings
The University Archives came into being in late 1979 – 1980.
Its creation came from a Senate initiative to preserve and gain access
to the records and archives relating to the Registrar’s and
Bursar’s Office, the core offices of the Central Administration.
The archives were then housed in a salubrious setting known as “the
dungeon” under Winthrop Hall. When arranging and describing of
these archives was completed the University Archivist went on to
automate the current records system and created for the first time a
nexus between Archives and Central Records. In these years much was
done to raise awareness about the importance of archives and records
to the Central Administration, to the point where some staff still use
the processes and rules formulated in these years.
The bond between Archives and Central Records was lost in the late
1980’s for various reasons. The two sections, Archives and
Central Records, took something of a downward turn in terms of funding
and status. The records and archives focus was lost with the departure
of the University Archivist and the administration began to view the
area as a “dead water.” It was an unfortunate time for this
to happen. The boom of the 1980’s was rapidly passing in Perth
and economic rationalism was beginning to bite. As separate entities
with no apparent aims or objectives, both sections were vulnerable and
suffered from funding cuts and staff cutbacks. The pro-activity of the
1980’s rapidly faded in people’s minds and momentum for
change and development all but disappeared.
Turning Points
In the early 1990’s circumstances conspired to improve the
situation and here I want to beginning looking at the six themes I
outlined at the beginning of the paper.
Senior Management Support
Seminars and courses on archives and records always bring up the
issue of senior management support. I cannot emphasize too strongly
how important this has been for us. Without it our funding to do more
than the absolute essentials would have not been forthcoming. Without
it senior positions of University Archivist and Records Manager would
have vanished into oblivion years ago.
However, this support is not a right. It has to be earned. We have
earned it through constant activity, lobbying and attention to
professional standards. Wherever an issue arose that might have the
slightest relevance to archives and records, staff have brought it
forward to senior management either at an individual or at a committee
level. We constantly monitor the major committees through their
minutes for any issues, which might affect both the management of
archives and records and the section. We try to be constantly aware of
major activities and trends happening within the University, probably
more so than most other staff. Pro activity has been our salvation in
many instances, particularly where funding is concerned.
It has also been important to use the independent role of the
University Archivist, with regard to managing University wide
archives, to gain access to senior management and academics outside
the central administration. In most academic institutions there are
strains and rivalries between academics and administrators, which can
make it difficult for influence to be spread across areas. Archives
and records issues cut across boundaries, as both groups are required
to maintain records that eventually feed in to the Archives. Archiving
is one of the functions left at UWA that is done centrally. To my
knowledge no one has yet suggested that each Faculty, Centre or Unit
should set up their own archiving facility.
In another attempt to consolidate our position with senior
management, the section has always taken on new roles wherever
possible. Freedom of Information was an obvious addition. For two
years I was firstly the co-ordinator and then the decision-maker. This
role brought me into direct contact with senior management on a day to
day basis. I believe that this period was very important in convincing
them that archivists and records managers were capable, professional
people. It is possibly significant that when management finally
decided to appoint a co-ordinator/decision maker it became a full time
position with a lawyer occupying 0.5 of that position.
FOI brought us into contact with other areas of the University that
we had not previously encountered. From the FOI issues we were able to
build many useful contacts with both academics and administrators who
now have a clearer understanding of the value of archives and records.
In summary, senior management support is critical to our success and
it is something that must never be taken for granted. It requires
constant vigilance, constant lobbying and constant persuasion to win
support and retain it. It requires above all commitment and energy.
Organizational Support
General organizational support has been important to the section
particularly as funding became scarcer. Competition for money always
brings out the worst in people both at a formal and informal level. In
an organization, whose mission is based on teaching and learning it
would be very easy for smaller sections and units with a supporting
role to be subsumed and disappear. In this situation friends and
supporters are very important. Keeping our issues and needs to the
forefront within the general organization has been critical.
Equally important in winning organizational support are the
provisions of services and the manner in which they are delivered. The
section is measured by the quality and range of services that are
provided on a day to day basis. It has been important, therefore, to
be in tune with the needs of the organization. Within reason the
section tries to provide the services that the client wants. For
example, two staffing restructures within Central Records have allowed
us to provide a better classification service which has reduced the
level of frustration for clients unable to find material on files. In
Archives, we are trying to promote the use of archives by higher
degree students. This has met with some success and widened our
support base within the current academic community. Retired academics
have always used the Archives and been supportive.
For the general organization, our greatest asset is our staff, who
provides the services the client wants. We should never underestimate
the power of these day to day contacts and the importance of a service
ethic. As funding resources have shrunk in all areas of the
organization, stress levels have risen, particularly during busy times
such as enrolments. It has become even more important for the section’s
image and survival that its staff are seen as responsive and pleasant.
Through this image of reliable, flexible service the section is viewed
as a worthwhile part of the organization.
Organizational Culture
I touched on organizational culture in my opening remarks about the
University. I only want to address one aspect of this culture, that of
nostalgia for the past. I feel sure that UWA is not the only
University, which views its beginnings and its past with nostalgia and
affection. However, it is particularly marked at UWA. Historical
themes permeate publicity produced about the University. For the
University community images of the past are very important and are
constantly re-visited. As economic rationalism has gripped Perth and
UWA, anecdotally it seems that the demand for these images has grown.
Perhaps people seek a sense of stability through images of the “good
old days”.
Whatever the reasons, this need for history has established the
University Archives as the keeper of the past and further assisted our
continued existence. High proportions of the business transacted in
Archives are requests for information and photographs on the
beginnings of the University. In years to come we hope to have much of
this available via an Intranet or the Internet as the need for this
information seems to be insatiable.
Unity of Archives and Central Records
One of our critical success factors has been running a joint
section. In 1990 when I came Archives and Central Records were two
entities who rarely communicated. At that time my biggest fear was
that Archives had “run out of steam”. It was doing a minimal
number of enquiries each year, it wasn’t collecting new deposits
or transfers and it had provision for only one member of staff.
Central Records was struggling with an ever increasing workload, poor
staffing and little direction. Each had something to give the other.
Archives had one professional staff member; Central Records had the
client base that relied on Central Records for some of their daily
working needs. By putting the two together it made it more difficult
to get rid of one without seriously affecting the work of the other.
Over the years that bond has strengthened both functionally and
operationally to the point where the two are run as two interrelated
teams of staff. By using the joint resources of the two sections we
have been able to achieve results in terms of service provision and
improved management of archives and records that were just not
possible otherwise. Furthermore, we have been able to do this without
any recurrent increases in our budget in the last 10 years. We’ve
simply had to accept that we do more with the same. I believe that by
consistently showing that we can do this and doing it before
the worst of the budget cuts started, we have survived.
This unity will be further enhanced by the implementation of an
Electronic Document Management System, which will eventually deliver
records and selected archives services direct to the desktop. To the
client there will be no differentiation between services and who is
providing them.
Professional Staff
I use the word professional in two senses. There are the qualified
staff of which we have 4 out of a staff of 11. There are the
unqualified staff who perform their roles in a professional manner. We
are fortunate that most of our staff fall into one or other of these
categories. But it wasn’t always so. Critical to our success has
been the replacement of some inherited staff and the re-training of
others who have stayed. Currently we have a policy of trying to employ
staff with Archives and Records Management qualifications. With both
Curtin University and Edith Cowan running courses we are in the
fortunate position that there is availability. However, working in a
team environment it is not always the person with the qualification
who makes the grade. Working well within the team is as important to
us as having a qualification.
The changing face of archives
Finally, I think we have definitely benefited from the electronic
revolution. Records were one of the first functions in the
Administration to be automated. Our current project is to replace that
first system with an EDMS. This particular project has raised our
profile in the administration. Through working with areas to gather
information for the selection and implementation of a system we have
formed closer relationships based on more than service delivery.
Successes in streamlining processes have given clients a different
view of the role of the section and its staff. In the last twelve
months we seem to finally be accepted as a worthwhile part of the
administration. The evidence for this lies anecdotally in the numbers
and types of request we get for advice and, more solidly, in the
policy committees which now invite the participation of the University
Archivist and Records Manager.
Relevance of archives in academic institution
Over the years I have pondered the question of the relevance of
archives in an organization whose mission is so different from that of
an archive. In the early years, I was challenged by staff in other
areas to justify my existence. At times I wondered myself whether I
could justify what I did all day. Computerization made justification
even more difficult. I felt like an anachronism until I realized that
I too could learn to press buttons in the right order.
Our role underpins the critical missions of teaching and learning.
Archives can ensure that the true memory of the execution of these
missions is kept and return it to future administrators and academics
for their reference and guidance in making decisions in the future. In
this we are no different from any other Archive. However, we can never
underestimate the role of good education to a country’s future
and providing a solid basis for decision making about that education
is worth preserving.
Perhaps just as important is the historical and social colour that a
good archive can add to a University. We record the University in its
moments of celebration and tragedy. Archives give life to the past and
hope for the future.
With the arrival of FOI, we have the potential to become the keeper
of not only the corporate memory but also the corporate conscience.
There is a new awareness that what is recorded in records and archives
does have legal weight and perhaps significant consequences many years
later. I believe UWA has gone through a re-evaluation of its attitudes
towards archives and records, and their keepers, and has developed a
,much healthier and more positive attitude towards both.
Future projections
Archives and Central Records as a section has reached something of a
cusp in its history. We are about to enter the brave new world of
electronic records. It is an exciting time. We have won many battles
but I am under no illusion that the war may never be won. All the
strategies that we have used in the last ten years are ongoing and
always will be for a small archive in a big organization. When the
funding for the EDMS is finished there will be no more for the
foreseeable future. So we will return to living quietly, living each
year and proving ourselves to changing administrations. Hopefully the
last few years have built a bedrock of respect and support that we can
draw on in times of need.
Conclusions
I am sure that our approach would not fit all organizations. We
accepted economic rationalism and its consequences probably two–three
years before the real cutbacks started. We planned for it and tried to
consolidate our position. An alternative strategy would have been to
take as much funding as we could get in the remaining good years and
extend as much as we could. Either strategy has a risk. However, I
believe that choosing our route we retained our core funding and staff
intact. We have had years of quiet, unbroken development. It has not
been sensational and to the outsider the changes may be small but they
are real and I believe that they are a lasting achievement of which
the University of Western Australia can be proud. |
