Conditions for Access to Archives
Access to Archives
The archives in the custody of the Northern Territory Archives Service (NTAS) are preserved so that they may be used by the community. At any given time, the majority of archives at the NTAS will be open for public inspection. All archives held at the NTAS ultimately become open to the public. However, some series or collections of archives must be restricted to public access for certain periods.
Why Access Conditions are Applied
Unlike published materials, archives are essentially primary records which were not created for the purposes of public dissemination. These primary records were usually created as records of business or they were simply created in the conduct of personal affairs. Because of their significant informational value, these records are determined to be archives.
Hence, Archives may contain sensitive, confidential and personal information. Therefore, it is necessary to restrict access to some archives for certain periods in order to protect the privacy of individuals or to safeguard confidentiality.
Access to Government Archives
Access to government archives held by the NTAS is determined in accordance with Section 142 of the Information Act 2002. The Information Act provides for the transfer of government archives over 30 years old to the NTAS, where they become part of Territory Archives.
All government archives must be open for public access eventually. In determining the open access period a decision should be made with the presumption that government archives will be open to the public after 30 years. The closed 30 year period is basically applied to ensure the availability of the archives or records for continued administrative use and/or to protect confidentiality.
A small quantity of government archives may be closed for public inspection for periods longer than 30 years because of the sensitive personal nature of their content. An appropriate balance needs to be met between providing public access to archives and any other public interests which may support longer closed access periods.
The 30 year rule also applies to records of the Commonwealth Government which were transferred to the Territory after self-government in 1978. It is consistent with practices in most other Australian government jurisdictions.
During the closed access period, public access can only be provided by the Northern Territory Archives Service with the written authorisation of the responsible public sector organisation.
Access to Personal and Organisational Archives
The conditions of access to personal archives and archives of organisations are essentially governed by the persons or organisations who deposited them with the NTAS.
At the time of depositing the archives with the NTAS the depositing person or organisation enters into an agreement with the NTAS. Any particular access conditions which the depositor wishes to impose are entered on the agreement.
While the majority of personal archives collections are immediately signed over to open access, a minority of personal archives collections have some access restrictions imposed upon them. The most common restriction is having to seek written permission from the depositor to gain access. A less common restriction is the denial of access until after the depositor is deceased.
While the majority of archives of organisations are also signed over to open access immediately, a minority of organisations set down a rule that written permission must be granted by them before researchers can gain access to their archives.
When written permission is required for access to certain archives collections, the staff at the NTAS will make these requests on behalf of researchers.
Where restrictions are imposed upon a collection but where contact with the depositor is not achievable, researchers will be granted access upon signing an Oral Records and Private Archives Declaration. In signing the Declaration, researchers undertake not to use the information in the archives to cause embarrassment to any living person.
Access to Oral History Archives
The conditions of access to oral history archives are determined by the persons who are the subjects of the oral histories, i.e., the interviewees or informants.
While the majority of oral history archives are immediately open for public access upon deposit, as with personal archives and the archives of organisations, a minority of oral history archives have restrictions imposed upon them. The most common restriction is a requirement to seek written permission from the interviewee to gain access. A less common restriction is the denial of access until after the expiration of a given period of years.
As in the case of the other categories of archives, when written permission is required for access to certain oral history archives, the staff at the NTAS will make these requests on behalf of researchers.
