NRAM Newsletter Articles on Registers of Archives

Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM)

Tini O'Brien, Manuscripts Section, National Library of Australia

The Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM) is a cooperative project initiated by the National Library of Australia and launched in 1997 on the World Wide Web.

RAAM is a database containing references to single manuscripts, collections of personal papers and non-governmental organisational records held by libraries and archives throughout Australia. It aims to provide researchers with a convenient, centralised register of locations for primary research material. While RAAM does not provide detailed descriptions of the collections themselves, it alerts researchers to the existence of collections and enables them to pursue further enquiries about the material, either on-line or through direct contact with repositories. Much of the information now contained in RAAM was previously only available by searching a number of separate databases and published finding-aids, or by visiting libraries and archives scattered around Australia. Specific information about the scope of RAAM and the types of records included is available at the RAAM Web site address given below.

RAAM is a research tool which offers flexibility in searching. A user can search the database using a name, an occupation or any other indexed term. The repositories whose holdings have been listed in RAAM can also be browsed by name or by State or Territory location. Some entries include automatic links to finding aids which describe the content of the collection. Help screens can be used to assist researchers with their searches.

RAAM also includes a link to the World Wide Web edition of the Directory of Archives in Australia. This Directory, published by the Australian Society of Archivists and developed for the Web by the Australian Science Archives Project, lists repositories throughout Australia with contact details and collection scope information. The link enhances information in RAAM by supplying information to the researcher about particular archival repositories.

RAAM is a successor to the Guide to Collections of Manuscripts Relating to Australia, which was published by the National Library from 1965 to 1995. Unlike the Guide, which produced 6000 entries in 30 years, to date RAAM contains more than 30,000 entries.

Although more than 140 archival repositories have contributed entries to RAAM, contributions by the state libraries remain poor. However, many smaller archival repositories have contributed to the database.

Repositories of archival material are encouraged to include as many eligible entries as possible, even if these are of a brief nature. RAAM does not include government records, secondary sources such as family and local histories, microfilms of non-Australian archival material that is entirely video, pictorial, cartographic, musical or audio in format.

Further development of RAAM relies on the cooperation and commitment of other institutions continuing to contribute records to the database. Future manuscript contributions to ABN will be regularly retrieved for inclusion in RAAM. Institutions will also be able to contribute to the database through an online form, electronic transfer of records or, in some instances, by submitting written records.

RAAM is available at http://www.nla.gov.au/raam/

Further information is available from:
Manuscript Section
National Library of Australia
Canberra ACT 2600
Tel: (06) 262 1750 or (06) 262 1250
Fax: (06) 273 5763
Email: raam@nla.gov.au