NRAM Newsletter Articles on Registers of Archives

NRAM - IT'S IN YOUR HANDS

Dr. Brad Patterson (ARANZ representative, NRAM Taskforce)

March 1998

"The NRAM Taskforce was established in 1996 largely because of widely expressed concerns about the lack of a national reporting or searching system for New Zealand archives collections. The demise of NRAM in published form three years earlier had left a void and, if that void was to be even partially filled, it seemed imperative that representatives of concerned organisations (in this case ARANZ, NZLIA and NZSA) take the resuscitatory initiative. NRAM, in whatever new guise, would have to be "owned" by the professions,not to be the responsibility of any single institution. Happily, this was a stance backed by the National Archives and the Alexander Turnbull Library. Our application to the New Zealand Lotteries Board for funding stressed the co-operative nature of the project, also emphasising that, by opting as far as possible for the electronic transmission of information and allowing for different in-house standards, the central editorial function, and hence costs, would be reduced.

The Taskforce's initial goal is simply to establish beyond doubt that it is possible to run NRAM in this way. Only when we are able to demonstrate that institutions are prepared to contribute, and will continue to contribute, will we be in any position to seek further funding to move beyond the pilot stage, to contemplate the delivery of reference services, or to approach a major institution to act as a host for NRAM. In a sense, the Taskforce has gone about as far as it can go at this stage. It has provided a rudimentary infrastructure for the new NRAM. Where we proceed from here will be dependent on the willingness of holding institutions to provide entries. A number of potential contributors have already participated in training sessions. The initiative has now passed to you. The strength of the response, in terms of draft entries, must ultimately determine the viability (or otherwise) of the project.

I am only too well aware that in these stressed times a common response to any new commitment is "what's in it for us?" The short answer is a reference tool of considerable benefit for archivists and archives users. That, after all, is what many of you have asked for. But it will not appear spontaneously. If the new NRAM is to become reality, it will be the product of collective effort. Whether or not this story has a happy ending is squarely in your hands."