The Australian Landscape

ASAP is working on behalf of STAMA Australia, a special interest group of Australian Society of Archivists, and STAMA International, a special interest group of the International Council on Archives Section on University & Research Institute Archives to enable strategic advances to be made in the development of an international understanding of contemporary archival practice.

ASAP, a unit of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Melbourne, Australia, has strong links with most Australian archival educators. This research network will be strengthened through funding from the Australian Research Council specifically targetted to the Working with Knowledge conference. The aim of the network in this regard is to:

• develop an inclusive working relationship with key archival players in Australia;
• strengthen and develop international research and industry links;
• strengthen the Australian archival research network.

Expressions of Support For Working With Knowledge have so far come from:

• Edith Cowan University, Perth - Karen Anderson
• RMIT - Bruce Smith
• University of Adelaide - Kylie Percival
• Monash University Records and Archives Services - Ann Mitchell and Livia Iacovino
• University of Melboure Records Services - Jenni Davidson
• Australian Archives - Geoff Smith
• Australian Academy of Science - Peter Vallee
• Australian Society of Archivists

Karen Anderson is the Coordinator of the Archives and Records Programme at Edith Cowan. She is a member of the Recordkeeping Educators' Forum. She identifies the immediate objectives of this forum as;

• to have a " Field of Research Classification" for Archives and Records developed and submitted to the ARC (Australian Research Council) for endorsement
• to identify an agreed priority list of issues and topics for research projects, and,
• to set in place a reference database recording research both completed and in progress.

She writes: " These objectives have been identified as a first step to developing awareness of the importance of research in the field of recordkeeping theory and practice which, although vital to preserving public memory and providing accountability, is poorly supported and lacks the necessary infrastructure to foster its development. It should be noted that the Australian archival community is highly regarded by our international collegues as leaders and innovative thinkers in the development of recordkeeping theory and practice, yet so far it has been found difficult to attract funding to support research in this area.

Means of implementing these objectives will be further discussed at the next meeting of the Recordkeeping Educators' Forum on 12th Spetember, 1997. The Forum is particularly interested in finding wasys to foster collaborative research projects with industry because we believe that this strategy will ensure that projects which help to solve real problems will be given priority."

Karen Anderson has also indicated her strong support for the conference and can offer " support in kind for networking and communication through electronic and pront publications which will develop an environment which is conducive to collaboration among international recordkeeping community."

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The Head of Department of Information Management at RMIT, Professor Bill Martin, has volunteered support for this initiative:

" In supporting your proposal I can assure you that I am prepared to make staff available to attend Forum meetings, assist with the development of the conference programme and to participate in both pre and post conference electronic discourse. Any costs associated with such participation will be met from within the Department's budget."

The Australian Academy of Science has already generously indicated their support with confirmation of their donation of the conference venue at Becker House for the duration of the conference.