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Brief Guide 28: public search facility servicesThe Archives Office of Tasmania is the repository for all Tasmanian State and local government records which are no longer of immediate administrative use but which are considered worthy of permanent or long-term preservation. The Office also collects records of individuals, commercial institutions, and community organisations and associations which relate to Tasmania. All these records form the State’s archives. It is part of the Office’s function to make these records available for public use and this is done through the Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office public access facility (the 'History Room'). This is open at the following times: Monday - Thursday: 9.30 am – 6.00 pm All records are housed in storage areas at two locations, one in the city (at 91 Murray Street) and the other at Berriedale. In general the more recent records and those awaiting arrangement and descriptive processing are at the Berriedale Repository, and any available items stored there that are required by researchers will be brought to the 'History Room' at 91 Murray Street. Previous day notice (before 3.00pm) is usually required for items to be delivered from Berriedale. Staff are on duty each day to assist people with their research and a range of guides, lists and indexes to the various records is available. The main listing of records (both government and non-government) held in the Archives Office is in the Tasmanian Archives Online database, available remotely and from computers in the facility. Researchers are required to complete a registration process and fill in request forms for every item to be used. Pencils or portable computers are the only things that may be used for note-taking. The unique and often fragile nature of many archival documents means that as a preservation measure, many of the records most frequently used by researchers are usually only made available on microfilm. A number of indexes have been created by staff; and are available online indexes or as card indexes, which are gradually being converted to online formats. It must be stressed however, that these contain references to only a small amount of the information contained in the records. Access to information in government records is generally via the indexes initially created by the various record creating agencies for their own use, and now held as part of the State archives. |
