ASA NSW Branch - July 2012 meeting (Weds 18 July 2012 at 5.30pm) Guest Speaker: Christine Yeats

[Louise Trott]

The July 2012 meeting of the ASA NSW Branch will be held on Wednesday 18 July 2012, at the Coles Room, Level 3, Macquarie Wing, State Library of NSW, Macquarie Street, Sydney, at 5.30pm for 6pm.

The meeting begins with refreshments at 5.30pm (please donate $5 towards costs: we provide soft drinks, red wine, white wine, dips, nibbles, and Angela McGing's famous fruit cake).

At 6pm Christine Yeats (Manager of Public Access at State Records NSW until 29 June 2012) will address the Branch on the topic:

'Reference and public access over 35 years: from reading rooms to cyberspace'

Christine Yeats, recently retired archivist, will discuss developments in the provision of reference services and public access over the past 35 years. Changes in client expectations, coupled with developments in the digital world, are challenging the way that archives provide access and reference services. Traditional reading rooms, which were once the sole access point for researchers, now co-exist with commercial providers seeking to meet the research needs of that key sector – family historians. Furthermore, many archives institutions are also entering the alternative world of digital service delivery in an effort to better meet researchers’ needs and demands -and to achieve cost savings in a world where fiscal responsibility equals budget cuts.

As researchers look to the digital world to satisfy their research needs will they realize that everything is not online, let alone listed online? Will the archival reading rooms of the future become so underutilised that their relevance will be questioned? Will funding bodies begin to question why the collection is being maintained if it is not being used? What can archives institutions do to respond to these and other challenges and maintain relevance and viability in the digital age?

No magic bullets are promised but it will be fun exploring what the future may hold!

After Christine’s presentation, there will be a Branch business meeting. [NB. Our last Business meeting was held in May 2012. The July meeting will be the last before the NSW Branch AGM on Weds 19 September 2012. There will be no meeting in August 2012 due to the ICA Congress in Brisbane.]

We usually finish up by 7.30pm.

For enquiries, contact Branch Convenor Guy Tranter: [e-mail]

Please send your RSVP or Apologies, and any Agenda items for the business meeting, to NSW Branch Secretary Louise Trott: [e-mail]

or

Use the RSVP option here on the NING