The Australian Memory of the World Register: what’s the problem?

Abstract

The UNESCO Memory of the World program seeks to raise awareness of documentary heritage, ensure its preservation and increase access to it. Yet in 1997 the International Council on Archives expressed reservations about the program. In seminars in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth in 2005-06 about the Australian Register, participants raised questions about the assessment of ‘significance’: how does it relate to ‘evidential value’? Is entry on the register ‘incompatible with archival practice and ethics’? Maggie Shapley, now a member of the Australian Memory of the World Assessment Committee, comments on these and other questions.