Introduction to the Standard on the physical storage of State records
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of this standard is to establish minimum requirements for the storage of physical State records and to guide decisions for storing records. Public offices should ensure that:
- all physical records are controlled, secure, protected, and accessible for as long as they are required, to meet business and accountability needs, and that
- all physical records required as State archives are stored in conditions that meet the requirements of the standard.
1.2 Authority
This standard is issued under section 13(1) of the State Records Act 1998 which enables State Records NSW to ‘approve standards and codes of best practice for records management by public offices.
1.3 Who should use this standard
This standard applies to all public offices as defined in section 3 of the State Records Act, to which Part 2 of the Act applies.
The standard applies to records created and maintained by contractors and service providers on behalf of public offices in the course of outsourced government business.
The requirements of the standard are applicable to all storage areas and facilities which are controlled and managed by the public office. Public offices engaging commercial storage services should ensure that the storage area/facility and services to be provided under contractual arrangement meet the requirements of the standard.
1.4 Scope of this standard
The standard covers ‘semi-active’ records which are in the control of the public office and have a physical format. It covers:
- files, cards, documents, computer print-outs, papers
- volumes and registers
- maps, plans, charts and drawings
- posters
- parchment documents
- photographic media including photographic prints and negatives, sheet film, film, microforms, glass plate negatives, lantern slides, and x-rays
- magnetic media such as digital tape, video and audio cassettes
- optical media such as CDs, DVDs, and laser discs
- digital records stored on tapes, disks, or portable hard drives
- models, objects, and mixed media items.
This standard does not cover:
- storage of ‘active’ records, i.e. those records required for the conduct of current business and often held in office environments to enable access and retrieval
- additional storage and handling requirements for officially classified materials (e.g. material identified as protected, secret and top secret)
- storage of records on network servers, in data centres, or in the cloud
- storage of the State Archives Collection by Museums of History NSW, or
- storage of State archives under a distributed management agreement made under section 30 of the State Records Act.
For storage of classified material see Policy 8 of the Protective Security Policy Framework at https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au.
For storage of digital records see the NSW Government Data Strategy, NSW Government Cloud Policy, and NSW Cyber Security Policy at https://www.digital.nsw.gov.au/policy.
Records identified in retention and disposal authorities as required as State archives are to be stored in conditions that meet the requirements of the standard while the records are under the control of the public office. This includes records that are subject to still in use determinations under section 28 of the State Records Act.
The standard covers the following:
- short term storage of semi-active records which have retention periods of up to 30 years. These records should be stored according to the requirements in Table A
- long term storage of semi-active records which have retention periods of more than 30 years or which are required as State archives. These records should be stored according to the requirements in Table B.
* Semi-active records are those records which are only accessed infrequently in the conduct of current business and are usually stored in a storage area or facility.
This standard is supported by a range of guidance available from Recordkeeping in government.
1.5 Background
The State Records Act 1998 requires each public office to ‘…ensure the safe custody and proper preservation of the State’s records that it has control of’ (section 11) and to protect the records in its control from damage, alteration or neglect “that causes or is likely to cause damage to the State record” (section 21).
To help public offices understand and implement these obligations, State Records NSW has issued standards on physical storage of State records since 2000. Following consultation with public offices, the 2019 standard has been revised and issued as this Standard.
1.6 Structure
This standard sets out six principles for managing the storage of semi-active physical State records. Under each principle there is a brief overview and explanation of the principle, and a list of relevant minimum compliance requirements.
Each minimum compliance requirement is accompanied by a range of examples or suggestions of how a public office can demonstrate compliance with the requirement. These examples can provide ‘evidence’ of meeting the requirement but may not be the only way that compliance can be demonstrated.
1.7 Definitions
For the purposes of this standard the following definitions apply. Terms that have not been referenced are taken from State Records NSW sources. All other sources are provided in brackets after the definition.
| Integrated pest management | A preventive approach to pest management aimed at reducing the risks of pests damaging records and minimising the need for chemical solutions. An integrated pest management plan is specific to each storage location and includes regular inspections, physical controls and quarantining new material to prevent introducing pests, environmental controls, and good housekeeping and cleansing protocols. It also incorporates response strategies such as freezing, low oxygen and heat treatments, and, where required, spray treatment of the storage space. (See Pests at https://aiccm.org.au/wiki/pests/) |
| Records | Record means any document or other source of information compiled, recorded or stored in written form or on film, or by electronic process, or in any other manner or by any other means (State Records Act, s.3(1), Definitions) |
| Semi-active records | Records which are only accessed infrequently in the conduct of current business and are usually stored in a storage area or facility. |
| Senior responsible officer (SRO) | The senior responsible officer (SRO) is the individual within the public office who has been delegated strategic and corporate responsibility for records and information management. The SRO is responsible for ensuring that records and information management is in place and operating effectively to support business operations and is usually a senior manager reporting to the chief executive or to the chief information officer. The role of the SRO is established under the Standard on records management, minimum compliance requirement 1.3. |
| State archive | State archive means a State record that Museums of History NSW has control of under this Act. (State Records Act, s.3(1), Definitions). |
| State record | State record means a record made or received by a person, whether before or after the commencement of this section —
|
| Storage area | A room, compactus or space within a storage facility or building whose primary purpose is to store records. |
| Storage facilities | Any building that houses records, including commercial storage facilities, in-house storage facilities and archival storage facilities. |
1.8 Further information
For further information on this standard, please contact State Records NSW.
PO Box 516 Kingswood NSW 2747
Telephone: (02) 9714 3080 E-mail: govrec@staterecords.nsw.gov.au
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