RIM Professionals Australasia and SNIA ANZ (Storage and Networking Industry Association) are hosting a joint conference on 31st May 2012 in recognition of Information Awareness Month and this year’s theme Information on Demand.  It will be held at Mercure Sydney.

See the full registration program for more details:

This is your opportunity to come up with the theme for the 2013 convention.  The winning entry will receive a free registration to attend the 2013 convention in Canberra.  Entries open on Thursday 29th March 2012 and close on Friday 25th May 2012. 

Multiple entries are allowed however there can be only one winner and each entry must be provided separately.  In the event that there is more than one identical winning entry the first one received will win.

 To enter go to: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/JKMKKRX

Nominations are open for RIM Professionals Australasia’s prestigious J Eddis Linton Award for excellence in records and information management and the Jim Shepherd Award to recognise vendor support of RIM Professionals Australasia and the records and information management profession.

The awards will be presented during inForum 2012 in Melbourne on 28^th August 2012 and winners will receive a free registration to attend the conference.

The J Eddis Linton Award is presented in 3 categories:

Student of the Year    

This category is awarded to a student who has achieved excellence in educational studies in records and information management.

The award are open to both full time and part time students who have completed a dedicated records and information management

course in the previous 12 months (July to June).

Most Outstanding Individual

This award is aimed at those RIM Professionals Australasia members who have achieved excellence in records and information management & contributed

highly to the profession.  This award must be nominated by an independent person or group (ie it is not self-nominating).

Most Outstanding Group

This award is aimed at those RIM Professionals Australasia members who as a group have achieved excellence in records and information management and

contributed highly to the profession.

The Jim Shepherd Award is awarded in recognition of services to the records management industry and support of Records and Information

Management Professionals Australasia (RIM Professionals Australasia)

The Association’s other awards, which include the IQ Article of the Year Award, the RIM Professionals Australasia Rumpelstiltskin Awards which recognise contributions by individuals to the RIM Professionals Australasia Listserv and Forums and the RIM Professionals Australasia Branch Awards which recognise Branch Councils and Chapters in a range of categories including Most Unusual Event, Best Attended Event and Most New Members, to name a few, will be announced via email and in the November 2012 issue of IQ magazine.

Nominations for the J Eddis Linton Awards and the Jim Shepherd Awards close on 1^st August 2012, nomination forms are available on the RIM Professionals Australasia website.

Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIM Professionals Australasia) recognises the importance of managing records for the protection of human rights and ensuring accountability & transparency.  

The Ombudsman’s Report “Investigation into the Storage and Management of Ward Records” highlights the devastating impact caused by DHS’ failure to meet its legal obligation to properly manage ward records.

DHS’ poor record keeping practices have impeded wards from accessing their own records through FOI to reconnect with their family members[1].  These poor practices may have also compromised legal claims by wards for alleged crimes and applications for compensation since these records have been rendered unavailable due to the lack of identification of the content of this vast collection[2].

The difficulty in locating such records was even used by parliament to justify not establishing a compensation scheme for wards who suffered while in care:

One of the problems, if we were to go down this track, would be actually locating records. Legal systems being what they are, it would be difficult to try to come up with the evidence that would be needed to mount a case to say that you were in fact the one who had all of these things happen to you. The record-keeping, I would suggest, was not fabulous…records are rarely in the one place’.[3]

The government has known about these issues as far back as 2004, when they were raised publicly in the Forgotten Australians Report[4].  The report details records of children in care being prematurely destroyed rendered incapable of identification or lost.  This is despite the legal requirement to manage them according to specific standards[5].

Care leavers poignantly described the hardships they face when their own records could not be found in the Forgotten Australian’s report:

Not only did I lose my identity, but I lost my Mother, my Father, Brothers and a sister, my family home, my bedroom, my toys, my family photos, my school friends at St Kevin’s at Cardiff, Aunties, Uncles, my hometown friends and connections education all blown away like points off the stockmarket just as through it never existed. (Sub 360)

As a ward of the State I find it very degrading to be told by the Government that we have to confront the institution where I was sexually abused to try and find out information about myself. I feel that there should be a Government body who would act on our behalf. This is not just for myself, but for all the boys in the same situation who have to go to different institutions where terrible memories exist, to grovel for information.

(Sub 211)[6]

RIM Professionals Australasia supports the Victorian Government’s return to a focus on integrity through the proposed review of the Freedom of Information Act and the inclusion of document destruction as an Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) consideration, in line with criminal penalties in the Crimes Act 1958.

However any changes to the FOI Act are ineffective due to the current government’s failure to address deficiencies with the Public Records Act 1973 (the Act). The Act is the very legislation that compels government to create, manage and maintain full and accurate records as evidence of Victorian Government business according to rigorous standards.

This failure is in stark contrast to the judiciary’s approach where making records unavailable through neglect, omission or intentional acts of commission in the latter case, via document destruction comes with heavy criminal penalties.  (Crimes Act 1958)

Despite RIM Professionals Australasia directly corresponding to the Premier’s office in September 2011 with details of the number of  government  breaches of record keeping legislation [7] (more than 300 in 5 years) detailed in Victoria’s integrity offices reports, the Public Records Act 1973 (the act)  has yet to be reviewed.

The Act currently has limited oversight, no enforcement or compliance monitoring, no defined community complaints process and mediocre penalties for the destruction of a public record, 5 penalty points. ($524) [8]

Government’s failure to address these long known issues has a significant cost to the community, particularly its vulnerable and disadvantaged members such as wards.

With government continuing to outsource more of its business to private industry, and conducting business through the web – Can Victorian government assure RIM Professionals Australasia and the greater community that current care leavers will not face the same difficulties in 5,10, 15 years?

The Premier is also the current Minister of the Arts and hence responsible for the review and modernisation of the Public Records Act 1973 in line with  current evidence law requirements,  business practices and technologies.  

Clearly a review of the Public Records Act 1973 and its current record keeping regulatory model is long overdue.

Lastly it’s imperative that we learn from the mistakes of the past. The Report of the Committee of Enquiry into Child Care Services in Victoria (Norgard report) stated as early as 1976 that:

 The Social Welfare Department’s present provisions for record-keeping and for reviewing the progress of its wards require thorough overhaul. Inefficiency in these fields can result in real – sometimes permanent – harm to individuals. [9]

The record-keeping standards in children’s homes were also evaluated:

Some organizations document children’s progress and social relationships most competently; in others, little may be known of children and their families except what exists in the memories of senior staff. It is still possible in some organizations for much effective knowledge of a child’s past to vanish with a retiring staff member.   The Committee recommended mandatory annual reviews of children in care to prevent children becoming ‘lost in the system’.[10]

RIM Professionals Australasia recognises that well managed records ensure that the documentary evidence of the devastating and traumatic history of the Forgotten Australians is neither lost nor ever forgotten.

It offers an excellent opportunity to network with over 1,000 international visitors in the archives, records, library and information fields as well as seeing more international speakers in one place than ever before.

See the ICA 2012 website to view the program and to register:   www.ica2012.com

The New Zealand Branch of RIM Professionals Australasia is proud to call for applications for its annual scholarship for the study of RIM disciplines.

The aim of the scholarship is to promote the study of records and information management in NZ through formal, specialist courses and to assist RIM Professionals Australasia members to achieve educational qualifications required for career enhancement and professional membership. 

The scholarship will ensure that course fees and materials are paid up to a ceiling of $2000, which will be paid to the institution.

It is open to any member of the New Zealand Branch of the Association (aged 16 or over) who are enrolled in study in the field of records and information management.

For more information or to nominate:

 http://www.rimpa.com.au/grants-and-awards/regional/nz-rim-scholarship/

Calling for Nominations for 2012

This is your opportunity to recognise the achievements of an individual, a team, or an organisation that is involved in delivering excellence and innovation to our industry.

The Award, named after the late Mr Rob Barnett MRMA, recognises excellence or innovation in Records & Information Management within the ACT Branch of RIM Professionals Australasia. 

The award criteria will be determined through nominations of individuals or organisations that have demonstrated outstanding achievements in records and information management that have made a difference within their organisation or the profession and that are models from which we can all learn.

Areas of excellence or innovation can come from all related streams within the Records and Information Management field including but not limited to:

• ·         Implementing innovative solutions to records and information management problems
• ·         Providing leadership and mentoring to other records and information management practitioners or professionals
• ·         Developing new and innovative strategic information management policy, procedures or guidelines.
• ·         Preservation and storage of records
• ·         Providing access to records
• A summary in no more than 1000 words of the outstanding achievement of the nominee
• Nominee may be required to meet with the Awards Judging Panel in regard to the nomination
• Nominee may be asked to provide documentary evidence.
• The outstanding contribution should demonstrate one or more of the following:

Criteria for submissions

1. Display of an outstanding degree of dedication and commitment to the profession.
2. Implementing innovative solutions to records and information management problems
3. Providing leadership and mentoring to other records and information management practitioners or professionals
4. Developing new and innovative strategic information management policy, procedures or guidelines.
5. Preservation and storage of records
6. Providing access to records

The review committee for selecting the winner for this prestigious award are:

• Amanda Harris (ACT National Board Member)
• Ross Thomson (ACT Branch Council Member)
• Veronica Pumpa (ACT Branch Council Member)

Submission to be emailed to:- amanda.harris@deewr.com.au

Closing date for submissions is 31^st March 2012

Next one is 20th March 2012 at the Duke of York Hotel, 12.00pm, details here:

RIM Professionals has commenced preparations for Information Awareness Month (May 2012) events and we’re seeking expressions of interest from speakers as follows:

Local speakers to present in each state and territory in Australia, as well as Wellington, NZ.  Presentations should be an hour long and on a topic relevant to the theme of ‘Information on Demand’.  Dates are to be confirmed and at this stage we request you supply an abstract and your availability details (i.e. which state/territory you are in), as well as a few details about who you are to mandi.levinge-bartley@rimpa.com.au 

 We are also happy to consider sponsorship of these events.  If you are interested, please email wendy.daw@rimpa.com.au  

In addition RIM Professionals Australasia and SNIA ANZ are holding a joint one day conference in Sydney on May 31^st with the theme ‘Information on Demand’ and are seeking submissions for presentations of 40mins which are relevant to the theme but which are of interest to both Association’s members.  Your abstract and biography should be provided to kristen.keley@rimpa.com.au no later than 14^th February.

 A sponsorship and trade exhibition package for the conference will be released shortly.  If you are interested, please email wendy.daw@rimpa.com.au

 While we are open to suggestions, examples of topics being sought are:

1. New ways in a digital world – Discussing the changes in the way we all learn, work and play in a digital environment 
   • digital natives vs digital immigrants
   • leading change to think, work and play in a digital world
   • new technologies for the community and workplaces that are eating away at paper paradigms
   • connecting the information disciplines
   • changing learning and research environments
2. Ways that digital natives (ie Gen Y & Z) create, capture, consume and process information – and how it affects data capture, storage and access in the short and long term.
3. Ways to deal with the struggle of baby boomers to keep up with the new ways of connecting and information exchange.
4. The ever increasing threat that our personal and professional information is exposed to potential misuse 
5. Overcoming the disconnect between ICT and IM/CM/RM/KM
6. Social networking: Connecting information people and workplaces – Exploring how social networking is increasingly being used to create, share and re-use information for:
   • personal use
   • family history
   • learning and research
   • community knowledge and events, including in times of disaster
   • workplaces and professional communities of practice

 There is also room in the program for an 80 minute workshop or roundtable if a relevant topic is identified.

iRMA is the RIM Professionals Australasia’s Information & Records Management Annual and this edition is packed with ten refereed articles and case studies which are sure to add value to your workplace.  They are:

1. Reinventing Records Classification – Cathy Ashton and Barbara Reed
2. Recordkeeping Compliance: What is It All About? – Judith Ellis
3. Assessing Information Culture: A Framework for Records Managers – Gillian Oliver
4. Gender Differences in Local Government Knowledge Workers – Kye O’Donnell
5. Aligning an Information Strategy with the Corporate Strategic Direction: How Information Strategies at the Water Corporation of Western Australia have Adapted Over the Past Decade – Trissa Dent
6. Mature Public e-Services Without Mature Recordkeeping – An Impossibility? – Karen Anderson, Erik Borglund and Göran Samuelsson
7. e-Government Development and Recordkeeping: A Comparative Study of e-Government Best Practice in Swedish Municipalities – Maria Kallberg
8. Information Management Strategies in Two Swedish Municipalities: Similarities with Enterprise Content Management – Proscovia Svärd
9. Developments in Dutch Archival Law and Government Records Management Policy 1995-2010 – Bas de Groot
10. The Grey Area of Ephemera – Roberta A. Cowan

iRMA is available free to all members as an ezine and to Fellow and Chartered Member members in the members only area .  It is also available for purhase on CD through the online store for members and non members alike.

Cost of iRMA on CD is:

Non Members: AU$70.00 (+ GST if applicable)
Individual and Corporate Members:  AU$50.00 (+ GST if applicable)
Associate Members:  AU$30.00 (+ GST if applicable)
Fellow and Chartered Member members:  AU$10.00 (+ GST if applicable)