We've deposited our archives, now we need access; A Comparative Study of national archives policy in Australia and New Zealand

Preserving the memory of a nation for current and future generations is the core business of an archive. Archives must be deposited with an archive to bring about continuation of this memory. Fundamental to making this archival memory useful is provision of access to the deposited archives. Providing access to archives can also mean that at times the archives are required to be outgoing from an archive. Government and State Legislation in Australia and in New Zealand provides for the continued growth of their respective nation's memory, by requiring government agencies to deposit their archives into the national archives. Archival policy, in turn, supports the ability of these agencies to borrow back their archives on a temporary loan basis. This temporary loan service in New Zealand is called the Government Loans Service (GLS), while in Australia this service is referred to generically as Accessing records and more specifically as Access to records in your agency and Access to other agencies' records. While committed to the same goal of the preservation of their respective nation's memory, no two archival institutions are the same in how they carry this out or in their policies. This research will compare similarities and differences in of the temporary loan service policies of New Zealand's national archive, Archives New Zealand, and in Australia's national and state archive, National Archive of Australia.