Multicultural documentary heritage expertise workshopped around Australia
The participants and organisers of the Multicultural Documentary Heritage Workshop held at the State Library of Victoria on 14–15 June 2005
The Multicultural Documentary Heritage Project which the National Library undertook in 2004 has had an interesting sequel at the state level. The project involved publication of a starter kit, Preserving Australia’s Multicultural Documentary Heritage, and the organisation of a national workshop on preservation and management of archival collections for community organisations from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.
The project was such a success that the same model was used again for regional workshops to satisfy local demand. The National Library has worked with state and territory libraries to provide workshops in six capital cities. Between November 2004 and June 2005 the ACT Library and Information Service, Northern Territory Library, State Library of Queensland, State Library of South Australia, State Library of Victoria, and State Library of Western Australia all held workshops for CALD community organisations in their respective areas.
Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Ian Potter Foundation, Pratt Foundation, Besen Family Foundation and Gandel Charitable Trust, the National Library was able to support the regional workshops with one-off grants. In-kind assistance was also offered in the form of sharing the project management documentation and methodology. All workshop participants were provided with a copy of the starter kit and a set of relevant handouts.
In total, more than 205 representatives of diverse community organisations from a whole range of CALD backgrounds attended workshops in Perth , Adelaide , Darwin , Canberra , Brisbane and Melbourne . The participants included those representing rural and remote areas as funds were available to cover the cost of their travel and accommodation.
Feedback received by the organisers from the participants was very positive and proved that the workshops met a real need in multicultural Australia . Workshop sessions covered significance assessment and preservation of documentary heritage materials, preservation strategies and techniques, principles and the basics of digitisation, oral history, and an overview of grants available for heritage collections.
The workshops enabled the state and territory libraries to make first contact with a number of the local CALD communities. This led in many cases to the development of ongoing relationships that resulted in donations of archival materials to libraries and mutual collaboration on various projects. Some workshops were organised in partnership with other local archival institutions such as state archives, museums and historical societies.
For more information see the project’s website at www.nla.gov.au/multicultural/.
Copies of the starter kit Preserving Australia’s Multicultural Documentary Heritage can be obtained by emailing Barbara Rozmus at brozmus@nla.gov.au or downloaded from the project’s website at www.nla.gov.au/multicultural/kit/ .
Barbara Rozmus
Manager, National Initiatives
National Library of Australia