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About RAAM


 

The Register of Australian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM) is a guide to collections of personal papers and non-governmental organisational records held by Australian libraries and archives.

Background
Scope and purpose
Functions
Contributions
Further information

Background

R A A M is a successor to the Guide to collections of manuscripts relating to Australia which was published by the National Library of Australia from 1965 to 1995. The project to convert the Guide to a web-accessible database was a cooperative venture initiated by the National Library with the assistance of a grant from the Towards Federation 2001 Working Group on High Priority Cross-Sectoral Projects. New records were added to the existing 6,000 entries in the Guide to create a database of 29,000 records at the time of release in October 1997. This had grown to 37,000 records by December 2000.

Scope and purpose

R A A M provides researchers with a convenient, centralised register of locations for primary research material. It does not provide detailed descriptions of the collections themselves; rather, it alerts researchers to the existence of collections and enables them to pursue further enquiries about the material, either online or through direct contact with repositories.

It includes :

  • Collections of manuscript and archival material held in Australia, whether of Australian origin or not
  • Single unpublished items provided they are primary sources, e.g. a letter, a deed, a diary
  • Photocopies or microfilms of Australian manuscript or archival material, including non-government overseas material relating directly to Australia
  • Personal records held in government archives

It does not include:

  • Government records (except for material that is no longer in government hands and personal records held in government archival institutions)
  • Unpublished secondary sources, such as theses, technical reports, family and local histories, bibliographies, papers presented at conferences
  • Microfilms or other copies of non-Australian manuscript or archival material
  • Material that is entirely video, pictorial, cartographic, musical, or audio in format.

Functions

R A A M is a research tool which offers flexibility in searching. A user can search the database using a name, an occupation or any other indexed term. The repositories whose holdings are listed in RAAM can also be browsed by name or by State or Territory location. Some entries include links to detailed lists for the content of the collection described.

A help page assists users to construct their search. There is a database description and a set of sample records to assist users to interpret their search results. Links are provided from RAAM entries to the repository entries in the Directory of Archives in Australia maintained by the Australian Science Archives Project for the Australian Society of Archivists, so researchers can obtain more detailed information about the repository and its collections.

Contributions

R A A M records originate from a number of sources:

  • The original 6000 entries in the Guide.
  • Information derived from published and unpublished catalogues, lists of accessions and other sources.
  • In-scope records loaded on a regular basis to RAAM from the National Bibliographic Database (a database recording the collections of over 850 Australian libraries, accessible via the Kinetica service).
  • Records contributed by Australian libraries and archives either directly online or through a range of offline processes.

Entries in the RAAM database vary in detail, depending on the source of the entry. However, mandatory description is limited to essential information to ensure ease of contribution and more comprehensive coverage.

Repositories with records in RAAM include the National Library of Australia's Manuscript Collection, the La Trobe Library, the Mortlock Library, the Australian War Memorial and personal papers held by the Australian Archives. RAAM covers a large number of significant collections not previously listed in the Guide or in the National Bibliographic Database.

Further development of RAAM to ensure that it fulfills its valuable research role relies on the continuing cooperation and commitment of Australian libraries and archives to contribute records to the database, either directly or via Kinetica. Options for updating RAAM include an online form, electronic transfer of records or, in some instances, submission of written records. For further details on updating options see the update page.

Contributions are welcome from any repository holding eligible material and the Library will continue to seek participation by the few significant repositories who are not currently represented in the RAAM database.

Further information

For more information on RAAM contact the Manuscript Section of the National Library at the following address:

Manuscript Section
National Library of Australia
Parkes ACT 2600

Phone: (02) 6262 1598 or (02) 6262 1250
Fax: (02) 6262 1516
Email: raam@nla.gov.au

R A A M address: http:www.nla.gov.au/raam/

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Comments on any aspect of the Register are welcome and may be sent by email to: raam@nla.gov.au
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Last updated Monday 26-Mar-2007
http://www.nla.gov.au/raam/raamabout.html