For many years the Archives has been an active member of the International Council on Archives (ICA). Currently, we are leading a joint project of the ICA and the Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative to develop globally harmonised software specifications for records management.

The Director-General of the National Archives attends the International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA) each year in his capacity as the CITRA Bureau representative for Asia and Oceania. CITRA is in Quebec in 2007.

In February 2007 the National Archives of Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Archives of Indonesia – Archives Nasional Republik Indonesia. Its aim is to facilitate professional cooperation and capacity-building programs between the two archival institutions by exchanging information and publications; organising exhibitions and workshops; exchange of archivists and conservators; facilitating training courses on records and archives management; and promoting technical cooperation.

The National Archives plays an active leadership role in PARBICA – the Pacific Regional Branch of the ICA, by managing its finances and the PARBICA website. PARBICA comprises government archives; non-government archival institutions and associations; individual members representing more than 20 Pacific nations, states and territories, including Australia.

With the cooperation of AusAID the Archives is currently managing a project to improve recordkeeping in the Solomon Islands government and assist the National Archives of the Solomon Islands, and a PARBICA-sponsored project to develop a ‘recordkeeping for good governance’ toolkit for the Pacific.

One means by which the National Archives engages with international colleagues is by hosting regular visits by staff of other national archival institutions. In turn, Archives staff are regularly invited to speak at international conferences and participate in advisory boards and working groups, for example the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative and the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards.

The National Archives works closely with professional and industry bodies and the higher education sector. Read more about our networks.

See also our outreach and advocacy activities, as well as the records management section.