The Director-General of UNESCO has designated National Archives of Australia (NAA) as the laureate of the 2011 UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize for its work. The Prize-giving ceremony will take place in Cheongju City (Republic of Korea) on 2 September. ICA wishes to offer NAA its warmest congratulations on this well deserved award.
The National Archives of Australia has become a world leader in many areas notably that of digital recordkeeping and preservation. Recently, the NAA played a significant and leader role in the development of the ICA-Req standard , and are deeply involved in the second phase of the project, which aims to develop implementation guidance and training modules. In addition, the NAA, together with the National Archives of New Zealand and their colleagues from the Pacific, successfully developed the “Recordkeeping for good governance toolkit” which is currently being completed by new modules relating with digital recordkeeping. These projects have been an opportunity for NAA to share with colleagues all over the world their “world-class expertise… in adapting the record-creating processes of government agencies to the needs of recordkeeping to ensure the lasting access to documents that testify to the work of public bodies”, as highlighted in the UNESCO citation . In addition, NAA is playing a leading role in the organization of the next ICA congress in Brisbane in August 2012.
The US$ 30,000 Prize, wholly funded by the Republic of Korea, will be used to fund a paid work experience placement for a student of conservation, as an investment in the future of documentary heritage preservation.