35 minute read
Report on Performance
Corporate Plan 2017–18 to 2020–2021
PROV’s four-year Corporate Plan provides the strategic direction for the period 2017–18 to 2020–21. The Plan articulates the mission, primary strategic objectives and values of PROV; describes our current and emerging operating environment; and details our three overarching outcomes and strategic initiatives. It also details the guiding principles that we use when implementing these initiatives.
Initiatives
Improve recordkeeping practices across the
public sector: We will continue to support effective recordkeeping in agencies by creating and mandating standards, promoting their implementation, and surveying and reporting on agency adherence and practice. Increase use of the collection: We will continue to make our collection more accessible and ensure the needs of different communities accessing the collection are met.
Increase community engagement with public
records: By supporting communities and engaging in community interaction, we will increase usage of the PROV collection and encourage good community collection management practices. Build our profile: Our reputation as an inspiring, accessible and educational agency will be further increased with targeted communication campaigns to highlight the importance of government recordkeeping to the state and to the public, and our important service to the public and community, online and offline.
Identify and preserve records of state
significance: We will work with agencies to identify records of significance, determine how long records should be kept to meet the government’s needs, support organisational accountability and meet community expectations. Strengthen our culture and capability: Our programs over the next four years will ensure that our staff are equipped and supported to work in our changing technology environment. We will strive to be a leader in diversity and inclusion and develop an employee value proposition.
Deliver, embed and leverage our systems:
We will complete the development and implementation of a new digital archive that is capable of supporting our electronic recordkeeping standard, and deliver additional business solutions to improve the efficiency and delivery of our service to government and the public. Detailed information about our activities under each of these initiatives can be found in the next section of the report.
Strategic Initiatives
Improve Recordkeeping Practices Across the Public Sector 2019–20 Actions in response to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
PROV is working with the Victorian Government and Commonwealth, State and Territory archival authorities to address the Royal Commission recommendations. In consultation with a range of advocacy groups and support services, PROV has developed and published resources to assist careleavers find and understand their records, and in July 2019, PROV issued the Retention and Disposal Authority (RDA) for Records of Organisational Response to Child Sexual Abuse Incidents and Allegations - Public Record Office Standard (PROS) 19/08. After rigorous consultation during development, the RDA was issued to meet recordkeeping recommendations of the Royal Commission. The new RDA, along with the Guidelines developed in 2018, enables Victorian state and local government agencies to meet their recordkeeping responsibilities.
Retention and Disposal Authorities
In conjunction with the new RDA outlined above, PROV undertook a review of over 120 current RDAs and many non-current RDAs, to identify any further action required to meet both the recommendations of the Royal Commission and the requirements of PROS 19/08.
We identified 30 RDAs which required variation at different levels of complexity. The list of varied RDAs is available on the website landing page for PROS 19/08 and in the Appendix of this report. The web page for PROS 19/08 has comprehensive guidance on the relationship between PROS 19/08 and existing RDAs, and also includes: • Guidance on applying PROS 19/08, its scope and exemptions in its coverage • Stakeholder feedback on its development and
PROV response • Advice on re-sentencing for relevant expired
RDAs which are all listed.
The changes have been communicated via the PROV website as well as directly to the sectors and agencies impacted.
Victorian Electronic Records Strategy (VERS) 2019–20
The Victorian Electronic Records Strategy is about ensuring the creation, capture and preservation of authentic, complete and meaningful digital records by the Victorian public sector. In 2019–20 we began the transition from our VERS 2 Standard to VERS 3 VEO creation, using the new specifications within PROS 19/05 Create, Capture and Control Standard.
VERS 2 is now 20 years old, and focused mainly on Electronic Document and Records Management (EDRMS) recordkeeping. The new VERS 3 requirements are still applicable to EDRMS but also allow more flexibility to preserve digital records from a variety of other systems reflecting more contemporary digital record keeping and enabling PROV to accept and preserve a broader range of digital formats. As part of the transition from VERS 2 to VERS 3, from next year 30 June 2021 we will no longer test new vendor products under VERS 2. Instead, we will test a product’s ability to create Version 3 VEOs. To test for other recordkeeping requirements, vendors and agencies will be able to self-assess products using PROV’s Recordkeeping Assessment Tool (RKAT) which is detailed under the highlights section of this report.
Records Management Network
The Records Management Network (RMN) was established to provide a forum for knowledge exchange and discussion on issues affecting records management within the VPS. We held one Records Management Network event in 2019–20. The event, held in November 2019 focussed on recordkeeping in the health sector, with presentations about the variety of challenges faced by public health sector workers in managing their records appropriately. The event was very well attended and feedback on the presentations was overwhelmingly positive. A second planned event had to be cancelled due to coronavirus (COVID-19). New ways of producing these events online are being explored for 2020–21 to ensure continued learning and development.
Review of PROV Standards and Specifications
Under the Public Records Act 1973, the Keeper of Public Records is responsible for issuing mandatory Standards for Victorian public offices. PROV is undertaking a review of these Standards and accompanying Specifications, in consultation with stakeholders.
In 2019–20 PROV revised and issued Strategic Management, Operational Management, Access and Create, Capture and Control Standards. Specifications for Digitisation, Minimum Metadata, Long Term Sustainable Formats, Constructing VERS Encapsulated Objects (VEOs) and Adding Metadata Packages to VEO’s were also issued. Work has commenced on reviewing the Storage Standard and associated Specifications.
Office365 and SharePoint Online
Building on the Office365 (O365) survey results from 2018–19, our focus this financial year was on investigating changes in records management practices needed to manage records in O365 environments. Initiatives have included extensive engagement with agencies who are implementing O365 to hear of their experiences and issues; exploring the development of tools to assist with implementation of records management practices; and improving our understanding of how O365 and similar evergreen collaborative environments work. PROV has published guidance on configuring and implementing O365 to ensure recordkeeping requirements can be met. We have also developed a report on the implementation of O365 and SharePoint by government agencies and have established a working group with Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (ADRI) members to develop functional requirements. PROV continues to take opportunities to engage with Microsoft and suppliers of third party products. This work fits with PROV initiatives such as the Record Keeping Assessment Tool (RKAT) and VERS 3; the first being a means for agencies to assess any system for compliance with PROV Standards and the second providing a more flexible approach to preserving digital records over time.
Increase Use of the Collection PROV volunteers
Public Record Office Victoria’s 160 highly skilled and trained volunteers participate in digitising, indexing and transcription projects. The contribution of volunteers’ time, efforts and talent adds great value to the collection allowing researchers, genealogists and interested community members to more easily find and use records of Victoria’s history. In the last twelve months several significant volunteer projects have been completed. These include the indexing of 10,504 boxes of Civil Case files (VPRS 267) with 250,000 files in the series. This labour intensive project commenced in March 2016 taking four years and much dedication to complete. The contents of the records commence in the 1850s covering disputes over property, money or services and make interesting reading providing insight into individuals, companies and organisations of the period. During the project volunteers unpacked some amazing discoveries, including samples of an 80-year-old possum fur (pictured) once destined to be made into high quality trims on ladies’ clothing. The volunteer efforts in making the Civil Case records more available has already proved popular with the public. As records are gradually being made searchable by name, genealogists and researchers are now finding more connections when searching our collection. In 2019, 1,423 civil case records were ordered, compared with only 150 in 2015 before the project started. Other projects completed in 2019–20: • VPRS 870/P0 Registrar of Probates
Administration Bonds Files • VPRS 9503/P0 Department of Education
Ministerial Correspondence • VPRS 627/P0 Land Selection Files • VPRS 762/P0 Deeds Under 1871 Insolvency Act A highlight for the volunteers this year has also been our exhibition, Time and Tide, being hosted by the City of Melbourne at the Library at the Dock, as detailed under the highlights section of this report. Our volunteer program was paused from March 2020 due to coronavirus (COVID-19) measures, however, we acknowledge an outstanding volunteer contribution in the months prior and look forward to an equally productive 2020–21.
Sample from an 80-year-old possum fur. Exhibit from a civil case file indexed by the volunteers. VPRS 267/P2, Unit 17.
University outreach update
Following on from our successful pilot project in 2018–19, the University Outreach Program has expanded into more tertiary courses across Victoria this year, as well as solidifying the connections we have previously made. Our presentations to students, both on campuses and at the Victorian Archives Centre, are introducing a new generation to the benefits of working with primary resources and showing them the relevance of our collection to academic research. The response from both lecturers and students continues to be enthusiastic, and a common message we receive is that new researchers are keen to use our collections but the challenge of learning how to navigate our system had been a stumbling block until we provided this support. Due to coronavirus (COVID-19), some lectures needed to be postponed, however most were able to go ahead using video and web-conferencing software to deliver presentations to students working from home. In 2020–21 we will begin holding ‘research boot camps’ where post-graduate students can receive one-on-one help for their projects with members of our University Outreach Unit. This team is made up of staff across all sectors of PROV with specialist knowledge of the collection. Planning is already underway and interest in these sessions is high, with the first boot camp, to be conducted online, having already booked out.
Masters of architecture and urban design students at PROV August 2019.
Writing group update
For the fourth year in a row, Hazel Edwards has continued to base her year-long writing mentorship program at the Victorian Archives Centre in a partnership that sees new writers introduced to our collection as they work on their non-fiction books and family histories. Each year the participants finish their books by the end of the program, and in 2019 one student gained considerable attention from the history community and media for the book he wrote and published as a result of the class. Darren Arnott’s No Regard for the Truth used our inquest records and National Archives of Australia military records to examine a case from 1946 in which a Rowville internment camp prisoner, Rodolfo Bartoli, is killed. He launched his book at the Victorian Archives Centre in October 2019. Hazel said the book displays:
“Well-crafted historical detective work.”
We look forward to continuing to support this program to help writers incorporate the archive in their work.
Increase Community Engagement with Public Records Places of Deposit (POD) Program and regional archives
PROV works with a range of organisations across the State to support the Victorian community’s access to the State’s collections. Our Places of Deposit (POD) program encompasses regional archives which manage and provide access to permanent and temporary public records held in local communities. Class A PODs can hold permanent and temporary public records while Class B PODs can only hold temporary records. During the year PROV’s then Minister, the Special Minister of State reappointed 12 Class B PODs taking the total to 94. In late November 2019 a second well-attended POD Collections Day was held at Ballarat’s Eureka Centre in partnership with Australian Museums and Galleries Association Victoria (AMaGA Victoria). It was the Ballarat Archives Centre’s first year in its new home at the Eureka Centre so it was timely to invite PODs to visit and explore the new research hub. Long standing Ballarat Archives Services Officer, Gertrude Cotterill, said the new location provided researchers with a space to access multiple collections from the region:
“We have had many positive comments from researchers, they are very happy about having access to both the Library and Archive collections and are often hopping between the two. Having access to Library staff member
Simon Jacks’ knowledge of Ballarat and surrounds is a bonus to researchers as well.”
Public records are accessible at Ballarat with a digitisation project recently completed. We also continued our close relationship with Bendigo Regional Archives Centre (BRAC), run in partnership with the City of Greater Bendigo and the Goldfields Library Corporation. Permanent public records are also held in other Class A PODs at Beechworth’s Robert O’Hara Burke Museum and the Geelong Library and Heritage Centre, and significant progress was made with the digitisation of the records held at Beechworth.
Celebrating the launch of No Regard for the Truth at the Victorian Archives Centre.
In February 2020 the University of Melbourne Archives was appointed as a Class A POD. The University of Melbourne Archives was established in July 1960, to collect and preserve records relating to the University and to business and business people for the purposes of historical research. Today it is one of the largest nongovernment archives in Australia, with a collection of nearly 20km of records. Appointment as a Class A POD will ensure the long-term preservation of permanent public records in its collection and eventually allow for enhanced access through PROV’s online catalogue. The coronavirus (COVID-19) related closure of both Class A and B PODs from March 2020 resulted in the postponement of many planned exhibitions and events and significantly impacted researcher visitation outcomes for the year.
Exhibitions
November 2019 saw the Victorian Archives Centre Gallery launch a new photographic exhibition entitled In The Shadows. The exhibition featured archival images from the collections of Public Record Office Victoria and the National Archives of Australia, alongside contemporary street photography from Alicia Valle Serrano, Richard Harris, Michael Edwards, Sarah Ruhullah, Kelly Tang, Andrew Wilson, Mark Forbes, Andrew Tan, Cathrin Plunkett, Adrian Whear and Liz Kajko; all chosen from a pool of 131 photographer submissions.
Examining both physical and conceptual aspects of shadows and darkness, the archival images included misleading advertising for cigarettes in the 1930s, under-represented communities, as well as spies and espionage. The contemporary photographers explored issues ranging from living under the shadow of ‘big brother’ through to how we turn a blind eye to social issues surrounding us. As previously mentioned in this report, our volunteer-led Time and Tide exhibition went on display at the beginning of 2020 at Library at the Dock and the run of the Wayward Women? exhibition at Old Treasury Building, launched in 2018–19, continued throughout 2019–20, as did permanent displays including Foundations of Melbourne, showcasing records from our collection to an audience of 69,565 Old Treasury visitors. In addition to our own exhibitions and existing partnerships, we also offer a loan service that provides other museums with the opportunity to display public records from our collection within their own exhibition programs. As part of this service, our records featured in the Bendigo Post Office Gallery’s Rule Britannia exhibition and Melbourne Medical History Museum’s The Women’s: Carers, Advocates and Reformers, both of which opened in the 2018–19 financial year and continued into 2019–20. New for 2019–20 were the State Library of Victoria’s Velvet Iron Ashes exhibition and Bendigo Regional Archives Centre’s Langston Street in Fifteen Objects.
Provenance
Provenance is our free online journal published annually at prov.vic.gov.au. The journal features peer-reviewed articles as well as other written contributions that contain research drawing on records in the state archives’ holdings. In October 2019, we were pleased to accept a Mander Jones Award from the Australian Society of Archivists for our 2018 issue, awarded for being the best publication to engage and communicate with clients or potential clients of an Australian archive or archival collection about Australia.
The 2019 issue was released in December and included articles that use judicial records to explore and reflect upon the often private histories and experiences of women in nineteenth-century Victoria, as well as a reflection on the rise and fall of the former head office of the State Savings Bank of Victoria in Melbourne. We thank the contributing authors, as well as the experts who peer reviewed articles in the last twelve months.
We would also like to acknowledge our dedicated editorial board which supports the production of Provenance each year: • Tsari Anderson, Editor, Provenance; Coordinator,
Koorie Records Unit, Public Record Office
Victoria
• Dr David ‘Fred’ Cahir, Associate Professor of Aboriginal History, Federation University
Australia
• Dr Sebastian Gurciullo, Assistant Editor,
Provenance; Community Archives Officer,
Public Record Office Victoria
• Dr Adrian Jones OAM, Associate Professor of History, La Trobe University • Mike Jones, Consultant Research Archivist, the University of Melbourne • Dr Antonina Lewis, independent archival consultant and researcher
• Dr Seamus O’Hanlon, Associate Professor of History, Monash University • Dr Dianne Reilly AM, FRHSV, Secretary,
La Trobe Society • Katherine Sheedy, Professional Historians
Association (VIC) Inc. • Dr Judith Smart, Adjunct Professor, RMIT
University; Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne
• Dr Rachel Standfield, Lecturer, Monash
Indigenous Studies Centre, Monash University.
Editor Tsari Anderson accepts the Mander Jones Award for Provenance.
Koorie records
The Koorie Records Unit (KRU) promotes awareness about Aboriginal records within our collection and aims to improve accessibility of these records to the Aboriginal community. The KRU:
• Provides a culturally sensitive Koorie Reference
Service in collaboration with the National
Archives of Australia (NAA), to provide support and advice to Aboriginal people wishing to access records relevant to their personal and community histories • Develops resources, programs and initiatives that increase the knowledge, accessibility and use of Victoria’s unique collection of government records relating to Aboriginal people. Digitisation of records about Aboriginal peoples in the collection has continued this year. Work has also commenced on a refreshed indexing project of these newly digitised records, as well as a refresh of the Koorie Index of Names platform. Once complete, we will be able to continue to upload data to the index. This will greatly enhance accessibility for clients to records about themselves and their families through the Koorie Index of Names and the Koorie Reference Service.
In 2019–20, the KRU’s Koorie Reference Service responded to 89 new research enquiries, involving searches conducted for 464 names and resulting in a total of 2018 index results across the PROV and NAA collections for the names searched. We have also responded to requests and provided copies of records to Aboriginal community organisations and Keeping Places. Other highlights include a presentation at the 2019 Australian Society of Archivists/International Council of Archives Designing the Archive conference, and involvement in the Healing Foundation Victorian Stolen Generations records forum in Melbourne.
Map Warper Lunch and Learn event
Last year we collaborated with the creator of Map Warper to develop a PROV Map Warper site where maps from our collection could be rectified with current day coordinates to create a comparison between the historic map and the present day. In 2019–20 an additional 7000 maps from our historic plans collection were added to the tool and in late June 2020 we ran an online Lunch and Learn Day event with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) to showcase the PROV Map Warper tool to a new audience of land information and spatial professionals, encouraging them to get involved in rectifying the maps. The results of this project will be able to be seen moving into 2020–21.
Winners of the 2019 Victorian Community History Awards.
Grants and awards
We run grants and awards programs each year to provide funding and recognition for those who preserve and share local history and heritage for all Victorians.
Coinciding with History Week in October 2019, in partnership with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria, we announced the winners of the Victorian Community History Awards at a ceremony at the Arts Centre Melbourne. For the first time in the Awards’ 21-year-history, the event was proceeded by a shortlisting media announcement which generated additional excitement in the lead up to the day, and ensured that more of Victoria’s history projects were able to gain promotion and acknowledgment in their local areas with the shortlist announcement gaining 27 media mentions (separate from the final winners who were in the media 25 times after the event). The 2019 winners included Chloe Hooper for The Arsonist, Co.As.It for their Carlo Catani exhibition and Carolyn Rasmussen for The Blackburns. Phil Roberts and the Arch of Victory/Avenue of Honour Committee won the Victorian Premier’s History Award for the stunning book Avenue of Memories. See the Appendix for the full list of winners. In early 2020, judging for the new round of Local History Grants was also undertaken. Recipients will be formally announced at the beginning of the 2020–21 financial year.
Build our Profile Mainstream media
PROV’s programs and records from our collection appeared in the media approximately 245 times in 2019–20, with coverage ranging from online to radio, television and print. Highlights included: media coverage across local outlets for Victorian Community History Awards shortlisted entrants and winners and the Local History Grants; community radio interviews for Family History Month; significant promotion for our Melbourne Writers Festival Madame Brussels event across their programs and in The Age, with other PROV events and exhibitions also featured across newspapers including Docklands News and what’s on websites throughout the year; Michael Shelford drew on our prison registers and police correspondence files for his regular Herald Sun In Black and White features in 2019–20; and ABC online wrote about our Section 9 openings and included our records in stories about public transport and historic criminals. We were pleased to welcome Bert Newton to the Victorian Archives Centre to film his 2020 episode of Who Do You Think You Are? featuring his family’s connection with the Women’s Monster Petition.
We also wrote about PROV’s Map Warper and various government recordkeeping projects for industry publications such as iQ Magazine. These media activities, among others, reveal aspects of our collection to new audiences encouraging Victorians to better understand their past, while promoting the value of good recordkeeping practices within the public sector.
Social media
In 2019–20 we continued to grow our online community, from 21,555 to 23,657 across Facebook, multiple Twitter channels, Instagram, Linked In and YouTube. Content on our main Facebook and Twitter channels, resulted in more than 134,919 engagements (comments, shares, and likes). This was up from last year’s 133,614 which shows just how important these channels are in connecting Victorians with their history, particularly in times when they are unable to engage with the archives in person.
PROVs Andrew Joyce leading the Auslan Tour of the archives for Open House 2019.
Website
Last financial year we launched a new beta catalogue for our users to test over time. This year we continued to gain feedback on the beta site to be addressed when we launch the new system in the next financial year. This year we launched a set of new topic pages related to public transport in Victoria. The pages cover photographs, drawings, maps, plans, employee records, and records specific to ports, ships, airports, railways, trams, buses, roads and bridges. After extensive external consultation we also launched our online Guide to accessing Victorian Care Leaver and Adoption Records. The page was developed for individuals who experienced institutional or out-of-home ‘care’ as children from the 1930s until 1989, and Stolen Generations of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people who were separated from their family and traditional country. In addition, associated topic pages to make searching our collection easier include a Ward of the State and Care Leaver Records page, and Adoption Records page. These are important resources for Victorians to use to gain access to records about their own history. Our web traffic for the year was 914,993. The most popular pages of the site were our wills and probates page, passenger records pages and online collections. We also continued to publish blogs showcasing items from our collection. The top three blogs written in the year 2019–20 included a blog post featuring online archival jigsaw puzzles people could do from home during coronavirus restrictions, a post about our temporary closure and our January Section 9 record opening post featuring the story of the Pyjama Girl.
Events and partnerships
PROV continued to build on the relationships formed over the past few years with our program of 2019–20 events, working with key festivals and organisations to broaden our audience and increase the use of our collection.
In 2019 we continued our successful partnerships with Open House Melbourne and the Melbourne Writers Festival. Open House was again a success with tours fully booked, including a dedicated Auslan tour to start the day. The Writers Festival sold-out talk, Madame Brussels’ Melbourne, was held at the Victorian Archives Centre in September, to an enthusiastic crowd. Historian Barbara Minchinton and archaeologist Sarah Hayes discussed how they used PROV records to uncover new insights about Little Lon, Melbourne’s sex work precinct of the 19th century. In particular they shared how they were able to reconstruct the stories of the people living and working in the district by cross referencing archival records with the contents of the cesspits that have been unearthed during archaeological digs. For International Women’s Day in 2020 we shone a spotlight on the Women’s Mural Virtual Tour, a recent recipient of a Local History Grant. This project, which made the story of Megan Evans’ and Eve Glenn’s iconic 1986 community mural accessible to an online audience, became especially significant after the original artwork was demolished in September 2019. On 4 March 2020, PROV hosted a panel discussion with Danielle Hakim and Sally Northfield from The Women’s Mural Documentation Project, Penelope Lee from Her Place Women’s Museum, Australia and Dr Nikki Henningham from the Australian Women’s Archives Project. During the event we looked at both this specific project, as well as the wider picture of local women’s history, and discussed how museums and archives can collaborate to preserve and celebrate women’s voices.
A new relationship was also formed in 2019 with PROV hosting a Rare Book Week event for the first time. The event entitled True Crime in the Archives was presented by PROV’s Tara Oldfield with crime writer and Melbourne Historical Crime Tours founder Michael Shelford. The booked-out event introduced a new audience to crime research with a specific focus on the infamous Squizzy Taylor. His records were also on display throughout the event which was met with great enthusiasm by the audience of true crime readers, writers and rare book fans.
Identify and Preserve Records of State Significance Queenscliffe Maritime Museum records transfer
In early 2020, PROV oversaw a transfer of a large number of Victorian Ports Corporation’s (VPC) predecessor agency records from the Queenscliffe Maritime Museum to our North Melbourne repository at the Victorian Archives Centre. The creating agencies of the records include the Melbourne Harbor Trust Commissioners, the Port of Melbourne Authority, and the Victorian Channels Authority. The records consist primarily of thousands of maps and plans of Victoria’s ports, including hydrographic survey maps, soundings, dredging plans, and plans of port infrastructure. We are pleased to have brought this significant collection to PROV. The records have come to us as part of a joint PROV and VPC project to describe and list the records and make them available for the Victorian community. At the end of this project, researchers and agency users will be able to search for and order these records via our catalogue online, which has not been possible before.
PROV’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic threat was swift and effective. The Business Continuity Plan was reviewed in February 2020 and preparation for working from home began at this time. Whilst there were already a significant number of staff working flexibly, planning was required to ensure the right technology and support was in place for the entire business to work effectively from home. Staff were fantastic in their responsiveness and respect for each other during this period, actively living PROV values. The culture of mutual respect made a challenging circumstance easier, with both staff and management reliably taking the required action.
PROV always considers the physical and mental safety of its staff a priority. This was particularly important given the shifting circumstances resulting from coronavirus (COVID-19) reaching Australia, and the resulting transition to all staff working remotely. Regular communication and active staff participation were key components of the staff engagement strategy. Messaging focused on strategies to support mental and physical wellbeing. In light of the new circumstances, business processes were reviewed:
A new remote reward and recognition system was implemented. The power of positive feedback when working in isolation is widely accepted and the initiative has had an excellent uptake amongst staff. • The processes for performance development planning was reviewed in light of the changing circumstances and acknowledging that goals shifted as a result of the pandemic.
A holistic approach was taken to health, safety and wellbeing, with a regular newsletter providing valuable information on maintaining a safe working environment and promoting good mental fitness whilst working from home.
Staff were educated on the use of new online platforms to help maintain effective communication across the business whilst working remotely. This included videoconferencing applications in addition to other tools established to ensure PROV staff could communicate and store information in the event of unreliable network access. PROV’s Chat application proved particularly successful in ensuring timely and reliable communication with vendors working on PROV’s business systems.
Introducing a new competency framework
We introduced a new set of competencies which were embedded into our performance management system in the 2019–20 performance cycle. These competencies represent those which are globally recognised as the ones that matter most for performance. Each month the spotlight has been shone on the competency most relevant to the challenges facing the organisation at the time. Introduction to the competencies is the first stage in implementing the Competency Framework, with the overarching Competency Framework to be implemented as stage two. This tool to facilitate capability uplift will be implemented as we embed the new systems and will help PROV staff fully realise the benefits of the new technology.
Preparing for PROV’s new business systems
Preparation for the training of staff in PROV’s new business systems has had to be reworked due to the pandemic related unavailability of vendors, the uncertain nature of where staff will be located and stringent measures needed to ensure the health and safety of staff during this activity. Staff’s increasing ability to adapt has ensured the pandemic has not derailed planning progress.
Continuous improvement
A review of the service delivery model in PROV’s reading room was undertaken in late 2019 and some changes to the model were implemented. This served as good preparation for the changes to the service delivery model that were required to allow the Reading Room to reopen after the coronavirus restrictions were lifted. Staff’s adaptability, flexibility, resilience and nimble learning have all been honed to the benefit of PROV clients.
Staff trialled different forms of online communication (such as Zoom) before settling on Webex and PROVchat.
Talent acquisition: The Job Skills Exchange
This year saw the introduction of the Job Skills Exchange. This is a Victorian Government Initiative aimed at giving Victorian Public Service (VPS) employees priority access to all job opportunities across the VPS. PROV did a comprehensive review of its recruitment processes to align with this new initiative. This included obtaining feedback from applicants on PROV’s recruitment process, the results of which have proven to be very positive. Our new processes are also helping to ensure we attract a more diverse range of clients and to rule out unconscious bias.
Health, safety and wellbeing
Health, Safety and Wellbeing reporting has been reviewed to capture mental injury, traumatic events, occupational violence and bullying. PROV has a particularly good track record in health, safety and wellbeing and even with the addition of these additional measures, incidents were extremely low.
Culture
PROV completes the People Matter survey biannually, a public sector employee opinion survey run by the Victorian Public Sector Commission. In 2018–19 our results demonstrated that we are a great place to work, with staff who are productive, motivated and engaged. This year, PROV did an in-house pulse check with staff, and again, the results were extremely positive. There has been a focus on PROV’s value of ‘respect’ with initiatives such as civility training, mental health training, the promotion of PROV’s Employee Assistance Program, Feel Good Friday (an initiative to promote kindness and respect in the workplace), commemoration of significant events and the promotion of PROV’s values and behaviours. Some of the events recognised this year include: International Day of Living Together in Peace, IDAHOBIT, Wear It Purple Day, Sorry Day, Reconciliation Week, Ageism Week, Mental Health Week, RU Ok Day, OHS Month and Refugee Week. A number of charities were supported by staff including: • Rural Aid (for drought relief) • Wildlife Victoria (in response to the extensive bushfire damage) • Red Cross Blood Bank (regular blood drives were initiated) • Foodbank (in response to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the community) and • Switchboard (a peer based telephone and web counselling, information and support service for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer people). PROV’s active Engagement Committee also championed support for community initiatives with an environmental focus including:
Simply Cups Australia (which recycles coffee cups)
Envision Hands (turning bottle caps into prosthetic limbs for children in need) and
Boomerang Bags (connecting and empowering local communities to tackle plastic pollution at its source).
PROV hosted another successful Wear It Purple Day for staff in 2019–20. Mama Alto was guest speaker and singer, speaking about how Archives relate to Wear It Purple Day, pride and visibility. This was followed by a moving performance of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Gold coins donated by staff on the day raised money for Switchboard.
PROV has been undertaking a major program of works over the past four years to update and improve the business systems used for managing and facilitating access to the collection. This involves replacing all key systems including the Digital Archive where we store permanent digital records, the Archival Management System used for managing the collection, and the Warehouse Management System used for managing the location of our physical records. PROV has further developed its new search and browse functionality based on user feedback. New order and copying functionality is being tested, and integration work is being finalised to improve access to the collection. Integration work between the new Archival Management System and Warehouse Management System is also currently underway. Testing has been completed on the new Digital Archive, and PROV is planning to complete the migration of the permanent digital records from the current digital archive in late 2020. While the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on PROV, our vendors and our regional sites has caused delays during the final period of testing and integration, our teams have been working hard to ensure the new systems will be ready to go live in the last half of 2020. Resources and training will be available to the public following the launch, to ensure that users are able to make the most out of the new features.
Technical Services
The 2019–20 period has ushered in a whole new Technology Services team for PROV and with that change a substantial program of works to uplift and improve IT services across the board for both internal and external clients. The key focus for the year has been improvement of core infrastructure to support the ongoing programs of work to renew our Digital Archive, Warehouse Management and Archive Management Systems while delivering availability improvements to our legacy platforms in the interim. Legacy platforms in particular have shown substantial improvements in stability and responsiveness, with the removal of a large number of scheduled outages as well as measurable performance improvements and remediation of long-standing causes of customer dissatisfaction. A large-scale in-housing of infrastructure management has been completed, reducing reliance on external vendors and allowing PROV to deliver responsive, agile solutions to business needs. This ability to deliver in a nimble and customer-focused manner has paid substantial dividends during the altered work conditions imposed by coronavirus (COVID-19). While the change to a work-from-home model as a result of coronavirus (COVID-19) has presented new challenges in terms of collaboration and communication platforms, it has also provided an opportunity to implement critical network maintenance and upgrades without impacting our staff and users. A renewed work ethic of cooperation supported by systems and tools to facilitate multiple teams, vendors and staff all working together to deliver our new systems leaves PROV optimistic about deploying an excellent experience for the public, Victorian Government and our own teams in the year ahead.
Output Measures 2019–20
PROV 2019–20 BP3 Measures
Performance measure
Collection usage: utilisation of physical and digital records held by Public Record Office Victoria Satisfaction with services provided by Public Record Office Victoria to government agencies and to the public Provision of services within published timeframes
OUTPUT Government Services
Public Record Office Victoria records transferred Digital records preserved Retention and Disposal Authorities issued Number of participants undertaking records management training Transfer projects completed
Access Services
Records deaccessioned from the PROV collection Total visitors/users Online visitors to website Volunteer hours Collection storage meeting industry standard
Corporate Services
Staff hours spent on L&D activities
Quantity, Quality, Timeliness
Quantity
Quality
Timeliness
Unit of measure
number
per cent
per cent
PROV 2019–20 Annual Report Measures
2019–20 Full Year Target
4,800,000
2019–20 Full Year Actual
Variance (%)
13%1
90 95
Unit of measure
shelf metres number of VEOs number number number shelf metres number number number percent hours 5,443,112 92 91 50 22 6 750 3 150 80,000 930,000 17,000 95 1250
2%
2019–20 Full Year Target 2019–20 Full Year Actual
4%
02
03
54
10565
06
07
65,3508
914,993 10,8599
96
163510
1
2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 The increase is driven by access to records through third-party genealogical websites dependent on promotion and outreach by the third party partners; the release of divorce records in February 2020; and increase in online activity in the last quarter due to COVID-19 lockdown measures. Transfers could not be undertaken due to retirement of the old system. We await implementation of the new archives management system to resume transfers. Awaiting implementation of new archives management system. COVID-19 disruption slowed progress at agencies. The records management training module was redeveloped and heavily promoted, leading to high take up by agencies. Transfers could not be undertaken due to retirement of the old system. We await implementation of the new archives management system to resume transfers. The number of linear metres which has been moved off the shelves this cycle is zero; however, during 2019–10 1,473 linear metres of records have been appraised as temporary, pending sign off by the agencies. COVID-19 closures affected attendance. Volunteer program closed from mid March 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdown. PROV staff took up an unexpected opportunity to complete additional Mental Health Training during COVID-19 lockdown which saw in increase in L&D hours.
Reading Room and Record Retrievals
Public Record Office Victoria operates two public reading rooms; one at the Victorian Archives Centre in North Melbourne and the other at the Ballarat Archives Centre at the Eureka Centre in Ballarat. Records can also be accessed at the Bendigo Regional Archives Centre within Bendigo Library, the Geelong Library Heritage Centre and (by appointment only) at the Burke Museum in Beechworth. During 2019–20, 7803 visitors utilised the reading rooms to view public records. 35287 records were issued to visitors and an additional 5348 were issued to Government Agencies and for internal PROV use. Visitor numbers and record orders were impacted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) closure between March and June 2020.
In 2019–20 reference queries were managed through our online enquiry system which received an average 545 queries per month; providing a consistent and seamless approach to customer service.
Records Issued
Public users Government users
Number of records
70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0 Year 2013–14 2014–15
Visitors to Reading Rooms
2015–16 2016–17
Victorian Archives Centre Ballarat Archives Centre
2017–18 2018–19 2019–20
Bendigo Regional Archives Centre Geelong Heritage Centre
Number of visitors
55,000
50,000
45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
Year 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018-19 2019–20
As the visitors to Geelong Library & Heritage Centre jumped significantly in 2015–16 due to the attraction of the new building facilities, for 2016–17 onwards we have only counted those who visited the reading room specifically to research public records.
