VISION | OBJECTIVES | STRATEGIC PLAN | BUSINESS PLAN | FRAMEWORK | COMMUNIQUE |  

About ADRI

The Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative (ADRI) is an undertaking of the Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities, the peak body of government archives and records institutions in Australia and New Zealand.

On 26 May 2004 Dr Peter Shergold AM, Secretary, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet launched the Australasian Digital Recordkeeping Initiative. He was speaking at the ‘The Business e-Volution of Government' conference hosted by the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) ACT Division and the Australian Government Information Management Office. Read Dr Shergold’s paper, Digital Amnesia: The Danger in Forgetting the Future, on the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet website.

The primary objective of ADRI is to pool resources and expertise to find better ways to ensure that digital records are preserved and made accessible for the future. Every one of the national, state and territory public records institutions in Australia and New Zealand have joined together to form this Initiative. They have agreed to collaborate on the development, articulation and implementation of a common set of strategies for enabling the making, keeping and using of the digital records of governments.

ADRI focuses attention on the importance of archival institutions and government agencies working together to preserve digital records.

The Initiative promotes a single Australasian approach to digital public recordkeeping across all jurisdictions and provides a space for communication and information sharing between the members. The collaboration ensures the best possible strategic use of limited collective resources and maximises the wider awareness and impact of the agreed approach to addressing the challenge of digital records.

The collaboration builds on and acknowledges many years of Australasian collaboration in the development of concepts, tools, standards and strategies for good recordkeeping. The Initiative’s approach will add value to existing jurisdiction-specific initiatives.