 Archives on the Move
The Archives of Ontario is on the move to bring about improved
management and preservation of Ontario’s documentary heritage. In September 2003, the Archives signed a 25-year service contract with Archives ONE Limited Partnership to provide environmentally sound storage and retrieval services for our archival holdings. The Archives received a Public Sector Quality Fair award for Improving Customer Service for this initiative. More than half of our 300,000 containers have been inspected and moved from several Toronto-area locations to the Archives ONE facility in Bolton, just north of Toronto. We expect the move to be completed in March 2006, at which point, 80 percent of our unique record holdings will be at Archives ONE and preserved according to archival standards. The remainder of our records will continue to be stored at our public research building located at 77 Grenville Street in Toronto.
So, while half of our accommodation objectives have been realized (i.e., secure, archival quality offsite storage), we continue to pursue our efforts to obtain a new customer service facility. The government is committed to a solution that provides the best accessibility for the public, provides excellent storage and retrieval services and helps enhance the public profile of the Archives and its collection. We have begun working on this project in conjunction with the Ministry of Public Infrastructure Renewal, and I am optimistic that our combined efforts will prove successful.
Not only are our collections on the move, but so too is our staff, at least on the organizational chart. On April 1, 2005, the Archives of Ontario was pleased to welcome a number of new staff members responsible for records management operations and consulting services. While the Archives of Ontario has always had responsibility for establishing records management policies and standards for the Ontario Public Service, the operational component (file plan development, schedule-writing, and day-to-day support) had been handled through Information Management Solutions (IMS), a unit within Ontario Shared Services. The transfer of the IMS unit to the Archives of Ontario was made so that the Ontario Public Service could improve its records management systems and provide a more coordinated approach to these services.
Organizational changes amongst existing staff were made as well. Our archivists are now divided into three functional teams: Collections Development, Collections Management, and Customer Service. This division of labour allows the archivists to concentrate on acquiring the best government and private sector records documenting the history of the province; on arranging and describing those records to make them accessible; and on servicing a wide variety of customers through our public reading rooms and via telephone, email, and interloan.
At a broader level, in August 2005 the entire Archives became part of the new Ministry of Government Services whose focus is the modernization of the services government provides. The Archives’ role in this modernization effort is seeing progress in several initiatives relating to the management of government records and information:
- creation of a popular Community of Practice for government staff involved in records and information management;
- creation of a vendor of record for Records/Document Management Systems throughout government;
- development of tools in accordance with the International Standard on Records Management (ISO 15489) such as a government-wide file classification plan.
Throughout all this physical and organizational movement we have continued to acquire significant archival collections, including major accruals to the T. Eaton Company and CFPL records holdings. Information about our many recent acquisitions can be found on our Donations page.
We have also concentrated on highlighting our holdings and bringing them to wider audiences through the development of a number of new travelling and web exhibits on topics such as James Bay Treaty Number 9, education in Ontario, medical records, Franco-Ontarians, and the War of 1812.
Our exhibits are used frequently for educational purposes, and we continue to focus on providing resources for educators and students. The second phase is moving ahead on the award winning Ontario History Quest, a learning resource for students in grades 7, 8, 10 and 12 studying history. Phase one covered the years 1820 to 1970 and phase two will expand coverage to include the years 1780 to 1820. We also run an active Speakers’ Bureau with staff speaking to external groups several times each month.
It has been an extremely busy couple of years for us - hectic, stressful, yet exciting at the same time. As usual, the Archives’ staff have shown themselves to be dedicated professionals, hardworking and flexible in the face of change. Yes we’re in flux, but the end result of all this movement is to ensure the stability of Ontario’s documentary heritage for today and for generations to come.
Miriam McTiernan
Archivist of Ontario
October 2005
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