| The Archives of Ontario, a division of the
Ministry of Government Services, is responsible for preserving
and providing access to the documentary record of Ontario
that comes from both government and private sources.
Over
99% of the Archives’ holdings are in a paper format
and the only means by which ongoing public access to these
important records can be ensured is through careful long
term storage and a timely retrieval service. Modernizing
the Archives of Ontario to improve preservation and public
access is central to its strategic plan to become a customer-centred
public service.
In 2000, to address this challenge, the Archives embarked
on a two-phase accommodation strategy. |
Click to
see a larger image (140K)
Will of Charles Vance Millar, 1926
York County Surrogate Court Estate Files
Reference Code: RG 22-305, file 55697
Archives of Ontario |
| The first phase, securing long-term
storage and retrieval services, is complete. In March 2006,
the Archives of Ontario completed the transfer of over 300,000
containers of irreplaceable archival records to a new privately
owned and operated facility that provides environmental
controls and security equal to any in the world.
|
Click to
see a larger image (153K)
Over 300,000 containers were moved to Archives
ONE's facility between April 2005 and February 2006.
Archives of Ontario Photograph
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The net benefits
are twofold. Most importantly, the public record is now
properly stored and protected in a facility that is second
to none. Further, retrieval times have dropped from between
48 and 72 hours to as little as 3 hours.
The second phase of the Accommodation Strategy
is also unique in its approach. It will see a private sector
developer, selected through a public proposal-call process,
design, build, finance and facility-manage a new main public
service facility for the Archives in the City of Toronto.
The target date for the completion of this phase is March,
2009.
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