Attention The Secretary, Paul James

This is a complaint about the failure of Archives New Zealand to meet its obligations under s.47 of the Public Records Act 2005.

Archives New Zealand is obliged by law to provide access to public records. Since the adoption of Collections Search, Archives New Zealand has provided a means of fully
discovering and accessing the public records it holds.

I have over twenty years experience of researching historical records. In my opinion the Collections Search system is not fit for purpose. Until access equivalent to that formerly provided by the Archway system is restored I will be including the following text in any historical research filed with a Court:

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Statement on the subject of access to records
In February 2022, Archives New Zealand replaced the Archway database search system with a system called Collections Search. The search system is, in the opinion of this author, not fit for purpose. Historian Dr Vincent O’Malley has described the adoption of the system as an ‘unmitigated disaster’. Complaints have been made about access to the historical public records by historians, lawyers and agencies since the system was introduced.

The author wishes to clearly state that it is not possible to determine with certainty that all
public historical records held by Archives New Zealand are discoverable in the Collections Search database. The author therefore warns readers that it cannot be certain that records that were formerly accessible and discoverable that are relevant to this research report were identified and taken into account in the writing of this report.
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Craig Innes

Attention Paul James,

Please find bellow a link to a letter of support from the former Chief Archivist, Kathryn Patterson and Brad Patterson, former president, Archives and Records Association.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SNjw8Qa...

Yours faithfully,

Craig Innes