25 Hepetema 2024
Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga Archives New Zealand,
10 Mulgrave Street, Wel ington
Phone +64 499 5595
Craig Innes
Websites
www.archives.govt.nz
fyi-request-28232-
www.dia.govt.nz
[email address]
E te rangatira e Craig, tēnā koe
Database Information
Thank you for your email, received on 29 August 2024, requesting information on databases
equivalent to Archway under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act).
You have requested:
“1. The names and types of databases accessible to staff relating to the significant
proportion of records held by Archives New Zealand. In other words, the databases
equivalent to Archway database.
2. Screenshots of the query windows for each database.
3. The number of records accessible on each database.”
On 5 September we emailed you to clarify the interpretation of parts of your request (as
specified below). We asked that you contact us by 9 September if our understanding of your
questions was incorrect. We have not received a response from you, and so have answered
your questions according to our interpretation. We have included an explanation of how we
have interpreted each question in our response below.
1. The names and types of databases accessible to staff relating to the significant
proportion of records held by Archives New Zealand. In other words, the databases
equivalent to Archway database.
We have interpreted the scope of this question to include databases staff have access to
that perform similar functions to Archway. Only one database is in scope of this request, an
off-the-shelf product known commercially as Axiell Collections. This is known internally as
Col ections Staff. Axiell Collections uses a Microsoft SQL Server database. You can read more
information a
t https://help.collections.axiell.com/en/Topics/Architecture.htm.
Kia pono ai te rua Mahara – Enabling trusted government information
Auckland Regional Office, 95 Richard Pearse Drive, Mangere, Auckland
Christchurch Regional Office, 15 Harvard Avenue, Wigram, Christchurch
Dunedin Regional Office, 556 George Street, Dunedin
We have considered two databases accessible to staff relating to the significant proportion
of records held by Te Rua Mahara out of scope of your request. As per our email on 5
September, we have interpreted your request to exclude Archway itself. The other
database, Archway Location Finder (ALF), does not perform the same functions as Archway.
Collections Search is a website that harvests data from Collections Staff and connects to the
Government Digital Archive, and is not a database itself.
2. Screenshots of the query windows for each database.
Please see screenshots of the query windows in Col ections Staff at
Appendix A.
3. The number of records accessible on each database.
As per our email to you on 5 September, we have interpreted “records accessible” to mean
the data entries accessible in each database. Please see a table of the number of data
entries accessible in Col ections Staff as of 9 September 2024, at
Appendix B. Please note
that these numbers are only reflective of a particular point in time, as new data entries are
created every day.
In our email, we noted that the question could also be understood as meaning “The number
of public archives accessible on each database” due to the multiple meanings of the word
‘record’ in this context. The metadata of public archives are accessible in Collections Staff
but the public archives themselves are not.
Born-digital archives and digital images of public archives are hosted in the Government
Digital Archive. These are linked to in the data entry for the public archive in Col ections
Staff.
There are 7,706,221 listed public archives in Collections Staff. Please note that this number
includes ‘super items’ (an item, such as a container, containing multiple public archives),
‘sub items’ (parts of a public archive that are described separately to aid discoverability,
such as folios in a volume), and descriptive items (items that aggregate other records, such
as a folder containing files).
I note you have submitted a number of queries about the databases used by Te Rua Mahara
recently. Please let us know if you would like to meet with subject matter experts to discuss
your queries, as this may enable us to provide more helpful and relevant information to you.
Please contact
[email address] if you have any questions about this response or if you
would like to meet with kaimahi on this topic.
Please note that in cases where the Department’s response provides information that is
identified to be of public interest, the response may also be published on the Department of
Internal Affairs website. If the Department publishes its response to your OIA request, all
personal information, including your name and contact details, will be removed.
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You have the right under section 28 of the OIA to seek an investigation and review by the
Ombudsman of this decision. Information about how to make a complaint can be found at
https://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/or freephone 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi, nā
Anahera Morehu
Poumanaaki Chief Archivist
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Appendix A
Archives (Series, Accessions, Items)
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Agency
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Contacts
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Orders
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Order Items
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Shipping
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Missions
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Mission Items
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Locations and Containers
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Storage Types
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Organisation
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Jurisdictions
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Functions
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Disposal Authorities
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Access Authorities
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Preservation
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Valuation History
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Valuation Categories
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Valuation Benchmarks/Financial Years
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Price
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Digital Objects
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Thesaurus
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Legacy List Control and Legacy Item
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Appendix B: Number of data entries accessible in Col ections Search as of 9 September
2024
Dataset in Collections Staff
Number of data entries accessible
Archives (Series, Accessions, Items)
7,737,899
Agency
6,651
Contacts
38,040
Orders
729,582
Order Items
786,361
Shipping
17,200
Missions
26,768
Mission Items
206,312
Locations and Containers
1,036,364
Storage Types
71
Organisation
27
Jurisdictions
402
Functions
313
Disposal Authorities
867
Access Authorities
1,109
Preservation
4,374
Valuation History
9,456
Valuation Categories
24
Valuation Benchmarks/Financial years
27
Price
5
Digital Objects
1,482,011
Thesaurus
10,363
Legacy List Control and Legacy Item
60,400,364
Total
72,494,590
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