19 December 2013 - 12:00
Dr Ayres presented this paper at the 2013 Australian Society of Archivists conference, in response to a request to speak about the impact of technology on archival programs at the National Library of Australia. This paper begins with a social media interaction between a member of the public and a 19th century piece of sheet music, digitised by the National Library and available via multiple digital channels, and traces the complex web of human, policy, investment and technology decisions and actions which made this interaction possible. The paper argues that archival organisations must embrace the cultural, policy and investment changes required to make their collections discoverable through multiple digital channels, moving on from a past in which archivists and librarians could expect users to come to either individual physical reading rooms or organisational websites to meet their research needs.