State Records Office News
New joint signage at the Alexander Library building – re-introducing the State Archives to the Perth Cultural Centre
On 4 August, the Director State Records WA, Damian Shepherd, met with the History Council of WA’s Committee to outline the strategic plan and a series of initiatives the State Records Office started 12-months ago. This work supports the SRO’s vision of ‘A secure and discoverable record of government that is valued by our community and used to create a legacy for future generations of Western Australians’.
The first part of the SRO plan, explained Damian, is focussed on making SRO services and State archives more accessible to the community. This has included the recent co-location of research space for State archives with the Battye Library at the Alexander Library Building in Perth.
This is supported by three services:
Damian Shepherd Director State Records 2020
For general research - visits to the Battye Library are open to everyone at all library opening times on a self-serve basis. A range of reference material and microfilm is available for research in this space, previously only available four days a week.
For viewing original State archives - the Reading Room at the Battye Library is available to clients who have pre-ordered retrieval of original archival material. Access to these archives can be pre-booked through the State archives catalogue at https://archive.sro.wa.gov.au/. This space is also available during library opening hours for viewing pre-ordered material, which will be made available to you by Library staff.
The refurnished Reading Room at the Battye Library for WA History
For assistance with research on the State archives - including questions about how to use equipment, or archival material you have requested, the SRO asks that you book an appointment with one of the State Archivists via sro@sro.wa.gov.au. Damian advised that these appointments are a new service that will provide one-on-one assistance for people doing research, particularly for those new to the State archives. The SRO will also shortly launch an online booking system for these appointments, Damian said.
The SRO are moving their website to wa.gov.au to join other WA government agencies in a single, searchable service for the community. Damian suggested searching ‘State records’ to get started. Damian noted this is still a work in progress, with more information to be added over the coming months ahead of the current SRO web site being decommissioned later this year.