New Zealand Archivists' Attitudes to Outreach

Abstract

Research problem: No research has been done into the practice of outreach in New Zealand, despite outreach being a popular point of discussion amongst archivists internationally and evidence that the practice is important to New Zealand archivists. Methodology: New Zealand archivists were surveyed using a questionnaire distributed to the New Zealand Records and the Records Information Professionals of Australasia email lists. The questionnaire was based on Tamar Chute's 2001 explanatory study of outreach amongst American university archivists. The number of New Zealand archivists reached by these lists cannot be obtained, however, the number of archivists currently practicing in New Zealand is approximately 447. The data obtained was analysed and compared to Chute's data. Results: Responses were received from approximately five percent of New Zealand archivists. Chute's findings were largely confirmed, with a tendency to see less activities as outreach by this study. Respondents also indicated that outreach was important to them professionally and that they saw it as important to the future of the archives. Implications: The small size of this survey means that it is not able to be generalised across the greater population. However, it does demonstrate that New Zealand archivists are interested in outreach practices and actively pursuing them. Suggestions for future research include the impact of outreach on use and users and long-term trends in outreach