The Collections Council of Australia (CCA) began its work program in 2005 when the Secretariat was established. The CCA’s achievements have been summarised in its Annual Reports and in regular reports to the Commonwealth in acquittal of funding agreements.
An overview of the CCA’s achievements from February 2005 to January 2010 is presented on this page.
To download the overview document as a PDF, please click HERE.
Achievements of the Collections Council - as at 31 January 2010
In the following table, the CCA’s achievements from February 2005 to January 2010 are listed under the goals identified by the CCA’s latest Business Plan.
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Towards
Goal 1
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Long-term sustainable funding and structural support for collections nation-wide
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Completed
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The CCA has provided advice to the Cultural Ministers Council regarding digital heritage collections, regional collections, the CMC’s Arts and Disability Strategy, the 2006 CMC Review, and the CMC’s 2009 Review of the Collections Australia Network.
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The CCA has made submissions to enquiries and consultative processes on topics affecting the collections sector such as Historic Heritage Places, the ABS Service Industry Surveys, Best Practice for Artists and Publicly Funded Galleries, the Australian Standard Research Classification, the Australia 2020 Summit, the National Innovation System, the Strategic Road Map for Australian Research Infrastructure, Australia’s ratification of UNESCO conventions, the Australian Government’s efficiency dividend, the Digital Economy, the Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act, the Historic Shipwrecks Act, the Contribution of the not for profit sector, the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act, and the development of a Vision and National Framework for Australian Public Libraries. The CCA has also made pre-Budget submissions to the Australian Government, advocating appropriate resources for collections.
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The CCA provided an invited piece for the Australia State of the Environment 2006 report.
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Towards
Goal 2
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A united collections sector working collaboratively
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Completed
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National Round Table for peak NGOs in the collections sector. Held in May 2008, this landmark event informed CCA advocacy for the Australian collections sector.
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Summit on Digital Collections. This event in August 2006 brought together all four collecting domains – archives, galleries, libraries and museums. The Final Report from this Summit reflects the collaborative nature of the activity.
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In process
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CollectionsCare Demonstration Project. This will be located in Western Australia’s Goldfields region with support from the Myer Foundation, the WA Department of Culture and the Arts, and the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. The project will commence in March 2010 with the appointment of a CollectionsCare Coordinator. This project aims to demonstrate the value of a professionally-supported regional hub for collections across several local government areas, in accordance with the recommendations of The Dunn Report.
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Collections Law: Legal Issues for Australian Archives, Galleries, Libraries and Museums. A reference guide by Shane Simpson on the business and law of public collecting organisations in Australia. The CCA began publishing this online book in December 2008, and continues to upload chapters as they are written. Twenty chapters are now available in the Exposure Draft.
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Ongoing
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Blue Shield Australia. The CCA provided the Secretariat for the Australian branch of the International Committee of the Blue Shield that organises and coordinates counter-disaster preparedness between cultural heritage organisations. The key annual event is the MayDay campaign. During February 2010, the CCA will be handing over its Secretariat role to the Australian Library and Information Association.
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Collaborative Projects Showcase. This online Showcase was launched in November 2008 and promotes examples of collaboration undertaken by members of the collections sector. Further contributions are welcome at any time.
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Towards
Goal 3
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A strong and well-used evidence base to support decision making
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Completed
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Fact sheets. As a resource for anyone working with collections, the CCA has published information and statistics on the following topics: Collections in Australia; The Australian collections sector; Collections and sustainability; The uses of collections; and How many people use Australia’s collections?
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Standards And Guidelines: an E-directory (SAGE). This is a comprehensive online directory, launched in November 2008, to Australian and international standards for the collections sector. It includes a bibliography of standards relating to digital collections.
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Digital Standards Bibliography. This is a bibliography of standards relating to digital collections that is now incorporated within SAGE, but is also available online as an independent booklet. Version 1.0 was published in conjunction with the 2006 Summit on Digital Collections; Version 2.0 was released in November 2008; and Version 3.0 was published in July 2009.
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National standards for Australian museums and galleries. The CCA collaborated with several other organisations in a Taskforce to publish (in September 2008) the first national set of standards for museums and galleries in Australia. The National Standards Taskforce is continuing, under a Memorandum of Understanding, to maintain the Standards document and, in the longer term, to ensure its continuing currency.
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The Dunn Report. Consultant Anne Dunn investigated the feasibility of a nation-wide system of ‘regional hubs’ to support collecting organisations. The CCA published Ms Dunn’s report in June 2007, and developed the CollectionsCare initiative in response.
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· Conservation Survey 2006. The CCA’s major survey of conservation and preservation employment, education and training in Australia between 2003 and 2008 revealed skills shortages. The survey report has assisted several educational institutions to reconsider their approaches to the training of conservation and preservation workers, and has stimulated some practitioners to undertake training in specific areas of skill gaps.
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The CCA contributed a chapter about Australia to the international benchmarking study Cultural Spend and Infrastructure, published by the UK Museums, Libraries and Archives Council in 2006.
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Ongoing
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Collections Sector Statistics. To inform and standardise official statistics about Australian collections, the CCA advocates to the Statistics Working Group of Cultural Ministers Council (CMC), and to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
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Australian Collecting Organisations Register. To support contact with collecting organisations, the CCA is preparing its OzCOR database for handover to a new custodian in April 2010.
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Towards
Goal 4
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Easy and immediate on site and online access to Australia’s collections
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Completed
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Significance 2.0: a guide to assessing the significance of collections. In May 2009, the CCA published a revised second edition of Significance: A guide to assessing the significance of cultural heritage objects and collections (2001). Authored by Roslyn Russell and Kylie Winkworth, the new edition includes archive and library collections. Primarily a web-based guide, a limited number of copies has also been printed. An online Open Forum supports discussion of key questions relating to significance assessment.
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The CCA collaborated with the Canberra Institute of Technology to produce an e-learning assessment tool for Significance.
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Steps towards an ‘Australian Framework for Digital Heritage Collections’. On the basis of ideas raised at the CCA’s landmark Summit on Digital Collections, the CCA created a number of guiding documents, and has published ten Principles for creating and managing digital heritage collections, a Glossary of terms relating to digital heritage collections, and a Digital Standards Bibliography.
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Concept development for ‘What’s inside?’ This publication concept was for a learning resource about the collections sector, for use by primary and middle school students, and aligned with Australia’s new educational directions in curriculum reform.
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In process
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Collection Connections aims to develop a sustainable business model and technology platform to enable small collecting organisations to create and manage participative online heritage projects. Now and Then, a pilot application of wiki technology with the Mallala and Districts Historical Committee in South Australia, was launched on 15 September 2009 and will be transferred to a new custodian in April 2010.
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Ongoing
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Conservation / Preservation Showcase. This online Showcase, launched in February 2007, is designed to raise awareness about conservation and preservation work (careers, projects and training opportunities) for people inside and outside the collections sector. The CCA is preparing this Showcase for handover to a new custodian in April 2010.
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Towards
Goal 5
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A strong organisation delivering these goals
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Ongoing
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The CCA is governed by its Members and its Board.
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The CCA’s accounts and business practices are audited annually by BDO Kendalls.
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The CCA’s website is its primary vehicle for communicating news and resources, for publishing research and other reports, and for inviting comments on a range of topics. It is known that the CCA’s website refers a high level of traffic to the websites of many other organisations in the collections sector. The CCA is arranging for the website to remain visible as a static resource after the company winds up during 2010.
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The e-Bulletin, an occasional email newsletter, points subscribers to news and fresh content on the CCA’s website and elsewhere. The archive and subscription form are available via the ‘Tell us’ section of the website.
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Hosting volunteers and student interns. The Secretariat of the CCA involves volunteers in its work, and hosts student internships in relevant fields of study. Major contributions by students include:
o Distribution methodology for print copies of Significance 2.0 (2009)
o Collections Mapping report (2008)
SAGE and the Digital Standards Bibliography both originated in work on standards undertaken by a student in 2005.
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Collaborative and advisory roles. The CCA is party to Memoranda of Understanding relating to CollectionsCare, Collections Law, and the National standards for Australian museums and galleries. Members of the Secretariat serve on advisory committees relating to several educational and research programs.
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Grants received
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Commonwealth of Australia: $141,000 for the publication of Significance 2.0 and Collections Law.
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Myer Foundation: $120,000 for the CollectionsCare demonstration project.
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Ian Potter Foundation: $10,000 for the completion of the National standards for Australian museums and galleries.
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.auDA Foundation: $20,000 for the Collection Connections wiki heritage project.
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Canberra Institute of Technology: $4,545 via the national training system’s e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, for the CCA’s collaboration in the development of an e-learning assessment tool for Significance.
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