Accountability and accessibility: ensuring the evidence of e‐governance in Australia

Abstract

Purpose -To review the challenges associated with ensuring the capture and preservation of and long-term access to government records and publications in the digital age and to describe how libraries and archives in Australia are responding to the challenge. Design/methodology/approach -Literature-and case-study-based conceptual analysis of what makes government online information so vulnerable and initiatives at the National Library of Australia and the National Archives of Australia. Findings -Democracy, governance, consultation and participation all depend on the availability of authentic and reliable information. Government agencies as well as educational and research institutions are producing increasingly large volumes of information in digital formats only. While Australia has done more than most countries to date to address the need to identify, collect, store and preserve government publications and public records in digital formats, large amounts of information are still at risk of loss. Research limitations/implications -Focuses on circumstances and initiatives in the Australian Government.Practical implications -Librarians and archivists need to become more proactive in influencing the behaviour of government agencies to ensure that important evidence of democratic governance is created and managed in ways that facilitate their accessibility and long-term preservation. Originality/value -Emphasises the vital role that information management agencies such as libraries and archives have to play in supporting transparent and accountable governance in the digital age, and explores innovative strategies for ensuring the long-term preservation of this important documentary heritage material for the use of future generations.

Australian public sector information: a case study into information practices

“…Departmental libraries have a role in providing public access by collecting and organising internal publications and possibly have a role in carrying out the legal deposit requirements of section 210 of the Copyright Act, 1968 (Cunningham & Phillips, 2005;Lin & Eschenfelder, 2010). A search in the catalogue of the National library shows that a print copy of the final report of the Independent Media Inquiry is available but not the submissions.…”

“…While there is much other textual content written specifically for websites, consideration of this material is not included in this research paper. A decade ago Cunningham and Phillips (2005) outlined the challenges to the securing of access to government information, specifically grey literature, and since then a 2009 study on e-government reported 32 per cent of the Australians surveyed had used the Internet to search for 'parliament/government information' (Gauld, Goldfinch, & Horsburgh, 2010, p. 180). The questions therefore must be asked, are government documents easily and permanently accessible to the public, and what policies, responsibilities, decisions and institutional mechanisms are in place to achieve this default position of open government.…”

“…The final report was tabled in February 2014. With trend of devolution in government publishing to individual agencies and publishing only online, there was no guarantee the documents were being permanently preserved (Cunningham & Phillips, 2005;Gilchrist, 2012). 3. http://web.archive.org/web/20140927051853/http://www.communications.gov.au/about_us.…”

Situating trust challenges of online trade

“…Records and recordkeeping are crucial for good governance by enabling transparency, accountability, efficiency, predictability and protection of human rights (Dikopoulou and Mihiotis, 2012;Cunningham and Philips, 2005;Lemieux, 2001). The purpose of accountability is to ensure "honest, responsible, upright and transparent conduct of human affairs" (Hurley, 2005, p. 226).…”

“…In cases of corruption or failure of accountability, part of the reason is mostly also a failure of recordkeeping practices (Hurley, 2005). Long-term preservation of records enables accountability over both distance and time (Cunningham and Philips, 2005). Keeping records is not enough though; it has to be connected to rules and mandates to carry out accountability processes.…”