Joanna Newman, MRMA

M.A. Dip.Inf.Mgt.Arch.Admin.
Archives and Records Consultant

Archives are an essential part of our lives.  Good management of records ensures accountability and contributes to efficiency, effectiveness and success, whatever your business.  Identifying and saving those of permanent value provides the basis for our culture and heritage.

Whatever the institutional setting – library, museum, local government, business or community - professional management reduces costs, improves access, increases use and ensures preservation. With many years and wide experience in archives and records management and general management, Joanna will help you get it right.

Joanna’s past experience includes managing Wellington City Archives, where she established archival policy, procedures and standards for the local authority archives and a community archives collecting programme, introduced computerised collection management, digitisation of collections and online public access. She also co-developed a strategic information management framework for the capital’s local authority.

At the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, she managed the curatorial and collections information functions, implemented a collections information management system, descriptive standards and processes. She also reviewed archives and records management, public information services and oversaw the establishment of records management and archivist positions.

At Fletcher Challenge Ltd she implemented a records management programme in head office, provided consulting services to subsidiaries as varied as Natural Gas and Fletcher Timber, and established the company’s archives (now known as the Fletcher Trust Archives).

She has also co-developed and tutored a records management course at Auckland Institute of Technology and taught records management in the MLIS course at Victoria University. She has delivered many conference papers, published articles on archives and records management and run seminars and workshops. Advisory appointments have included to Archives New Zealand standard development bodies and the National Digital Forum Board.  Having undertaken research into maintaining and sustaining community archives, Joanna has a particular interest in this area.

Currently Vice President of the Archives and Records Association of New Zealand, she is also Member of the Records Management Association of Australasia.