Digitisation of collection material has become an accepted practice of collecting institutions all around the world. The National Archives digitisation service makes our unique collection accessible to all at a time or place of their choosing. Importantly it also reduces handling of the collection, thereby helping preserve it for future generations.
The National Archives has been making digital copies of selected records available on its website since 2001. Now, over 19 million images of archival records are available for viewing through our online database RecordSearch. New images are made available each week.
The national digitisation service, launched in February 2007, provides online access to records held in the National Archives collection across Australia and features both on-demand and proactive digitising.
Digital images of records are linked to contextual information in RecordSearch. This information identifies the Commonwealth agency that created a particular record, and provides other information including the date range, access status and the location of the original record.
Generally digital images are presented in two sizes – a smaller viewing image and a larger image suitable for printing. Images are optimised for online viewing and provide an accurate representation of the original.
Through the on-demand digitisation service, researchers can request images of paper files up to A3 size that are available for public access and listed on RecordSearch.
The service provides a scanned image of each page of the requested record. The digital image will be made available through RecordSearch. There the digital image can be viewed online, downloaded and printed.
The service is not available for records larger than A3, boxes of cards, photographs, microfiche, audiovisual records and records in more specialised formats.
Charges for requests are set according to the average size of files in the series to which they belong: AUD $16.50 for standard-sized files and AUD $38.50 for large files (prices include GST).
We do not provide copies of records on CD through this on-demand service. To order a high-resolution digital copy, use the Imaging Services order form. See Purchase images to download the form.
Identify and order records you want digitised through RecordSearch. Use NameSearch if you are looking for records about an individual.
When you have located a record in RecordSearch, click on the 'Request copy' button at the bottom of the item description. If the record is subject to the digitisation service, you can then select the type of copy you require (‘Digital image displayed on National Archives website’ or ‘photocopy posted’). Then pay for your order through the secure e-commerce facility. We will acknowledge receipt of your order by email.
Some items will need to be examined for public access before you can request a copy. In such cases submit an application for access by clicking on the 'Request copy' button at the bottom of the item description in RecordSearch and following the instructions on screen. Alternatively, you can email the National Archives reference service (ref@naa.gov.au) to request access examination.
On receipt of your order, the records are digitised and loaded to RecordSearch. We aim to load digital images to RecordSearch within 20 working days of receiving your payment and will notify you by email when the image is available.
Under the proactive digitisation service, the National Archives digitises collection material and makes it available for viewing through RecordSearch without cost. Through the proactive service the National Archives digitises every item in a series. For example, the whole series of those who served with the First AIF – series B2455 – has been digitised.
Researchers are welcome to nominate record series for proactive digitisation. To nominate a series, send the series title and number to ref@naa.gov.au. We assess all nominations against selection criteria to ensure that high-use, high-value or at-risk material is digitised first.
Details of our digitisation program are available under Digitisation & copying.
We recommend that you download the images you require and print them from image software, rather than printing directly from your web browser. The print quality is dependent on the type of printer you use.
If you wish to reproduce material from our collection, you need to comply with the provisions of Australian copyright legislation. For further details see Fact Sheet 8 – Copyright.
Fujitsu fi-5750C document scanners are used to digitise the records. Bound and fragile items are scanned using an overhead digital camera system to ensure that these items are not damaged by the scanning process.
The National Archives display resolution is calculated in pixel dimensions. A standard of 1600 pixels along the longest edge for an A4 size sheet of paper is used. The pixel dimensions are then relatively larger or smaller depending on the size of the original. Images will display on our website at 72dpi regardless of the resolution at which they were captured.
issued August 2007