Archives NZ online plans taking longer than expected

Massey University military historian Glyn Harper said he had heard "that they probably weren't going to make their deadline". Photo / APN

A project honouring New Zealanders who served in World War I is unlikely to be completed in time for the centenary of the war's outbreak, the Herald understands.

As part of the WW100 commemorations this year, Archives NZ plans to make the service records of all New Zealanders who fought in the war available free online by August this year, exactly 100 years after the war broke out in 1914.

However while the process of digitising or converting paper records into electronic files is proceeding well, the Herald understands the process of making those files available online is taking longer than planned.

Massey University military historian Glyn Harper said he had heard "that they probably weren't going to make their deadline".

"I'm not certain when they will be able to do it", Professor Harper told the Herald.

Labour MP Grant Robertson said he had been told the current "ingestor" or software used to make the digital records available online would take four years to complete the task.

Faster software was to be developed under the troubled Government Digital Archive Programme which was canned last month.

"This is potentially going to mar the WW100 commemorations", he said.

"I understand that this has been described as the cornerstone of a number of WW100 projects."

"I think the families of WW100 veterans have been let down here by the Government and this is just another example of the IT failures that have bedevilled this Government but also I think it's a failure of leadership within the Department of Internal Affairs to recognise there were problems here and solve them earlier."

Acting Chief Archivist and General Manager Archives NZ John Roberts said more than 85 per cent of the records had been digitised and 46 per cent were currently viewable online free of charge.

While Archives NZ was committed to publishing online all of the personnel records via 'click to view' to meet the anniversary deadline; "until this process is complete the records will still be available on request" Mr Roberts said.

However that records by request service usually had a 48 hour turn-around and carried a $25 charge.

Mr Roberts said Archives NZ was still confident of meeting the August deadline, "at this stage".

NZ's First World War Service Records online:

* When finished will comprise of 160,742 files, which range in size from three pages to over 600
* In total this amounts to some four million digital images.
* The first file published online, on December 1, 2009, was that of Henry William Bourne Palin, the great uncle of English comedian, actor, writer, and television presenter Michael Palin.
* That file and 73,373 others may be viewed by searching for a person's name in the Archives NZ online catalogue Archway at: archway.archives.govt.nz