Friday, March 18, 2016

Federation of Australian Historical Societies – Survey of Australian Historical Societies

The Federation of Australian Historical Societies (FAHS) represents approximately 1000 community history and heritage societies and museums and their 100,000 members across Australia. These volunteers do hugely valuable work to collect, preserve, publish and promote our history and heritage.
The preservation, dissemination and promotion of local historical knowledge presents significant challenges in the digital era, and the survey will assist in identifying services required to support societies in this endeavour.
This information provided will assist the FAHS and State umbrella bodies in their work of promoting society needs and interests, and of seeking recognition and support from government and the community.
This first stage aims to provide an overview of membership numbers, premises, the contribution of volunteers, local and state government support, collections, the use of computers, and society activities.
This will be followed by two more surveys in 2016 which will focus on collection management including digitisation and accessibility, and on governance matters such as succession planning, financial management and strategic planning.