Use ArchivesGateway

To access ArchivesGateway, you must be set up as a user either by QSA or by the Senior Agency Administrator for your public authority.

Multi-factor authentication

ArchivesGateway uses Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and requires all users to provide both their login details and a six-digit security code that refreshes every few seconds.

MFA security codes can be generated using the Google Authenticator app on your mobile device or through a SMS system using your mobile number.

This MFA is required for every login, regardless of whether you are on a secure Queensland Government network or not.

There are four user roles in ArchivesGateway:

• Security Administrator
• Senior Agency Administrator
• Agency Administrator
• Agency Contact

Subject to access permissions applied by public authorities, all users can search their records in ArchivesGateway, view digital and digitised records and submit Reading Room Requests. More information about access permissions and how they affect access in conjunction with record access classifications is below.

If your public authority is smaller and only has minimal records management staff, you may not need all four user roles. However, all public authorities with public records at QSA must have at least one Security Administrator and one Senior Agency Administrator user in ArchivesGateway (these can be the same person if appropriate).

Security Administrator

Security Administrators can:

• assign/manage access permissions to Agency Administrators and Agency Contacts
• authorise access classifications applied to records
• search and view the metadata of all records that have an access classification of non-sensitive, sensitive, and highly sensitive
• view digital records with an access classification of non-sensitive and sensitive
• request to view digital and physical records with an access classification of highly sensitive through the File Issue service

In addition to the above functions, Security Administrators will have Senior Agency Administrator permissions in ArchivesGateway by default and will therefore be able to perform Senior Agency Administrator functions as outlined in the Senior Agency Administrator role below.

Security Administrators must be nominated by your public authority’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Deputy Director-General (DDG), or authorised delegate for public records access under the Public Records Act 2023 using the Security Administrator nomination form (DOCX, 184.2 KB).

A maximum of two Security Administrators is recommended per public authority. Any new nomination form/s supplied to QSA will supersede and revoke any prior versions of the nomination form submitted to QSA.

Once QSA receives the nomination form, the Security Administrator for your public authority will be set up in ArchivesGateway by QSA.

The nominated Security Administrator will then receive a welcome to ArchivesGateway email providing them with their login details (if they are a new user), a link to ArchivesGateway and information to get them started.

For more information about Security Administrators, see the Access Classification Labels and Permissions in ArchivesGateway – Digital Archive public authority Toolkit (DOCX, 89 KB) . For additional information on access permissions see the User permissions section below.

Once set-up, Security Administrator/s should review and grant access permissions for public authority staff with access to ArchivesGateway. An annual review of users and permissions is recommended to ensure ongoing security.

Senior Agency Administrator

Senior Agency Administrators can:

• assign general permissions to Agency Administrators and Agency Contacts
• add ‘locations’ to your public authority (i.e. business units or administration areas)
• search and view the metadata of all your public authority’s records at QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• view digital and digitised records maintained by QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• request records through File Issue and the Reading Room (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• submit Search requests
• propose and manage Transfers to QSA

The Senior Agency Administrator must be nominated by your public authority’s CEO, DDG, or authorised delegate for public records access under the Public Records Act 2023 using the Senior Agency Administrator nomination form (DOCX, 148.2 KB).

A maximum of two Senior Agency Administrators is recommended per public authority. Any new nomination forms supplied to QSA will supersede and revoke any prior versions of the nomination form submitted to QSA.

Once QSA receives the nomination form, the Senior Agency Administrator account for your public authority will be set up in ArchivesGateway by QSA.

The nominated Senior Agency Administrator will then receive a welcome to ArchivesGateway email, providing them with their login details (if they are a new user), a link to ArchivesGateway and information to get them started.

Once set-up, the Senior Agency Administrator/s should create additional users for public authority staff who require access to ArchivesGateway and general permissions can be assigned. An annual review of users and permissions is recommended to ensure ongoing security.

For information on general permissions see the User permissions section below.

Agency Administrator

Agency Administrators are managed by your public authority’s Senior Agency Administrator and can:

• assign general permissions to Agency Contacts
• search and view the metadata of all your public authority’s records at QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• view digital and digitised records maintained by QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• request access to records in the Reading Room at QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)

If Agency Administrators have been given permission by the Senior Agency Administrator, they can also:

• request records through File Issue (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• submit Search requests
• propose and manage Transfers to QSA

Agency Contact

Agency Contacts are managed by your public authority’s Senior Agency Administrator and can:

• search and view the metadata of all your public authority’s records at QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• view digital and digitised records maintained by QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• request access to records in the Reading Room at QSA (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)

If Agency Contacts have been given permission by the Senior Agency Administrator or the Agency Administrator they can:

• request records through File Issue (subject to access permissions granted by the Security Administrator)
• submit Search requests
• propose and manage Transfers to QSA

Agency Contacts cannot assign permissions to any other users.

Authorised Delegate

If any of the user roles above have also been nominated by the public authority’s chief executive as an Authorised Delegate for public records access for your public authority, they can:

• set and change Restricted Access Periods
• grant access to restricted records.

More information about Authorised Delegates for public records access can be found in the Determining access for public records at QSA (Restricted Access Notices & Restricted Access Periods). (PDF, 277.8 KB)

All public authority users will need to be assigned specific permissions that govern what tasks they can complete within ArchivesGateway. The permissions a user may have consist of:

• access permissions
• general permissions

Access permissions

Access permissions are assigned to ensure that access to public records and metadata is only granted to users with the approved and allocated permissions, in accordance with the access classifications that have been applied to records.

The three levels of access permissions include:

• access to non-sensitive and unclassified records
• access to sensitive records
• access to highly sensitive records

Access permissions in ArchivesGateway are managed by the Security Administrator role/s (see user roles section above). All public authorities with records at QSA must have a Security Administrator.

For more information about access classifications and permissions, see the Access Classification Labels and Permissions in ArchivesGateway – Digital Archive public authority Toolkit (DOCX, 89 KB) .

General permissions

General permissions include transfer and file issue permissions.

Transfer permissions allow users to propose and manage transfers of digital and physical public records to QSA on behalf of their public authority. File issue permissions allow users to submit search requests and file issue requests on behalf of their public authority. Depending on access permissions granted, a user may not be able to request records with access classifications above their set access permissions.

Note that each user can be assigned different general permissions in ArchivesGateway based on their user role and their 'location'. However, users should be assigned the same access permissions across ‘locations’ and roles.

Assigning locations

All public authority users can be assigned to different 'locations' within your public authority, where locations are specific business units or administrative areas.

A user can also be assigned different general permission levels based on their ‘location’.

ArchivesGateway allows you to view your public authority’s digital and digitised records and the metadata of records controlled by their public authority at QSA.

Depending on user permissions, this includes:

• public records the public authority has inherited from another public authority as part of a machinery-of-government change
• all restricted records, including those where the metadata is also restricted
• public records belonging to specific business units or areas if set up as separate 'locations' or ‘agencies’
• public records of other public authorities if you or your area are responsible for managing records of more than one public authority or business unit.

In ArchivesGateway, you can see a list of all Series, Items and Representations associated with your public authority and search them by keyword. Digital and digitised public records managed by QSA can also be viewed within ArchivesGateway. The records you can see depend on your level of access permissions granted by the Security Administrator.

You will be able to see a range of metadata, such as series/item titles, dates, descriptions etc, to give context to the material.

If you cannot find the record you are looking for, you can submit a search request to QSA.

QSA uses an item and representation model for describing and managing records.

This model allows a record's metadata (the item), and the different physical and digital versions (representations) to be managed together.

Each public record transferred to QSA has an 'item' and one or more physical or digital 'representations' in the system.

Items

The item captures the intellectual description of the record. It includes the metadata such as the title of the record, the restricted access period applied, the date it was created, which public authority is responsible for the record etc.

The item is the information about the record and what can be seen in the ArchivesSearch catalogue (if the metadata is published).

Note: In ArchivesGateway the term record is used to refer to the item.

Representations

Representations are the digital or physical versions of the record.

For example, an item could have:

• a physical representation (the record on the shelf at QSA)
• a digital representation (a born-digital file transferred to QSA or a scanned version of the whole or part of the physical record previously transferred to QSA)
• a microfilm representation
• multiple digital representations for each of the scanned images from the original file.

The representation model allows for flexibility when describing an item.

When ownership or responsibility for public records is transferred to another public authority as part of a machinery-of-government (MOG) or other administrative change, the new ownership will be reflected in ArchivesGateway.

While the transfer of responsibility is in progress, records in ArchivesGateway will show an 'under movement' note against them.

There is a 3-month grace period where both the preceding and succeeding public authority can:

• view and search the records in ArchivesGateway
• transfer any permanent value public records to QSA
• submit File Issue, Search and Reading Room requests for the records involved.

Once the grace period is finished, the preceding public authority will no longer be able to see or access the records in ArchivesGateway. If access is required, they will need to request access from the succeeding public authority. If the records are open to the public, they can be accessed at QSA.

If the succeeding public authority is a new public authority, delegations for public records access will need to be authorised by their Chief Executive Officer using a Public records access delegation of authority form (DOCX, 184.5 KB) or a valid deed of delegation regarding continuation of delegations for the new public authority. The authorised delegate  information is then managed within ArchivesGateway by QSA.

For further information on MOG changes and the transfer of ownership for records, see:

• Searching records user guide (PDF, 1.9 MB) for information on how public records affected by a MOG change will display in ArchivesGateway.
• Manage and provide access to records during a MOG or administrative change for more information on how preceding and succeeding public authorities can manage and arrange access to public records both public authorities need.

ArchivesGateway user guides

The following user guides provide step by step instructions to do the various tasks and activities in ArchivesGateway:

• Managing users and locations (PDF, 1.6 MB)
• File Issue requests (PDF, 3.2 MB)
• Reading Room requests (PDF, 1.4 MB)
• Search requests (PDF, 1.9 MB)
• Transferring records (PDF, 2.1 MB)