The Archives will issue any record that your agency controls through our Lending Service, with the following exceptions:

• Fragile records - If the records are very fragile, the Archives may ask you to send a staff member to look at them on the Archives premises, rather than risk damaging them in transit. If this doesn’t suit you, the Archives may be able to send you a copy instead of the original, or you may need to wait while preservation staff repair or make special transport containers for the records. This will apply if your record is already receiving special preservation treatment from the Archives. Archives staff will consult with you about the best way to give you access to your fragile records.
• Records over 30 years old - The Archives will not issue records that are over 30 years of age, except in very limited circumstances. These records are more likely to be fragile and are available for access by the public. You will need to come to the Archives to look at them, or order a copy.

If the Archives asks you to come to its premises to see the records, and the records are not open to the public, you will need to provide a completed Official Access Authorisation form for each person who will look at the records.

If you need to look at records already transferred to the Archives, you will have to authorise a particular person to make requests for records. Ideally only one person in an agency should be authorised to make lending requests – this will prevent two or three people contacting the Archives looking for the same file. Please keep the Archives informed about who is authorised to request records on behalf of your agency.

If your agency has a high volume of lending requests please group these so we can respond to them more efficently.

To request a record, you need to know the record’s series, consignment (or transfer job) and item or file numbers (control symbols). This information is on the consignment lists you sent to the Archives when the record was transferred. Some Archives offices will also ask for the box number as the consignment list may be indexed by box number.

If you don’t have copies of the consignment lists, or you don’t know the consignment number, please contact the Archives. We keep copies of all consignment lists and we can provide an electronic copy, or a photocopy, of these lists. There is a charge for this service. The Archives also charges for retrieving some categories of records, such as temporary records, and may charge you for looking for records that don’t exist.

You can submit a lending request by:

• logging on to the National Archives RecordSearch system and filling out a lending request form. To do this you must be the authorised person in your agency and have a RecordSearch login. If you do not have a RecordSearch login, please contact us.
• Emailing or faxing us with a list of records you would like to borrow, including the following information:
  • agency name
  • name of the officer authorised to make lending requests
  • the branch or section you are calling from
  • your telephone number
  • the series and consignment number of the records you want
  • the item or file number, title or description
  • part numbers if applicable and 
  • how you intend to collect the items

Although we prefer these forms of contact, if you have an urgent request for a small number of records you may also contact us by telephone. If you do need to telephone a records request, please have the record information set out above ready when you call.

The Archives aims to have normal requests for records ready within 24 hours. Some Archives offices have repositories in more than one location. This, and factors such as the timing of courier runs, can affect the response time. You may want to contact your nearest Archives office to find out more detail about their response times. Some offices may advise you on the best time of day to make a lending request.

Urgent requests

For urgent requests during business hours, the Archives may be able to have your records ready for you to pick up in one hour. Some Archives offices have repositories in more than one location, so not every office can provide a one-hour service. Check with your nearest Archives office for more information. Urgent requests should be telephoned (or you can telephone to alert us that you are faxing an urgent request). If you do not need the records within the hour, but do need them quickly, we will make every effort to have your records ready when you need them. The lending arrangements for official access to records vary depending on the type of record and storage location. Contact the Archives office which holds the record you require for information about their arrangements for urgent requests.

Special format requests

The Archives keeps some kinds of records in special low temperature storage (eg master microfilms, photographs and films). When they are removed from cold storage, these records require an acclimatisation process and slowly adjust to room temperature before the Archives can issue them. For this reason, there is a week turnaround time for lending some special types of records.

Once your records are ready to pick up, you can arrange to have them collected by an authorised courier or person. If you are using a courier, you should  give them specific information about the records they will be picking up, including your ‘CA’ or Commonwealth Agency number. If you are not sure of your agency’s ‘CA’ number, please check with the Archives.

Records will not be issued to anyone who does not have the required authorisation, as the Archives has a responsiblity for the security of records in our custody. If you have requested records which have a national security classification we will notify you of this, however, it is your responsibility to make sure that the person collecting the records has appropriate security clearance. For more infomation on security classifications and clearances, please see The Protective Security Manual released by the Attorney-General's Department.

While your agency is using records that you have retrieved through the Lending Service, you need to take particular care to keep track of them. Return records to the Archives office that issued them to you as soon as you have finished with them. Make sure that you securely pack or wrap the records to prevent damage during transit. If you need to keep records longer than three months, let the Archives know as soon as possible.

Take care that you return only the records that the Archives has issued to you so they can be returned to their series and consignment. (For procedures for new transfers of records see Transferring records to the National Archives.) If you are not sure if a record was retrieved from the Archives, look for a lending label. If the Archives has issued the record to you through the Lending Service, the record will have a label on the back with details of the request on it.

To contact the National Archives Lending Service in your state, see Lending service addresses.