When NAA has a large quantity of digital records that are in the "open period" (available to the public), it will store this in a Web-based access repository managed by internal IT, not archives.

"All the paper in a building could be 5TB so we could store it on a couple of RAID boxes," Pearson said. "It's quite amazing when you look at the benefits and in the long run it will be cheaper to manage. From a risk perspective, it's a good thing."

From what's traditionally been a paper paradigm, McKinnon described going digital as "a brave new world for archiving".