During the first two weeks in her new post, Sylvie Gervais says she knew more about Bermuda of the 1890s than Bermuda of 1998.

"I was preparing the Princess Louise exhibit for the Bermuda National Gallery,'' the Bermuda Government Archivist said."I had gone through most of the photos in the collection from the last century and it was raining outside!'' She is here to fill the post of archivist while archivist-designate Carla Hayward completes a Master's degree in records and archives management at University College of London.

Ms Hayward was the long-time assistant to John Adams who left the post early last year.

"I'm here as a consultant for two years,'' she told The Royal Gazette this week. "When Carla returns, we will work together for three months before I return to the National Archives of Canada.'' Ms Gervais remarked at the huge differences and similarities between the two archives.

"The NAC has over 600 people in Ottawa while here there are only five,'' she said, adding that there is only a difference in scale -- not in the kinds of things the two bodies do.

"When I left I was a photographic archivist, with a little audio and visual as well,'' she said. "But I've worked all over. I've worked in Government and for private archives.'' "It's funny,'' she added. "The last thing I did in Canada is the first thing I did in Bermuda.'' The department is charged with keeping the primary records of the Bermuda Government including such minutiae as employee records, minutes of meetings, and customs records.

It also preserves records of historical value and arrange for conservation treatment when necessary.

And the archives also hold special collections from associations and societies and even from personal collections.

Archivists are specially trained in not only preserving these records but periodically they must decide whether or not to discard them.

Ms Gervais described the Bermuda Archives as on a "really good footing'' but she will be working on improvements to operations in the department.

"I was particularly impressed with the environmental control, reference services, and records management which is really strong,'' she added.

There is a plan to computerise the records management of the archives which will give Government users and the general public easier access to the holdings.

"Its a very good manual system, but the computer system will be good for faster access,'' she added. "It will go a long way to develop the distribution of Government records.'' Writing and maintaining quality descriptive standards is central to keeping the computer system manageable and user friendly.

Other plans include a disaster management plan, acquiring additional storage space, and revising the retention schedules of Government records.

The archivist has an advisory role in maintaining the records and reports to the archives committee and the records committee.

Customs declaration forms will not need to be kept as long as the official signed agreement from an international conference.

The advent of the computer has increased the volume of paper records that archives all over the world keep.

"We are used to keeping paper,'' she said. "But now software and other electronic media will be a challenge. We will be forced to question how to keep it all.'' "We need to do a big survey,'' Ms Gervais added. "We can only recommend to other departments. We will have to discuss standardisation within Government with Computer Systems and Services, though. We will, however, keep the records no matter what the format they are kept on.'' Ms Gervais has a certificate of Archival Records Keeping from The University of Montreal, and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Ottawa.

She was involved in Code of Ethics committee of the International Council of Archives, and in addition to her regular work, she made contributions to Canada's national, provincial, and local archival communities.

"Bermuda has an excellent paper based storage system which will put it in good shape for the future,'' she said.