Ray Edmondson is Director of Archive Associates, a consultancy company (www.archival.com.au). He began his career in archiving in the Film Section of the National Library of Australia in 1968, ultimately becoming the Section’s Director. Described as the ‘moving spirit’ behind the creation of the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) in 1984, he served as its Deputy Director until early 2001, then becoming its first honorary Curator Emeritus. In 1987 he was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his professional work, and in 2003 received the Silver Light Award of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA) for career achievement. Ray writes, speaks and teaches internationally within the audiovisual archiving field, and currently holds office in two of its federations (SEAPAVAA and AMIA). Since 1996 he has been involved in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program, authoring its current General Guidelines, and presently serves on its national, regional and international committees. His latest monograph Audiovisual Archiving: Philosophy and Principles was published by UNESCO in 2004. Closer to home, Ray is Secretary of the advocacy group Archive Forum, and working on his doctorate at Charles Sturt University.