LTO - an Anthropology

The anthropology of a workplace: the Victorian Land Titles Office
Author Evie Katz B.A. (Hons.) August 1996 Latrobe University

Extract from the Study

Chapter 8

Technological change: symbol and substance

Background

From its earliest beginnings the Land Titles Office used the materials and techniques of clerical work of the late nineteenth century. Certificates of title were penned on parchment made of sheepskin; later, paper, pens, ink, and rubber stamps were used. It was possible to identify the work of individual clerks according to their skill and style of penmanship. When typewriters were introduced into the Office the skill of penmanship decreased in importance. By 1961, when a large Xerox 1385 camera was purchased and titles could be mass produced by machine, the skill was obsolete.

In the area of draughting, hand facets were replaced by electric facets, and later, by electronic hand calculators, but such equipment was often in short supply. A retired draughting officer recalls:

The sub-Division section in my day had one electric calculator which was rostered between all of us - you could have it for one hour per day. At other times we used hand facets, electric facets, and dyeline machines. Juniors were given a parallel rule which cost three pounds, the equivalent of a junior draughtsman's weekly wage.
(Retired draughting officer)

Photocopying technology took over the need to draw charts. Thus, new technology has continually been introduced throughout the history of the Titles Office. The 1973-74 land boom in Melbourne meant an enormous increase in the volume of work for the Office. The options for coping with such upswings appeared to be to rationalise procedures, hire more staff, or introduce labour and time-saving technology.

Several reviews conducted during the 1970s recommended the technological option. The Victorian state government subsequently decided to computerise land information in the state. In the Titles Office this decision was translated into a project called The Titles Office Modernization Program, initiated in June 1981, with the core of the program being the automation of the Register. Below is a chronological outline of recent technology developments within the Office.

Table 8.1
Timeline of Titles Office Modernization Program

1970s Review teams examine LTO processes. Recommendation to automate the Register.
1981 The establishment of the Modernization Unit
1983 The LANDATA corporate plan includes Land Titles Office participation
1984 The first computerisation project - URDS
1985 The Land Titles Office moves from the Law Department to the Department of Property and Services.
1987 The Public Enquiry System goes on-line
1988 Land Information Centres established in regional Victoria (made possible by the new technology)
1989 Strata Titles conversion - Strata Search launched.
1989 Letter from the workplace union representatives to the director of Information Services (13 September) expressing concern that "neither the letter nor the spirit of the Technological Change Agreement has been followed." (on the subject of networking)
1990 The Department of Property and Services is disbanded. The Land Titles Office rejoins the Department of Justice (formerly the Law Department), while LANDATA goes to the Dept. of Finance. Funding cuts continue. People leaving jobs not replaced. Remote searching introduced.
1992 Funding cuts continue. Redundancy 'packages' offered to public servants. Computer titles introduced. Imaging system on line.

A 'Modernization Unit' was formed whose specific task was to computerise the manual tracking system, known as the Progress Book, which kept track of unregistered dealings as they passed through various sections of the Office. With the manual system, a team of clerks entered dealings as they were lodged, and assigned them a number according to their date of lodgement. The computer tracking system, known as the Unregistered
Dealings System, and henceforth referred to as URDS, automated the manual system, and in so doing, changed a work process which had played a key role in the Office culture. By 1989 lodging clerks were using computer terminals, and were partitioned off from each other. Interaction was now limited to individual clerk and individual client, mediated by a computer terminal.

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