Open Access:

• if by open access, you mean open stacks, none of the archives are open access - that is, researchers can't browse the shelves in the way you can in a public library. They are stored in locked, staff-only stacks, and produced to researchers in an invigilated search room. The reference library and historic city directories, subject files (newspaper cuttings and other collected printed sources re local history & heritage topics), and finding aids are all browsable in the search room.
• if you mean accessible to researchers on request, then most of our holdings are open access. There are legislated exceptions for records holding personal information (e.g. police, school) but these have defined closure periods and will eventually be made available according to the schedule. Donors of private records may also put reasonable closure periods on some of those records. Ideally, those closures are agreed and documented at the time of deposit, and regularly reviewed.
• Our intention is to make as much of our holdings available as possible, as soon as possible, in as many ways as possible. We have to balance this with legal requirements, usually for the protection of personal information. But there are some permitted exceptions to these closures as well, for the purposes of historical research.

The idea of open access has another aspect for archives: because archival holdings are unique by nature, the original records can't be borrowed/consulted outside the archives, and unlike library holdings, copies aren't (usually) held elsewhere. So 'open access' doesn't only include direct personal access to the records: it also means access to the information in the records for enquirers who aren't able to visit in person, by having an archivist available to research and respond to enquiries. And (work in progress) having finding aids and research guides online helps as well.

Available digitally:

• Oak Bay Archives holds a couple of fonds with some born-digital content. This is stored in electronic format but is not publicly available online. These records may include personal information, confidential business information that is still under a closure period, or copyright material. Some of this material can be made available to individual researchers in digital format.
• "Available digitally" may also mean "available online without having to specifically request it" - in this case, very little of Oak Bay's material is available online so far, only the selection of digital images of historic photographs here. In addition to any of the restrictions above that may apply, digitizing archival material has rapidly become a whole field in itself - it's not as simple as taking a photo of something and sticking it on the internet. Every image needs to be accompanied by appropriate metadata, or information about both the original and the copy. Remember that when you look at a digital image of an old photo online, that is not the same as looking at the original print (or negative) itself. There are some kinds of information you will not be able to obtain from the digital surrogate, and some things will be clearer in the digital image than in the original.

A digital archive is something else again. It may be an archive of born-digital related records, but very often this term is used to describe an online collection of thematically related, often born-analogue, historic records from disparate origins.