Abstracts (in order of presentations)
Manfred MATZKA (Wien/AT) "e-government 2.0"
eGovernment is a synonym for a modern and innovative state in which quality, rust and speed are central elements. eGovernment includes the totality of ll electronic public administration services for the Austrian people. With it the access to and the contact with public authorities become easier. More than 80 percent of the enterprises already use eGovernment services, more and more citizens are electronic customers. The integration of all citizens, data protec-tion management and customer orientation have the uppermost priority.
The Austrian eGovernment strategy is based on basic concepts, base components and open standards, which serve as guidelines for the implementation of electronic services and the creation of the underlying infrastructure.
The development and implementation of electronic public services is one of he priorities of the Austrian Federal Government. The government plan principally states that every citizen in every community should have access to all forms of eGovernment at the federal, provincial and local levels. Secure communication and transactions and confidential handling of perso-nal data have top priority.
eGovernment will do more than just improve services, save costs, make work processes more efficient, and enable independent work. It will also make communication between citizens and businesses and the government more transparent, and open up new possibilities for the way information is presented and acceed.
Stefano VITALI (Bologna/IT)
“Digital re-mediation: archives, archivists, researchers and the future of an old professi-on”
Archivists and archival institutions have always played a crucial role as mediators between the documents they have in custody and the users who seek archival materials and wish to have access to those documents. The archival mediation has been exercised both by the pro-duction of finding aids and other tools of description and by face-to-face interaction through the reference services in the reading rooms of archival institutions.
The advent of digital technologies and the Internet have radically transformed conditions and tools of such mediation. From one side, in recent years, the public of archives have increased and changed as a consequence of social, cultural and technological transformations, including the growing presence of archival materials on the Web. From the other side, the “place” whe-re archival mediation now occurs is largely the Web. Face-to-face interaction have been re-placed by remote mediation. Archival finding aids which users previously consulted in the reading rooms with the assistance of the reference archivists are now produced in digital for-mat and published on the Web. Structure, organization of information and language of search tools have had to be adapted to the new media and the new environment where they are con-sulted. Archival materials are directly accessed in virtual reading rooms which are radically diverse from the real ones. Instead of reducing the mediation layers between users and archi-val materials, the Web has increased them adding others layers of mediation such as the tech-nological and communication ones.
How are archivists and archival institutions trying to face that transformations which, borrow-ing a concept developed by the new media theorists Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, can be defined as a re-mediation process? And what they should do in order to adapt their role of mediators to the environment of the WWW in which it is now mainly played? And how can Web 2.0 technologies help to establish new forms of interactions with “old” and “new” users and the general public?
The way in which archivists will answer to those question will be crucial for the future of their old profession.
Contact: vitali.stefano@gmail.com (Soprintendenza archivistica per l'Emilia-Romagna)
Manfred THALLER (Köln/DE)
„Preserving forever in digital times. The mandate of the archives between the benefits of col-laborative editing and the pitfalls of digital long-term preservation“
The curator of a memory institution always faces contradictory challenges: Providing optimal access to heritage documents endangers them; keeping them save also keeps them from public knowledge. Modern media in the world of the archives have frequently been seen as a solution to that conflict, as they allow the strict preservation of the originals while providing optimal access to the digital surrogates.
Digital surrogates, however, seem to be rather fragile in a new way and keeping them avai-lable forever creates completely new challenges – even more severe, if the digital content is not a surrogate, but the original, as in the case of “born digital documents” of modern administrative processes.
The first part of the presentation describes the technical concepts underlying the just started project “Digitales Archiv NRW” , which combines a state wide platform for the long term preservation of the content of memory institutions with a platform for the maximum availabil-ity of that content for the public.
While the goals of providing the easiest possible access to cultural heritage objects and kee-ping them safe forever seem to exclude each other, the goals of providing the highest possible quality of metadata allowing access to their digital representations and providing that access at the same time now, and not a few centuries in the future, when limited funding finally cat-ches up with the amount of source material available, are frequently considered to be even more con-tradictory.
The presentation continues by the description of the solutions prepared for the resolution of that conflict in the context of Monasterium and some projects using in the meantime the same software platform.
This introduces a final dilemma, however: If we accept, that the information needed to access a body of source material is added to it constantly, in a process which relies on many contri-bu-tors, the digital surrogates, which we wanted to preserve for ever, are slowly accumulating additional information. This seems to be directly opposed to the notion of keeping a digital surro-gate or original safe and unchanged forever.
We, therefore, conclude with the model for the integration of a collaborative projects like Monasterium into a preservation concept like North-Rhine Westphalia’s Digital Archive.
Section 1: Current and future Challenges for Archives on the Web:
Gerhart MARCKHGOTT (Linz/AT)
„Vom Diener zum Dienstleister“ - „From Servant to Service Provider“
Thoughts and ideas on the new self-awareness of archives (in Austria)
1. Servant: A member of the domestics, dependent worker in charge of tasks ill-befitting one’s rank
Service Provider : An economic entity providing services (an economic good for the fulfil-ment of demand rather than for production)
2. A servant is directed by others, service providers are self-contained
3. „There are some who are in darkness and the others are in light, and you see the ones in brightness, those in darkness drop from sight“. (Bertolt Brecht)
Until only a few decades ago the existence of archives was unquestioned and economic thinking outrageous. Since the 19th century a scientific archivist defined his concept of science through history; hence scientific achievements needed academic ground. Whilst scholars at the universities enjoyed their prestige, the „ones left behind“ in the archives toiled in the dark to preserve and prepare those very sources the scholars gained fresh glory from.
By the end of the 20th century several factors coincided to smash that constellation:
- The primacy of contemporary history in the public perception
- The change in public administration towards becoming more customer-oriented
- Task reforms and (most recently) the crisis of public budgets
- Changes in the organisational set-up of universities and the IfÖG (Institute for Austrian His-torical Research)
- IT
Currently a lot of archives are undergoing a phase of reorientation: Their raison d’être, their main tasks and strategies have to be readjusted to present-day conditions in terms of economy, society and technology. While the reasons for their existence as well as the main tasks are determined by the buyer (who are themselves often deeply involved in change processes), the strategic direction, i.e. the long-term focus set apart from day-to-day work can be determined by the archive itself.
Determining factors (mostly unbiased!):
• Direct responsibility – Fulfilling of tasks
• To drift aimlessly – To steer actively
• Administration-oriented – Customer-oriented
• Research - Indexing
• Profitability - Implicitness
• Digitisation – Handling originals
• Internet – Reading room
• Island - Team
There is no one-size-fits-all. No one knows how things will continue to develop, and that is why it’s even more important to become aware of one’s own position in order to clearly make out one’s future options.
Alina PAVELESCU (Bucuresti/RO)
“Learning from others' experiences: the debates around the public access to documents in electronic format at the National Archives of Romania”
This presentation deals with the issue of building an electronic system at the National Ar-chives of Romania in order to facilitate the public access to historical records in electronic format. We will present the managerial challenge represented by this kind of task due to the necessity to rebuild the administrative infrastructure of the institution, to resize some archival procedures or to rapidly change others, to change professional mentalities and the training priorities of the Romanian archivists.
We will also deal with the legal aspects concerning the public access to historical records in postcommunist Romania and with the legal constraints at work in the process of building an electronic system to facilitate the public access to historical records.
The focusing point of our discussion will concern the Romanian debates around the applicati-on of the international archival standards, seen as polemics “local versus global” or even “tra-dition versus modernity”.
Marta NOGUEIRA (Lisboa/PT)
„Archives in Web 2.0: new contexts, new opportunities (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube)“
Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com), Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) and YouTube (http://www.YouTube.com) are already used by ar-chives in the informal Web 2.0 reality. This new contexts and tools allows for new types of interac-tion, new opportunities regarding institutional promotion, new ways of providing their services and making their heritage known to the community. In common with the trend in general use of Web 2.0 applications, their use by archives is also on the increase. The effects are significant and have implications in areas crucial to Archives. The impacts vary and de-pend on the type of applications, their characteristics and functionalities, and the way they are used and kept. One of the immediate effects of the use of these applications is the growing number of public they reach (visitors, potential users or actual users). This effect represents an extremely significant quantitative element to cultural organisations seeking to enlarge and diversify their users and to raise their public recognition far beyond their current number of users. Apart from the increase in the number of users reached, there are other less immediate but nonetheless beneficial effects from the use of Web 2.0 applications: increased importance of the archive to the user; increased involvement of users and improved communication of the archives with such users in new dy-namic ways to engage; improvement in the archive’s image; potential of new interactive services to raise the level and quality of the service pro-vided; greater ability to find quick solutions to meet the needs of users; improvement in shared knowledge and collaboration; diversification of users; varied access of its collections, increased awareness and additional information about collections; improved relationships and links in the sector - improvement in communication among archivists (beneficial effects that can be extended to libraries and librarians). However, there nonetheless exists a degree of reluctance to the use of these applications by some archives that choose either to reject or postpone their adoption of such applications due to their lack of knowledge of them, or their reluctance to recognise these applications as ‘official’ or valid. The informal nature of Web 2.0 seems to cause unease among institutions which might be said to operate within a formal sphere; such institutions do not consider them to offer sufficient added value to justify the necessary allocation of resources and effort to implement them, and point to the pressing na-ture of other priorities.
Apart from the resistance arising from the lack of knowledge or non-recognition of Web 2.0, the use of these applications also has a negative side. Data protection of social network users may not always be guaranteed, there is also the danger of giving access to data to third parties with commercial motives, and the fact that some of these applications, which are now free of charge, may not be toll-free in the future. Such questions are not yet totally clarified, nor can they be easily answered, neither by individual users nor institutional user. There are also other issues: the possibility of anonymous users interacting in an abusive fashion with these institutions, as well as unwelcome associations with certain religious and / or political groups or sym-bols; applications that are time-consuming; applications may be used under the name of an or-ganisation.
Each application represents an individual context of use and allows a set of specific functionalities within a new rationale of democratisation in the production of content and access thereto, through interactive and collaborative platforms where anyone can be an author, publish and access content freely. The use of Web 2.0 applications by archives is best under-taken with de-fined strategies and objectives. While objectives are often more easily identi-fied, the strategies of use that generate them are defined in a more or a less clear manner, de-pending on institu-tions’ global vision of their engagement with Web 2.0. The success or fai-lure in the use of Web 2.0 applications is dependent on a number of factors and the possible negative aspects arising from the use of these applications do not seem to outweigh their po-tential advantages.
Katharina M. BERGMAYR (Wien/AT)
„Digital sozial? Chancen und Herausforderungen sozialer Netzwerke für Bibliotheken und Archive“ - “Digital social? Chances and Challenges of Social Networks for Libraries and Ar-chives”
Libraries and archives still have the image of dusty institutions, with staff in old-fashioned coats and big glasses who discipline users with a loud “Shhh!” It is about time for an image change, we need to show our visitors that we do not want to keep the collected knowledge to ourselves and in obscurity.
In times when the group of so-called digital natives is increasing steadily, many people think that everything can be found on the web and that our services are no longer required. To teach them better, information services must go to wherever their users are: on the web, or better: on the web 2.0. Numerous studies show that the internet is an integrated part of everyday life. Most of all social networks, such as Facebook, You Tube, Twitter & Co. have a steadily in-creasing number of members and visitors. The signing up of libraries and archives to these so-cial networks is connected to challenges: sometimes conflicting privacy regulations and copy-rights may create grey areas in law, a high initial effort and the continuous maintenance and updates take time and often require the help of colleagues who are not conversant with public relations or the digital services of the institution. Nevertheless, we must not underestimate the chances that social networks offer to information services: we can invalidate preconceptions and stereotypes. New, young and innovative users can be approached, and more importantly, retained. We are present not only in the real, but also in the virtual world, where we need to take care of our identity by ourselves and not leave it in charge of our users. The information we provide for our users is much more direct and so is the feedback we get. Moreover, one of the biggest chances is the additional public relations at only little extra costs. Of course, a criti-cal analysis of the networks on offer is essential. Not every hype needs to be followed. The institution must position itself in suitable networks and fill them with individual and dis-tinct contents.
Section 2: Archival Cooperation in Europe:
Heidemarie SPECHT (St. Pölten/AT) “The European Network on Archival Cooperation (E-NArC)”
ENArC is a project submitted for the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013, it will last 4 ½ years and joins 14 partners from 10 European countries.
ENArC is aimed at effectively establishing and gradually expanding a European network for written cultural heritage, which is supposed to strengthen the historical memory of Europe’s countries and cultures by the means of developing innovative strategies.
It is most of all Europe’s numerous archival institutions that are to be considered the guardi-ans of historical memory. All information kept within archives documents the birth and growth of Europe and constitutes the basis of the continent’s identity and that of its countries, people and culture. However, making use of these unique records has so far been a restricted business. The purpose of the ENArC project is to offer all European citizens comprehensive and easy access to their historical memory via the Internet.
The project has following objectives:
1) Establishing and expanding the already existing network of ICARUS
- Strengthening the international cooperation by
improving the communication between the institutions
developing common strategies for making the written cultural heritage available
coordinating individual projects and initiatives
- Linking the Neighbourhood Programme
2) Continuous exchange of know-how and experiences
through project meetings, national workshops, conferences, experts exchange-programmes, education and training programmes, communication platforms and the inclusion of new part-ners within the network (Linking the Neighbourhood Programme)
3) Digitisation and indexing activities of the participating partners
- Increasing the amount of digital content on national or content-related portals, on European archive portals (such as APEnet) and on Europeana
- Developing innovative technical standards for searching and processing historical sources (collaborative tools)
- Testing and using these open-source tools in the context of scientific sub-projects
4) Publicity
- Publishing project results both within the network and to the general public: newsletters, an online communication platform, a project homepage, a project logo, radio and TV broadcasts, printed brochures or printed advertisements in newspapers and magazines
- ENArC Lectures
Luis ENSEÑAT-CALDERON (Madrid/ES) “The European Portal for Documents and Archives: the APEnet project”
APEnet stands for “Archives Portal Europe” and it is a consortium of European state archives administrations, together with the Europeana Foundation with two main objectives, the first one is the creation of an unique access point about the information contained in the European Na-tional Archives, and the second one to make this information consistent with Europeana and available thought it.
The project started in January 2009 and it is envisaged to create the first version of the portal at the beginning of 2011, and the final version the first days of 2011. The overall goal of the AP-Enet project is to gather the existing digital archival content of Europe and make it avail-able on-line, we do not plan to create new digital material, but to work with the existing one. The aim is to build a network of European National Archives that, can offer online access to finding aids covering digitised and not digitised documents, to the individual documents and digital objects through these finding aids, and information about individual collections, the institutions that house them, and their creators.
At the end of the project, information about 16.000.000 multilevel descriptions of documents and archives and 31.000.000 digitised objects kept by National Archives, will be available in the final portal. This huge amount of information will be available in Europeana too, but not all of it: in the Europeana portal the final user will be able to find the digital objects with its de-scriptions, mainly digitalised documents, but the information displayed in the APEnet ga-teway that will not have digital objects associated (documents that are not digitalised) will be only available throughout APEnet.
The chosen standards for APEnet are the Encoded Archival Description (or EAD) for descrip-tions of finding aids, the Encoded Archival Context (or EAC) for descriptions of record crea-tors and the Encoding Archival Guide (or EAG) for descriptions of archival repositories. In the project we do not intend to create new standards, but to follow the existing standards that are applied to Archives.
If one of the pillars of APEner are the archival standards, the other one, as it is stated in the Grant Agreement with the European Commission, is the need to contextualise the content of archives holdings and collections in order to make individual archival objects searchable, accessible, and last but not least – usable.
To finalise, the “Archives Portal Europe” project can be described as a network of National Archives that facilitates access to the existing archival resources across Europe, that contextu-al-ise the content of archives holdings and collections in order to make individual archival objects searchable, accessible, and last but not least – usable.
Gerald MAIER (Stuttgart/DE) „Europeana und Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek - Sachstand und Perspektiven für die Archive“ - “Europeana and Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek – Status Quo and Perspectives for Archives”
The presentation of digitized items on the web and long-term preservation of genuine digital information are major challenges for archives in the information society. In the age of “Google” and “Wikipedia”, inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary online information sys-tems and portals with preferably free of charge and quality-assured access play an increasing role also for digital items and scientific information.
Therefore, on a European level, a boundary-transcending European digital library, called “Eu-ropeana” (www.europeana.eu) is being established. Currently, more than 5 Mio items can be accessed, but only a small part comes from archives and their form of presentation needs still to be further developed. In Germany an interdisciplinary library, called “Deutsche Digitale Biblio-thek” (www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de) was initiated this year. In this library, digital items and scientific information from over 30.000 cultural and scientific institutions will be made accessible. This platform, supported by the Federal Government and Federal States (Länder), will be Germany’s contribution to the Europeana and its aggregator at the same time.
In the presentation the status quo and perspectives of Europeana will be illustrated with regard to the archives and an outlook on the “Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek” will be provided.
Vlatka LEMIĆ (Zagreb/HR) “The ARHiNET-System as a model for archival net-works”
At the end of 2006 Croatian State Archives started the construction of a new archival infor-ma-tion system which should cover all archival functions: keeping, preserving, arranging and use of archival records. ARHiNET is a web application which includes several modules: Se-curity and authorisation, Description and processing of archives, Archival registers and do-cumenta-tion, Creators and holders of archival material, Preservation of archives, Digital con-tents and Education. It is a national archival system in Croatia, recognized by the Ministry of Culture as national project, as well as part of the e-Croatia program, the operational plan of the Govern-ment of the Republic of Croatia.
ARHiNET serves as national integrated system for the exchange of information among institutions that keep archival records and archives portal for all information considering of archi-val material of any type and content (textual, graphic, cartographic, audiovisual, electronic, objects, photographs etc.) relevant for Croatia. It is created on modular basis which enables design and implementation of particular modules as separate projects in a relatively short period of time and their continuous integration into the unique information system. Advantages of such a solution are the creation of an integrated base and a unique system of data protection with minimal costs. ARHiNET system structure comprises of two parts: the open one is intended for external users who want to search databases and catalogues and use other offered services, and the protected part, intended for the employees in archives and other institutions, in which all professional-business processes that define processing and management of archival material are taking place. The program solution consists of several databases organized according to the logic of records type and user type/roles that define access to particular re-cords:
In October 2007 the online Register of archival fonds and collections of the Republic of Croa-tia, which is an integral part of the ARHiNET system, was made publicly available, and onli-ne access was provided to the data on archival records kept in the archives and in other insti-tutions that hold archival material. The Register currently contains data on 15.000 fonds and collec-tions, 70.000 other archival units (series, files and items), 19.500 records creators and 7.000 holders of archival material, more than 4.000 finding aids and 3.000 bibliographical units on archival holdings, as well as well as cca. 7.000 digital copies of particular documents. Data are being entered and continually updated on the basis of submissions by records crea-tors and owners under the supervision of the state archives. Around 750 employees from more than 200 various institutions are currently registered in the system. All institutions included in the project contribute not only to the standardization and improvement of services and prod-ucts provided by archives but also to the creation of unique national archival information net-work.
ARHiNET implementation enhanced the standardization of the work of archival institutions, and enabled establishment of a unique system for managing and using archival material, as well as data integration and exchange among the institutions that keep archival records. Func-tional-ities concerning digital record ensure integration of traditional and digital archives and present concrete solutions based on practical work.
Peter Pavel KLASINC (Trieste/IT) “The "International Institute for Archival Science of Trieste and Maribor (IIAS)"
The "International Institute for Archival Science of Trieste and Maribor– IIAS"
The International Institute for Archival Science – IIAS originated in the Centre for Technical and Professional Problems in Archives founded in 1986 on the initiative of Mr. Peter Pavel Klasinc, Director General of the Pokrajinski Arhiv in Maribor and organizer of the archival meetings in Radenci concerning the former Republic of Yugoslavia. Due to the constantly growing participation of foreign professionals it was decided to establish an international ar-chi-val institute with a special focus on the Balkan-Danube area.
Since 1991 the IIAS has been issuing an annual publication named “Atlanti”. Apart from the annual conferences the IIAS excelled at various initiatives and activities, such as the “Glos-sary of Regional Historical Terminology”, edited in 1995 in German, Italian and Slovene; or else the International Course of Archival Technology held in 1996. A course dedicated to Di-gital Ar-chival Management was offered as early as 1998. As a result of a protocol signed with the Italian Ministry of Culture in October 2005, the International Institute for Archival Science – IIAS has since been headquartered at the seat of the Italian State Archive in Trieste, its second foot-hold still being at the University of Maribor. Today’s 21 member countries include Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, and Ukraine. The official languages are English, Italian and Slovene. The members are appointed by various archives or the respective country’s na-tional archives. In Germany, for instance, the State Archives of Bavaria; in Austria, the Re-gional Archive of the Province of Styria; in Poland, the National Archive of Kracow.
As per the statutes of 2005, the focus of activities of the IIAS is on the following:
• The organisation and promotion of conferences and seminars as well as training cour-ses in the area of archival research.
• The support and promotion of research and publications
• The consolidation of archival sciences within the member countries
• The Annual Meeting (Trieste)
• The publication of research results in the “Atlanti” magazine
The IIAS consists of the following administrative bodies:
• The President and the Assembly of Official Members
• The Director
• The Executive Board
The Director is the supreme representative of the IIAS and is supported by the respective Di-rector of the State Archive in Trieste (currently Grazia Tato). The Executive Board consists of 5 members, among them the Director of the IIAS and his or her deputy as well as the Presi-dent of the Assembly of the Official Members (Antonio Dentoni Litta, Italian Ministry of Culture). The Board supports the Director in his or her tasks. Apart from the official members (one per member country) there are several honorary members who have distinguished them-selves in their services for the IIAS (Pferschy, Kecsemeti, etc.)
One of the IIAS’ ongoing projects is the publication of the magazine “Atlanti”. “Atlanti” is multilingual and of distinct international orientation. The magazine illustrates the entire band-width of archival sciences that are promoted and refined at the institute. The latest editions are available for free download on the IIAS website (www.iias-trieste-maribor.eu).
In 2007 an international Archival School was established to take place in connection with the IIAS Conference in Trieste. It is a postgraduate course, held by various changing lecturers. Their topics address all kinds of present-day problems in archival science, questions of digiti-sa-tion and digital data as well as international archival legislation. Most attendants come from Central and Eastern Europe. A course period stretches over 3 years (3 courses in Au-tumn).
Closely connected with the School is the Annual Meeting of the IIAS in Trieste, the Interna-tional Archival Day, enjoying increased popularity of late. Most recently some 200 people were participating, discussing topics such as archival classes/ archival schools; security and preservation, archives in the 20th century, or archival legislation throughout Europe. At the same time, the institute has acknowledged the need for a common archival “language”, which means creating a terminological glossary in various languages. It keeps on growing and is available online under the heading “Short dictionary of archival terminology". The project is “work in progress", currently including 21 languages.
For some time now there has also been an international fair included in the program of the In-ternational Archival Day. Companies related to archival technology and digitisation are invi-ted to participate and take the opportunity to introduce their products in short presentations. This year’s list includes Metis, Hyperborea and Scope.
By starting an online forum for topics of archival science, the IIAS has become active in the web 2.0 as well. The forum is a virtual platform for members and guests to exchange on cur-rent topics, while the institute urges archivists to participate in order to heighten the level of exper-tise and knowledge. Also, the forum provides for sub-platforms for the Archvial School and the glossary project.
Of course there is an open mailing list for latest news and information. The IIAS cordially in-vites all archivists and colleagues to join the Annual Meeting in Trieste. The institute looks back on many years of experience in exchanging with colleagues from many different coun-tries, also outside the European Union. IIAS is open for cooperation and mutual projects with other institutes and research centres, especially in Europe. Last but not least the new media play an increasingly important part in the IIAS’ activities, and not just in the case of the onli-ne glos-sary – also the institute’s website has been re-designed and modernized. Thanks to the very successful cooperation with the State Archive in Trieste the IIAS was able to secure its future operation.
Karel HALLA (Cheb/CZ) „Das Projekt "Bayerisch-tschechisches Netzwerk digitaler Ge-schichtsquellen"
Das gegenseitige Zusammenleben der Tschechen und Deutschen war und ist immer noch durch mehrere Geschichtsereignisse und durch daraus erfolgte Verworrenheiten beeinflusst. In Folge der beiderseitigen Geschichte kam es zu einer gewaltsamen Zerreißung von vielen wertvollen Archivbeständen, die heute in tschechischen und bayerischen Staatsarchiven deponiert sind.
Das Gebietsarchiv in Pilsen und die Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Archive Bayerns in München führen ein gemeinsames grenzüberschreitendes Projekt durch, um die in der Ver-gangenheit zerrissenen Archivbestände in einem virtuellen Ganzen wieder zusammenzufügen. Dies soll mithilfe einer umfassenden Digitalisierung und überhaupt der digitalen Medien ge-schehen (gemeinsame Webpräsenz und virtuelle Rekonstruktion im Internet).
In den tschechischen Archiven wird eine große Menge von Archivbeständen aufbewahrt, die einen direkten Bezug zur Geschichte der Sudetendeutschen und des bayerischen Grenzraums haben. Auf der anderen Seite hat das Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv vor drei Jahren als Depositum die Bestände des Sudetendeutschen Archivs übernommen; in diesem befinden sich sehr viele Archivalien, die einen direkten Bezug auf das heutige Gebiet der Tschechischen Republik besitzen. Die Archivalien des Sudetendeutschen Archivs wurden zum Teil mit der Vertreibung der sudetendeutschen Bevölkerung nach dem 2. Weltkrieg über die Grenze getragen. Es handelt sich um Archivalien aus der Provenienz der Stadt- und Gemeindearchive, um Fotos, adlige und kirchliche Archive, um Gemeinde, Pfarr- und Schulchroniken und ande-re Archivalien von Orts- und Regionalbedeutung. Im Staatsarchiv Amberg wird mit dem Klosterarchiv von Wald-sassen ein überregional herausragender und besonders für den tsche-chischen Grenzraum hochinteressanter Archivbestand mit seinen Urkunden in das Projekt eingebracht.
Mit der Realisierung dieses Projekts werden 65 Jahre nach dem Ende des 2. Weltkriegs zu-sammengehörige Archivalien in ein virtuelles Ganzes zusammengeführt. Dabei werden digi-tale Reproduktionen entstehen, die dann mittels eines Webservers der breiten Öffentlichkeit sowie Wissenschaftlern und Heimatforschern präsentiert werden.
Durch die gemeinsame Mitarbeit der Archivare, Historiker und anderer Fachkräfte soll auch wesentlich intensiver als bisher an nicht veröffentlichten „unbekannten“ Archivalien, sog. Bo-hemika und Sudetika, in Archiven beider Seiten gearbeitet werden.
Die Realisierung dieses Projektes wird wesentlich zur Entwicklung der tschechisch-deutschen Beziehungen beitragen, bildet aber auch eine musterhafte Präzedenzplattform für die fachli-che interarchivische Kommunikation und Kommunikation der historischen Arbeitsstellen, aber auch von weiteren fachlichen und wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen.
Manfred MATZKA (Wien/AT) "e-government 2.0"
eGovernment is a synonym for a modern and innovative state in which quality, rust and speed are central elements. eGovernment includes the totality of ll electronic public administration services for the Austrian people. With it the access to and the contact with public authorities become easier. More than 80 percent of the enterprises already use eGovernment services, more and more citizens are electronic customers. The integration of all citizens, data protec-tion management and customer orientation have the uppermost priority.
The Austrian eGovernment strategy is based on basic concepts, base components and open standards, which serve as guidelines for the implementation of electronic services and the creation of the underlying infrastructure.
The development and implementation of electronic public services is one of he priorities of the Austrian Federal Government. The government plan principally states that every citizen in every community should have access to all forms of eGovernment at the federal, provincial and local levels. Secure communication and transactions and confidential handling of perso-nal data have top priority.
eGovernment will do more than just improve services, save costs, make work processes more efficient, and enable independent work. It will also make communication between citizens and businesses and the government more transparent, and open up new possibilities for the way information is presented and acceed.
Stefano VITALI (Bologna/IT)
“Digital re-mediation: archives, archivists, researchers and the future of an old professi-on”
Archivists and archival institutions have always played a crucial role as mediators between the documents they have in custody and the users who seek archival materials and wish to have access to those documents. The archival mediation has been exercised both by the pro-duction of finding aids and other tools of description and by face-to-face interaction through the reference services in the reading rooms of archival institutions.
The advent of digital technologies and the Internet have radically transformed conditions and tools of such mediation. From one side, in recent years, the public of archives have increased and changed as a consequence of social, cultural and technological transformations, including the growing presence of archival materials on the Web. From the other side, the “place” whe-re archival mediation now occurs is largely the Web. Face-to-face interaction have been re-placed by remote mediation. Archival finding aids which users previously consulted in the reading rooms with the assistance of the reference archivists are now produced in digital for-mat and published on the Web. Structure, organization of information and language of search tools have had to be adapted to the new media and the new environment where they are con-sulted. Archival materials are directly accessed in virtual reading rooms which are radically diverse from the real ones. Instead of reducing the mediation layers between users and archi-val materials, the Web has increased them adding others layers of mediation such as the tech-nological and communication ones.
How are archivists and archival institutions trying to face that transformations which, borrow-ing a concept developed by the new media theorists Jay David Bolter and Richard Grusin, can be defined as a re-mediation process? And what they should do in order to adapt their role of mediators to the environment of the WWW in which it is now mainly played? And how can Web 2.0 technologies help to establish new forms of interactions with “old” and “new” users and the general public?
The way in which archivists will answer to those question will be crucial for the future of their old profession.
Contact: vitali.stefano@gmail.com (Soprintendenza archivistica per l'Emilia-Romagna)
Manfred THALLER (Köln/DE)
„Preserving forever in digital times. The mandate of the archives between the benefits of col-laborative editing and the pitfalls of digital long-term preservation“
The curator of a memory institution always faces contradictory challenges: Providing optimal access to heritage documents endangers them; keeping them save also keeps them from public knowledge. Modern media in the world of the archives have frequently been seen as a solution to that conflict, as they allow the strict preservation of the originals while providing optimal access to the digital surrogates.
Digital surrogates, however, seem to be rather fragile in a new way and keeping them avai-lable forever creates completely new challenges – even more severe, if the digital content is not a surrogate, but the original, as in the case of “born digital documents” of modern administrative processes.
The first part of the presentation describes the technical concepts underlying the just started project “Digitales Archiv NRW” , which combines a state wide platform for the long term preservation of the content of memory institutions with a platform for the maximum availabil-ity of that content for the public.
While the goals of providing the easiest possible access to cultural heritage objects and kee-ping them safe forever seem to exclude each other, the goals of providing the highest possible quality of metadata allowing access to their digital representations and providing that access at the same time now, and not a few centuries in the future, when limited funding finally cat-ches up with the amount of source material available, are frequently considered to be even more con-tradictory.
The presentation continues by the description of the solutions prepared for the resolution of that conflict in the context of Monasterium and some projects using in the meantime the same software platform.
This introduces a final dilemma, however: If we accept, that the information needed to access a body of source material is added to it constantly, in a process which relies on many contri-bu-tors, the digital surrogates, which we wanted to preserve for ever, are slowly accumulating additional information. This seems to be directly opposed to the notion of keeping a digital surro-gate or original safe and unchanged forever.
We, therefore, conclude with the model for the integration of a collaborative projects like Monasterium into a preservation concept like North-Rhine Westphalia’s Digital Archive.
Section 1: Current and future Challenges for Archives on the Web:
Gerhart MARCKHGOTT (Linz/AT)
„Vom Diener zum Dienstleister“ - „From Servant to Service Provider“
Thoughts and ideas on the new self-awareness of archives (in Austria)
1. Servant: A member of the domestics, dependent worker in charge of tasks ill-befitting one’s rank
Service Provider : An economic entity providing services (an economic good for the fulfil-ment of demand rather than for production)
2. A servant is directed by others, service providers are self-contained
3. „There are some who are in darkness and the others are in light, and you see the ones in brightness, those in darkness drop from sight“. (Bertolt Brecht)
Until only a few decades ago the existence of archives was unquestioned and economic thinking outrageous. Since the 19th century a scientific archivist defined his concept of science through history; hence scientific achievements needed academic ground. Whilst scholars at the universities enjoyed their prestige, the „ones left behind“ in the archives toiled in the dark to preserve and prepare those very sources the scholars gained fresh glory from.
By the end of the 20th century several factors coincided to smash that constellation:
- The primacy of contemporary history in the public perception
- The change in public administration towards becoming more customer-oriented
- Task reforms and (most recently) the crisis of public budgets
- Changes in the organisational set-up of universities and the IfÖG (Institute for Austrian His-torical Research)
- IT
Currently a lot of archives are undergoing a phase of reorientation: Their raison d’être, their main tasks and strategies have to be readjusted to present-day conditions in terms of economy, society and technology. While the reasons for their existence as well as the main tasks are determined by the buyer (who are themselves often deeply involved in change processes), the strategic direction, i.e. the long-term focus set apart from day-to-day work can be determined by the archive itself.
Determining factors (mostly unbiased!):
• Direct responsibility – Fulfilling of tasks
• To drift aimlessly – To steer actively
• Administration-oriented – Customer-oriented
• Research - Indexing
• Profitability - Implicitness
• Digitisation – Handling originals
• Internet – Reading room
• Island - Team
There is no one-size-fits-all. No one knows how things will continue to develop, and that is why it’s even more important to become aware of one’s own position in order to clearly make out one’s future options.
Alina PAVELESCU (Bucuresti/RO)
“Learning from others' experiences: the debates around the public access to documents in electronic format at the National Archives of Romania”
This presentation deals with the issue of building an electronic system at the National Ar-chives of Romania in order to facilitate the public access to historical records in electronic format. We will present the managerial challenge represented by this kind of task due to the necessity to rebuild the administrative infrastructure of the institution, to resize some archival procedures or to rapidly change others, to change professional mentalities and the training priorities of the Romanian archivists.
We will also deal with the legal aspects concerning the public access to historical records in postcommunist Romania and with the legal constraints at work in the process of building an electronic system to facilitate the public access to historical records.
The focusing point of our discussion will concern the Romanian debates around the applicati-on of the international archival standards, seen as polemics “local versus global” or even “tra-dition versus modernity”.
Marta NOGUEIRA (Lisboa/PT)
„Archives in Web 2.0: new contexts, new opportunities (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube)“
Web 2.0 applications such as Facebook (http://www.facebook.com), Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) and YouTube (http://www.YouTube.com) are already used by ar-chives in the informal Web 2.0 reality. This new contexts and tools allows for new types of interac-tion, new opportunities regarding institutional promotion, new ways of providing their services and making their heritage known to the community. In common with the trend in general use of Web 2.0 applications, their use by archives is also on the increase. The effects are significant and have implications in areas crucial to Archives. The impacts vary and de-pend on the type of applications, their characteristics and functionalities, and the way they are used and kept. One of the immediate effects of the use of these applications is the growing number of public they reach (visitors, potential users or actual users). This effect represents an extremely significant quantitative element to cultural organisations seeking to enlarge and diversify their users and to raise their public recognition far beyond their current number of users. Apart from the increase in the number of users reached, there are other less immediate but nonetheless beneficial effects from the use of Web 2.0 applications: increased importance of the archive to the user; increased involvement of users and improved communication of the archives with such users in new dy-namic ways to engage; improvement in the archive’s image; potential of new interactive services to raise the level and quality of the service pro-vided; greater ability to find quick solutions to meet the needs of users; improvement in shared knowledge and collaboration; diversification of users; varied access of its collections, increased awareness and additional information about collections; improved relationships and links in the sector - improvement in communication among archivists (beneficial effects that can be extended to libraries and librarians). However, there nonetheless exists a degree of reluctance to the use of these applications by some archives that choose either to reject or postpone their adoption of such applications due to their lack of knowledge of them, or their reluctance to recognise these applications as ‘official’ or valid. The informal nature of Web 2.0 seems to cause unease among institutions which might be said to operate within a formal sphere; such institutions do not consider them to offer sufficient added value to justify the necessary allocation of resources and effort to implement them, and point to the pressing na-ture of other priorities.
Apart from the resistance arising from the lack of knowledge or non-recognition of Web 2.0, the use of these applications also has a negative side. Data protection of social network users may not always be guaranteed, there is also the danger of giving access to data to third parties with commercial motives, and the fact that some of these applications, which are now free of charge, may not be toll-free in the future. Such questions are not yet totally clarified, nor can they be easily answered, neither by individual users nor institutional user. There are also other issues: the possibility of anonymous users interacting in an abusive fashion with these institutions, as well as unwelcome associations with certain religious and / or political groups or sym-bols; applications that are time-consuming; applications may be used under the name of an or-ganisation.
Each application represents an individual context of use and allows a set of specific functionalities within a new rationale of democratisation in the production of content and access thereto, through interactive and collaborative platforms where anyone can be an author, publish and access content freely. The use of Web 2.0 applications by archives is best under-taken with de-fined strategies and objectives. While objectives are often more easily identi-fied, the strategies of use that generate them are defined in a more or a less clear manner, de-pending on institu-tions’ global vision of their engagement with Web 2.0. The success or fai-lure in the use of Web 2.0 applications is dependent on a number of factors and the possible negative aspects arising from the use of these applications do not seem to outweigh their po-tential advantages.
Katharina M. BERGMAYR (Wien/AT)
„Digital sozial? Chancen und Herausforderungen sozialer Netzwerke für Bibliotheken und Archive“ - “Digital social? Chances and Challenges of Social Networks for Libraries and Ar-chives”
Libraries and archives still have the image of dusty institutions, with staff in old-fashioned coats and big glasses who discipline users with a loud “Shhh!” It is about time for an image change, we need to show our visitors that we do not want to keep the collected knowledge to ourselves and in obscurity.
In times when the group of so-called digital natives is increasing steadily, many people think that everything can be found on the web and that our services are no longer required. To teach them better, information services must go to wherever their users are: on the web, or better: on the web 2.0. Numerous studies show that the internet is an integrated part of everyday life. Most of all social networks, such as Facebook, You Tube, Twitter & Co. have a steadily in-creasing number of members and visitors. The signing up of libraries and archives to these so-cial networks is connected to challenges: sometimes conflicting privacy regulations and copy-rights may create grey areas in law, a high initial effort and the continuous maintenance and updates take time and often require the help of colleagues who are not conversant with public relations or the digital services of the institution. Nevertheless, we must not underestimate the chances that social networks offer to information services: we can invalidate preconceptions and stereotypes. New, young and innovative users can be approached, and more importantly, retained. We are present not only in the real, but also in the virtual world, where we need to take care of our identity by ourselves and not leave it in charge of our users. The information we provide for our users is much more direct and so is the feedback we get. Moreover, one of the biggest chances is the additional public relations at only little extra costs. Of course, a criti-cal analysis of the networks on offer is essential. Not every hype needs to be followed. The institution must position itself in suitable networks and fill them with individual and dis-tinct contents.
Section 2: Archival Cooperation in Europe:
Heidemarie SPECHT (St. Pölten/AT) “The European Network on Archival Cooperation (E-NArC)”
ENArC is a project submitted for the EU Culture Programme 2007-2013, it will last 4 ½ years and joins 14 partners from 10 European countries.
ENArC is aimed at effectively establishing and gradually expanding a European network for written cultural heritage, which is supposed to strengthen the historical memory of Europe’s countries and cultures by the means of developing innovative strategies.
It is most of all Europe’s numerous archival institutions that are to be considered the guardi-ans of historical memory. All information kept within archives documents the birth and growth of Europe and constitutes the basis of the continent’s identity and that of its countries, people and culture. However, making use of these unique records has so far been a restricted business. The purpose of the ENArC project is to offer all European citizens comprehensive and easy access to their historical memory via the Internet.
The project has following objectives:
1) Establishing and expanding the already existing network of ICARUS
- Strengthening the international cooperation by
improving the communication between the institutions
developing common strategies for making the written cultural heritage available
coordinating individual projects and initiatives
- Linking the Neighbourhood Programme
2) Continuous exchange of know-how and experiences
through project meetings, national workshops, conferences, experts exchange-programmes, education and training programmes, communication platforms and the inclusion of new part-ners within the network (Linking the Neighbourhood Programme)
3) Digitisation and indexing activities of the participating partners
- Increasing the amount of digital content on national or content-related portals, on European archive portals (such as APEnet) and on Europeana
- Developing innovative technical standards for searching and processing historical sources (collaborative tools)
- Testing and using these open-source tools in the context of scientific sub-projects
4) Publicity
- Publishing project results both within the network and to the general public: newsletters, an online communication platform, a project homepage, a project logo, radio and TV broadcasts, printed brochures or printed advertisements in newspapers and magazines
- ENArC Lectures
Luis ENSEÑAT-CALDERON (Madrid/ES) “The European Portal for Documents and Archives: the APEnet project”
APEnet stands for “Archives Portal Europe” and it is a consortium of European state archives administrations, together with the Europeana Foundation with two main objectives, the first one is the creation of an unique access point about the information contained in the European Na-tional Archives, and the second one to make this information consistent with Europeana and available thought it.
The project started in January 2009 and it is envisaged to create the first version of the portal at the beginning of 2011, and the final version the first days of 2011. The overall goal of the AP-Enet project is to gather the existing digital archival content of Europe and make it avail-able on-line, we do not plan to create new digital material, but to work with the existing one. The aim is to build a network of European National Archives that, can offer online access to finding aids covering digitised and not digitised documents, to the individual documents and digital objects through these finding aids, and information about individual collections, the institutions that house them, and their creators.
At the end of the project, information about 16.000.000 multilevel descriptions of documents and archives and 31.000.000 digitised objects kept by National Archives, will be available in the final portal. This huge amount of information will be available in Europeana too, but not all of it: in the Europeana portal the final user will be able to find the digital objects with its de-scriptions, mainly digitalised documents, but the information displayed in the APEnet ga-teway that will not have digital objects associated (documents that are not digitalised) will be only available throughout APEnet.
The chosen standards for APEnet are the Encoded Archival Description (or EAD) for descrip-tions of finding aids, the Encoded Archival Context (or EAC) for descriptions of record crea-tors and the Encoding Archival Guide (or EAG) for descriptions of archival repositories. In the project we do not intend to create new standards, but to follow the existing standards that are applied to Archives.
If one of the pillars of APEner are the archival standards, the other one, as it is stated in the Grant Agreement with the European Commission, is the need to contextualise the content of archives holdings and collections in order to make individual archival objects searchable, accessible, and last but not least – usable.
To finalise, the “Archives Portal Europe” project can be described as a network of National Archives that facilitates access to the existing archival resources across Europe, that contextu-al-ise the content of archives holdings and collections in order to make individual archival objects searchable, accessible, and last but not least – usable.
Gerald MAIER (Stuttgart/DE) „Europeana und Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek - Sachstand und Perspektiven für die Archive“ - “Europeana and Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek – Status Quo and Perspectives for Archives”
The presentation of digitized items on the web and long-term preservation of genuine digital information are major challenges for archives in the information society. In the age of “Google” and “Wikipedia”, inter-institutional and inter-disciplinary online information sys-tems and portals with preferably free of charge and quality-assured access play an increasing role also for digital items and scientific information.
Therefore, on a European level, a boundary-transcending European digital library, called “Eu-ropeana” (www.europeana.eu) is being established. Currently, more than 5 Mio items can be accessed, but only a small part comes from archives and their form of presentation needs still to be further developed. In Germany an interdisciplinary library, called “Deutsche Digitale Biblio-thek” (www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de) was initiated this year. In this library, digital items and scientific information from over 30.000 cultural and scientific institutions will be made accessible. This platform, supported by the Federal Government and Federal States (Länder), will be Germany’s contribution to the Europeana and its aggregator at the same time.
In the presentation the status quo and perspectives of Europeana will be illustrated with regard to the archives and an outlook on the “Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek” will be provided.
Vlatka LEMIĆ (Zagreb/HR) “The ARHiNET-System as a model for archival net-works”
At the end of 2006 Croatian State Archives started the construction of a new archival infor-ma-tion system which should cover all archival functions: keeping, preserving, arranging and use of archival records. ARHiNET is a web application which includes several modules: Se-curity and authorisation, Description and processing of archives, Archival registers and do-cumenta-tion, Creators and holders of archival material, Preservation of archives, Digital con-tents and Education. It is a national archival system in Croatia, recognized by the Ministry of Culture as national project, as well as part of the e-Croatia program, the operational plan of the Govern-ment of the Republic of Croatia.
ARHiNET serves as national integrated system for the exchange of information among institutions that keep archival records and archives portal for all information considering of archi-val material of any type and content (textual, graphic, cartographic, audiovisual, electronic, objects, photographs etc.) relevant for Croatia. It is created on modular basis which enables design and implementation of particular modules as separate projects in a relatively short period of time and their continuous integration into the unique information system. Advantages of such a solution are the creation of an integrated base and a unique system of data protection with minimal costs. ARHiNET system structure comprises of two parts: the open one is intended for external users who want to search databases and catalogues and use other offered services, and the protected part, intended for the employees in archives and other institutions, in which all professional-business processes that define processing and management of archival material are taking place. The program solution consists of several databases organized according to the logic of records type and user type/roles that define access to particular re-cords:
In October 2007 the online Register of archival fonds and collections of the Republic of Croa-tia, which is an integral part of the ARHiNET system, was made publicly available, and onli-ne access was provided to the data on archival records kept in the archives and in other insti-tutions that hold archival material. The Register currently contains data on 15.000 fonds and collec-tions, 70.000 other archival units (series, files and items), 19.500 records creators and 7.000 holders of archival material, more than 4.000 finding aids and 3.000 bibliographical units on archival holdings, as well as well as cca. 7.000 digital copies of particular documents. Data are being entered and continually updated on the basis of submissions by records crea-tors and owners under the supervision of the state archives. Around 750 employees from more than 200 various institutions are currently registered in the system. All institutions included in the project contribute not only to the standardization and improvement of services and prod-ucts provided by archives but also to the creation of unique national archival information net-work.
ARHiNET implementation enhanced the standardization of the work of archival institutions, and enabled establishment of a unique system for managing and using archival material, as well as data integration and exchange among the institutions that keep archival records. Func-tional-ities concerning digital record ensure integration of traditional and digital archives and present concrete solutions based on practical work.
Peter Pavel KLASINC (Trieste/IT) “The "International Institute for Archival Science of Trieste and Maribor (IIAS)"
The "International Institute for Archival Science of Trieste and Maribor– IIAS"
The International Institute for Archival Science – IIAS originated in the Centre for Technical and Professional Problems in Archives founded in 1986 on the initiative of Mr. Peter Pavel Klasinc, Director General of the Pokrajinski Arhiv in Maribor and organizer of the archival meetings in Radenci concerning the former Republic of Yugoslavia. Due to the constantly growing participation of foreign professionals it was decided to establish an international ar-chi-val institute with a special focus on the Balkan-Danube area.
Since 1991 the IIAS has been issuing an annual publication named “Atlanti”. Apart from the annual conferences the IIAS excelled at various initiatives and activities, such as the “Glos-sary of Regional Historical Terminology”, edited in 1995 in German, Italian and Slovene; or else the International Course of Archival Technology held in 1996. A course dedicated to Di-gital Ar-chival Management was offered as early as 1998. As a result of a protocol signed with the Italian Ministry of Culture in October 2005, the International Institute for Archival Science – IIAS has since been headquartered at the seat of the Italian State Archive in Trieste, its second foot-hold still being at the University of Maribor. Today’s 21 member countries include Austria, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Montenegro, Poland, Russia, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, and Ukraine. The official languages are English, Italian and Slovene. The members are appointed by various archives or the respective country’s na-tional archives. In Germany, for instance, the State Archives of Bavaria; in Austria, the Re-gional Archive of the Province of Styria; in Poland, the National Archive of Kracow.
As per the statutes of 2005, the focus of activities of the IIAS is on the following:
• The organisation and promotion of conferences and seminars as well as training cour-ses in the area of archival research.
• The support and promotion of research and publications
• The consolidation of archival sciences within the member countries
• The Annual Meeting (Trieste)
• The publication of research results in the “Atlanti” magazine
The IIAS consists of the following administrative bodies:
• The President and the Assembly of Official Members
• The Director
• The Executive Board
The Director is the supreme representative of the IIAS and is supported by the respective Di-rector of the State Archive in Trieste (currently Grazia Tato). The Executive Board consists of 5 members, among them the Director of the IIAS and his or her deputy as well as the Presi-dent of the Assembly of the Official Members (Antonio Dentoni Litta, Italian Ministry of Culture). The Board supports the Director in his or her tasks. Apart from the official members (one per member country) there are several honorary members who have distinguished them-selves in their services for the IIAS (Pferschy, Kecsemeti, etc.)
One of the IIAS’ ongoing projects is the publication of the magazine “Atlanti”. “Atlanti” is multilingual and of distinct international orientation. The magazine illustrates the entire band-width of archival sciences that are promoted and refined at the institute. The latest editions are available for free download on the IIAS website (www.iias-trieste-maribor.eu).
In 2007 an international Archival School was established to take place in connection with the IIAS Conference in Trieste. It is a postgraduate course, held by various changing lecturers. Their topics address all kinds of present-day problems in archival science, questions of digiti-sa-tion and digital data as well as international archival legislation. Most attendants come from Central and Eastern Europe. A course period stretches over 3 years (3 courses in Au-tumn).
Closely connected with the School is the Annual Meeting of the IIAS in Trieste, the Interna-tional Archival Day, enjoying increased popularity of late. Most recently some 200 people were participating, discussing topics such as archival classes/ archival schools; security and preservation, archives in the 20th century, or archival legislation throughout Europe. At the same time, the institute has acknowledged the need for a common archival “language”, which means creating a terminological glossary in various languages. It keeps on growing and is available online under the heading “Short dictionary of archival terminology". The project is “work in progress", currently including 21 languages.
For some time now there has also been an international fair included in the program of the In-ternational Archival Day. Companies related to archival technology and digitisation are invi-ted to participate and take the opportunity to introduce their products in short presentations. This year’s list includes Metis, Hyperborea and Scope.
By starting an online forum for topics of archival science, the IIAS has become active in the web 2.0 as well. The forum is a virtual platform for members and guests to exchange on cur-rent topics, while the institute urges archivists to participate in order to heighten the level of exper-tise and knowledge. Also, the forum provides for sub-platforms for the Archvial School and the glossary project.
Of course there is an open mailing list for latest news and information. The IIAS cordially in-vites all archivists and colleagues to join the Annual Meeting in Trieste. The institute looks back on many years of experience in exchanging with colleagues from many different coun-tries, also outside the European Union. IIAS is open for cooperation and mutual projects with other institutes and research centres, especially in Europe. Last but not least the new media play an increasingly important part in the IIAS’ activities, and not just in the case of the onli-ne glos-sary – also the institute’s website has been re-designed and modernized. Thanks to the very successful cooperation with the State Archive in Trieste the IIAS was able to secure its future operation.
Karel HALLA (Cheb/CZ) „Das Projekt "Bayerisch-tschechisches Netzwerk digitaler Ge-schichtsquellen"
Das gegenseitige Zusammenleben der Tschechen und Deutschen war und ist immer noch durch mehrere Geschichtsereignisse und durch daraus erfolgte Verworrenheiten beeinflusst. In Folge der beiderseitigen Geschichte kam es zu einer gewaltsamen Zerreißung von vielen wertvollen Archivbeständen, die heute in tschechischen und bayerischen Staatsarchiven deponiert sind.
Das Gebietsarchiv in Pilsen und die Generaldirektion der Staatlichen Archive Bayerns in München führen ein gemeinsames grenzüberschreitendes Projekt durch, um die in der Ver-gangenheit zerrissenen Archivbestände in einem virtuellen Ganzen wieder zusammenzufügen. Dies soll mithilfe einer umfassenden Digitalisierung und überhaupt der digitalen Medien ge-schehen (gemeinsame Webpräsenz und virtuelle Rekonstruktion im Internet).
In den tschechischen Archiven wird eine große Menge von Archivbeständen aufbewahrt, die einen direkten Bezug zur Geschichte der Sudetendeutschen und des bayerischen Grenzraums haben. Auf der anderen Seite hat das Bayerische Hauptstaatsarchiv vor drei Jahren als Depositum die Bestände des Sudetendeutschen Archivs übernommen; in diesem befinden sich sehr viele Archivalien, die einen direkten Bezug auf das heutige Gebiet der Tschechischen Republik besitzen. Die Archivalien des Sudetendeutschen Archivs wurden zum Teil mit der Vertreibung der sudetendeutschen Bevölkerung nach dem 2. Weltkrieg über die Grenze getragen. Es handelt sich um Archivalien aus der Provenienz der Stadt- und Gemeindearchive, um Fotos, adlige und kirchliche Archive, um Gemeinde, Pfarr- und Schulchroniken und ande-re Archivalien von Orts- und Regionalbedeutung. Im Staatsarchiv Amberg wird mit dem Klosterarchiv von Wald-sassen ein überregional herausragender und besonders für den tsche-chischen Grenzraum hochinteressanter Archivbestand mit seinen Urkunden in das Projekt eingebracht.
Mit der Realisierung dieses Projekts werden 65 Jahre nach dem Ende des 2. Weltkriegs zu-sammengehörige Archivalien in ein virtuelles Ganzes zusammengeführt. Dabei werden digi-tale Reproduktionen entstehen, die dann mittels eines Webservers der breiten Öffentlichkeit sowie Wissenschaftlern und Heimatforschern präsentiert werden.
Durch die gemeinsame Mitarbeit der Archivare, Historiker und anderer Fachkräfte soll auch wesentlich intensiver als bisher an nicht veröffentlichten „unbekannten“ Archivalien, sog. Bo-hemika und Sudetika, in Archiven beider Seiten gearbeitet werden.
Die Realisierung dieses Projektes wird wesentlich zur Entwicklung der tschechisch-deutschen Beziehungen beitragen, bildet aber auch eine musterhafte Präzedenzplattform für die fachli-che interarchivische Kommunikation und Kommunikation der historischen Arbeitsstellen, aber auch von weiteren fachlichen und wissenschaftlichen Einrichtungen.
