Universit

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Università degli Studi di Padova Giorgetta
Bonfiglio-DosioAssociazione Nazionale
Archivistica Italiana

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• Professionalism in Archives
• (Trieste, 2007 October 17th)

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Basic questions

• What professionalism needs the archivist?
• Whos the archivist?
• In the past
• Today, in contemporary world
• Who does the archivist wants to be?
• Where does the archivist works?
• Administrative/civil context
• Cultural/historical context

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These questions are vivaciously discussed by
Italian and international community Warsaw, 2006
may.Why?

• Because now there are some important changes

• New technologies
• Changes of state organizations
• Evolution of society
• More request of culture

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How can I answer to these questions?

• I think that it is suitable
• To quote the Code of Ethics for archivists
  (Beijing 1996) by International Council of
  Archives (http//www.ica.org)
• (that helps to define whos the archivist and
  what is the work of the archivist)
• To precise that archival activity is scientific
  and situated on an elevate level

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Code of Ethics for archivists

• Art. 1- Archivists should protect the integrity
  of archival material and thus guarantee that it
  continues to be reliable evidence of the past
• A. Physical preservation gt knowledge of
  technologies (building, maintenance of records
  back and restoration of analogical and digital
  records)
• B. Intellectual preservation gt knowledge of
  archives and their creators knowledge of
  institutional history and juridical context
  (ISAD-G and ISAAR-CPF)
• A. Juridical value of archives gt relevance into
  corporate bodies and organizations (ISO 15489)
• B. Historical value of archives gt knowledge in
  historical fields

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Before I comment on this article of Code I must
preliminary remark

• When we talk about professionalism of archivist
  we must precise
• 1. the archivist is a civil servant of elevate
  level
• 2. in order to do this work the archivist must
  have specific
• Knowledge
• Competences
• Skills

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The analyze of archivists work

• I will analyze different activities of the
  archivist and recognize knowledge, competences
  and skills
• I must precise that every archival activity is
  scientific and requires theoretical support
• The work of archivists is in the same time
  administrative and cultural

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a. Physical preservation what needs?

• Knowledge of requirements for physical
  preservation building, infrastructures, tools,
  possibilities for restoration
• It is not indispensable that the archivist has a
  specific knowledge but he/she must know the
  problems and know what technicians ask to
• The archivist have to have especial skills
  ability to collaborate with the specialists of
  different fields and with others institutions
  involved in archival management (architects,
  engineers, restorers, etc.)

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b. intellectual preservation what needs?

• The archivist must respect the original order of
  archives, that was decided by the creator
• The archivist must know institutional history of
  the State where the archives were created
• Therefore
• He/she must have juridical mentality
• He/she must know juridical context, concrete
  rules, but also bureaucratic uses, that can be
  different compared with the rules

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What must study the historical archivist?

• Not only archival sciences, but also
• History,
• but especially history of institutions
• Palaeography
• Diplomatics
• Law (especially history of law and juridical
  historical ordinaments)
• Historical languages (anciently used in country
  where the archives were created)
• New technologies (to describe historical
  archives)

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And contemporary archivist or records manager?

• Always in addition to archival sciences
• Administrative organization of different
  institutions
• Internal dynamics of institutions and work flows
  of specific institution where he/she works
• Diplomatics of contemporary records
• Law (both general and specific)
• Administrative language
• New technologies (to create the records keeping
  system connected to work flow and administrative
  requirements of organizations)

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The archivists mission in traditional context

• To manage and preserve the records and guarantee
  that they are always authentic i.e. trusted
  sources of legal rights and historical witness
• But in the past the records were written on
  permanent supports, now the digital records must
  be continuously managed to maintain their own
  readability (project InterPARES about the long
  term preservation of authentic electronic
  records http//www.interpares.org)

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Code of ethics art. 2

• Archivists should appraise, select and
  maintain archival material in its historical,
  legal and administrative context, thus retaining
  the principle of provenance, preserving and
  making evident the original relationships of
  documents
• Theoretical presuppositions
• Archives are an unitary whole gt profession of
  archivist is unitary gt records continuum
• The work of archivist is very important for
  society, for people living together both to
  organize current records and to preserve
  historical records

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Code of ethics art. 3

• Archivists should protect the authenticity
  of documents during archival processing,
  preservation and use
• The authenticity of documents is assured by their
  insertion into the archives that are preserved,
  cared for and managed by archivists
• The archives are a public service which assures
  that documents created by an institution (public
  or private) are intact and thus fide digni

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In the past frequently

• There were two distinct professional figures
• Archivist responsible for conservation of ancient
  documents
• Records manager responsible for management of
  current documents
• But archives are one and unitary gt archivist must
  be responsible for the whole archives (moreover
  now archivists talk about records continuum
  especially in digital archives)
• During the different phases of life of documents
  archivist do different activities

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Requirements for archivist

• Consequently archivist must have
• Deep knowledge of archival theory that can/must
  direct the practices
• Clear awareness of the mission of archives
• Specialized (not exclusive) competences on
  current or historical material
• It is very dangerous to separate administration
  from history, present from past, creation from
  preservation

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Other danger

• Historical archivists cannot be passive, i.e.
  they cannot wait for documents created by others
  and only preserve the documents that others
  consign to them
• They must participate to creation of records and
  give to the organization guide-lines for correct
  records management into the organization
• In fact

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Archives are not a warehousethey are a service
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What do archives serve to?

• To authentically know situations and
  administrative precedents
• To plan the future, to individuate objectives
  considering resources
• To check attained goals
• To prove the rights and to preserve the certainty
  of rights
• To maintain memory of single people and society

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ISO 15489 (2001)

• International Standard Organization
• Information and documentation - Records
  management
• part I general
• part II guide-lines

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What is ISOs standard?

• It is some rules fixed by International Standard
  Organization, i.e. a federal organization between
  different States
• It is a rule technically derived by agreements
  and suggestions of specialists
• It defines policies and guide-lines
• The scope is to provide guidance on managing
  records of originating organizations, public or
  private, for internal and external clients

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Part 1

• Applies to the management of records, in all
  formats or media, created or received by any
  public or private organization in the conduct of
  its activities or any individual with a duty to
  create and maintain records
• Provides guidance on determining the
  responsibilities of organizations for records and
  records policies, procedures, systems and
  processes
• Provides guidance on records management in
  support of a quality process framework to comply
  with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
• Provides guidance on the design and
  implementation of a records system
• Does not include the management of archival
  records within archival institutions

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Part I

• Is intended for use by
• - Managers of organizations
• Records, information and technology management
  professionals
• All other personnel in organizations
• Other individual with duty to create and maintain
  records

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Why is this standard important?

• Because it is an international standard and it
  is a universal point of reference for archivists
  in the world.
• Afterwards everyone must apply it to his/her
  organization in respect of particular requirements

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4. Benefits of records management

1. To conduct business in an orderly, efficient and
   accountable manner
2. To deliver services in a consistent and equitable
   manner
3. To support and document policy formation and
   managerial decision making
4. To provide consistency, continuity and
   productivity in management and administration
5. To facilitate the effective performance of
   activities throughout an organization

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1. To provide continuity in the event of a disaster
2. To meet legislative and regulatory requirements
   including archival, audit and oversight
   activities
3. To provide protection and support in litigation
   including the management of risks associated with
   existence of, or lack of, evidence of
   organizational activity
4. To protect the interests of the organization and
   the rights of employees, clients and present and
   future stakeholders

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1. To support and document current and future
   research and development activities, development
   and achievements, as well as historical research
2. To provide evidence of business, personal and
   cultural activity
3. To establish business, personal and cultural
   identity
4. To maintain corporate, personal or collective
   memory

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If we agree on the fact that archives are a
service

• Code of Ethics art. 4
• Archivists should ensure the continuing
  accessibility and intelligibility of archival
  materials
• Code of Ethics art. 6
• Archivists should promote the widest possible
  access to archival material and provide an
  impartial service to all users
• Code of Ethics art. 7
• Archivists should respect both access and
  private, and act within the boundaries of
  relevant legislation

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Consequences

• Access can be
• for administrative aims
• by the inside of organization
• by others organizations
• by private people to protect their interests
• for scientific aims
• Archivists must ensure an impartial service
  respecting principles of democratic transparency
  and considering that scientific research is human
  right recognized by European Union

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European UnionBill of fundamental rights
(2000/C364/01)

• The art. 42 provides for the right to access to
  administrative records

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The access is possible if there is an archival
service that fixes rules and guidelines

• The right to access is limited by
• defence of States secret (always more restricted
  in democratic States)
• respect to personal data that can create
  discriminations, but not only

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E.U. Bill of fundamental rights

• Art. 7 The respect for private and family life is
  a fundamental right of man, because respects
  human dignity
• Art. 8 Every person has the right to dispose of
  his/her personal data and can demand that data
  are loyally managed for determined aims, only if
  the interested party gives consent. The article
  establishes also the rights of interested party
• National organizations that exercise the control
  must be independent authority

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E.U. Bill of fundamental rights

• Art. 11 provides the liberty of expression as
  fundamental right
• Art. 13 arts and scientific research are free.
  They have public importance and can be aided by
  particular rules.

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Code of Ethics art. 10

• Archivists should promote the preservation
  and use of the worlds documentary heritage,
  through working co-operatively with members of
  their own and other professions

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For users (administrative and scientific)

• Archivists must be impartial
• In this activity also the archivist must be not
  passive, i.e. he/she cannot only answer to the
  asks of the researchers), but must promote
  cultural knowledge and access to archives and
  transmit the records
• The archivist must guarantee the intelligibility
  too. Thus he/she must create specialized finding
  aids

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The intelligibility of archives is guaranteed by
scientific activity of archivists on finding aids

• the activity of archivists consists in
• seeing
• understanding
• describing

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• COMMITTEE on descriptive standards

• Guidelines for the preparation and presentation
  of finding aids
• The principles which govern the preparation of
  finding aids are
• To provide access to archival material by
  communicating information about them to users
• To produce accurate, consistent and self
  explanatory finding aids
• to represent the context and content of the
  archival material being described by applying the
  rules of multilivel description

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The application of the guidelines will result in
finding aids which will

• Facilitate the retrieval and exchange of
  information about archival material
• Enable the sharing of authority data
• Make possible the integration of finding aids
  from different repositories
• Information systems on archival material

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STANDARS

• International
• Standard for
• Archival
• Description
• (general)

• International
• Standard
• Archival
• Authority
• Record for
• Corporate Bodies
• Persons and
• Families

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The ability of archivist

• To choice the finding aid which is must suitable
  to the situation where he/she works
• Code of Ethics art. 9
• Archivists should pursue professional
  excellence by systematically and continuously
  updating their archival knowledge and sharing the
  results of their research and experience
• The choice of finding aids is
• a scientific activity
• an administrative strategic activity
  responsibility

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Code of Ethics art. 5

• Archivists should record and be able to
  justify their actions on archival material

• The guidelines of ICA talk about the
  intellectual responsibility (institutional or
  individual) for the finding aid

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What formation?

• There are in Europe old and new opportunities to
  create archival professionalism especially in
  academic context, according to Bologna process
• In the experimental phase the client can be
  disoriented by so many opportunities of
  Universities

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How can we appraise the proposals of the
Universities?

• If we share the conviction that the archival
  sciences are not sufficient to create an
  archivist, we must appraise
• what teachings about context the Universities
  offer
• what critical capacity they create
• what abilities they develop in students
• What scientific relations they have with others
  research centres or other Universities in the
  world

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Usually we must regard

• Teaching is a direct consequence of the research
• Therefore we must verify if the teaching is
  supported by research activity

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Others two factors

• The growing importance of ethics
• Code of Ethics art. 8
• Archivists should use the special trust given
  to them in the general interest and avoid using
  their position to unfairly benefit themselves or
  others
• The considerable function of Associations as
  subjects charged of duties on the formation,
  professional training an updating

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The Associations

• Verified if the traditional formation maintain
  her validity in new digital contexts too
• Proposed new matters to discussing during the
  formation
• Organized courses
• Stimulated international meetings and agreements
• Supported the professionalism of archivists in
  every context
• Promoted the recognition of archival profession

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Positive aspects of academic formation

• Cooperation between different disciplines
• Teaching supported by research
• Flexibility both on planning new proposals and on
  creating mentality of students
• International dimension, which we needs now

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Dealing with contemporary innovations

• Archivists transformed critical points into
  strength
• The growing complexity of creators of archives is
  confirming that traditional archival practices
  and tools, supported by theory, are more and more
  valid and indispensable
• The use of new technologies needs archival
  competences

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Finally

• I think that we must work for
• Obtaining more cooperation between us
• Creating an effective international community,
  which allows us to use in our countries a shared
  scientific methodology and a common language
• Developing (all together) policies, guidelines,
  tools
• I wish you that our work is profitable to society
  and can enrich us (intellectually I mean but
  money too is welcome!)