Co-Operation Between Archives And Producing Services
Croatian State Archives
Sorting, selection, retention—these have become fundamental notions in the everyday processing of archives, as well as the central aim of the theory and practice of records management. The traditional functions of archivists (classification of records and development of research tools) are increasingly being replaced by appraisal and by what is called acquisition policy. With regard to selection and sorting, Barbara Reed writes, in the well-known Australian manual Keeping Archives, "The work of appraisal is the cornerstone of all work of archives. Choosing what will constitute the documentation of our time, accessible to future generations, is doubtless the archivist’s most important task. All other archival work follows from it" [translation].
A quick look back gives us a clearer understanding of the topicality and specificity of the co-operation between archives and producing services. Until the early 19th century, the producers of archives themselves kept their archival records.
The creation of archival institutions beginning in the late 18th century, and especially in the 19th century, caused for some time a near total separation between the activity of "historical archives" and that of producers. Certain prescriptions concerning appraisal were established very early on within the competent administration.
There have been several stages in the evolution of the relationships between producers and archives and in the development of their collaboration in the area of records appraisal. Christine Pétillat distinguishes two different periods in this collaboration: the " fence-sitting period," and the "committed period." This second period is characterized by the establishment of direct contact between producers and archives, resulting in closer co-operation between them, through the systematic development of lists including retention periods, prepared by the archives or the administration responsible, and finally through the practice of intermediate storage. This period sees the coming into being of different recommendations, regulations, general and specific lists including retention periods, different forms of control and co-operation, and so on.
Throughout this evolution, a two-fold concern has been asserting itself: producers want both to decrease the volume of archival records accumulated through the functioning of modern government, and to make their archives more transparent. Archivists have played an active role in this process and have developed different appraisal theories, establishing the criteria and defining the procedures. This has influenced practice, as have the forms of co-operation between producers and archives.
Acquisition policy, which necessarily encompasses records appraisal, has only one goal, but the application models differ. If one attempts to systematize the various practices of different countries, they can be summarized in a few models. They overlap somewhat, that is to say, they often have some elements in common:
- Records Management Department (United Kingdom / former Yugoslavia) - the archives or archives directorates set guidelines, draft regulations and circulars. Records appraisal is conceived positively (selection) or negatively (sorting).
- The archives have different projects for determining the principles and methods of appraisal (Canada: Government - Wide Plan for the Disposition of Records, 1991-1996 Netherlands: PIVOT project).
- The archives directly control the selection and sorting process, collaborate in the preparation of lists including retention periods, confirm these lists and give their endorsement for the disposal of records (France / Italy).
- In some countries, the State administration (the competent ministry), in collaboration with the archives directorate, establishes lists including retention periods, without any close link between archives and producers with regard to appraisal (Austria / Germany).
Is there a desirable co-operation model?
Based on the contemporary notion of archival records seen as a continuum and on several fundamental principles, one can propose certain forms of collaboration.
- Collaboration from the time the records are created, which is especially important in the case of electronic records. To this end, it is essential that the collaboration take place through professionals, that is, records managers. The American Records Management Association (ARMA) has defined records management not as the recording and classification of documents, but as "[t]he systematic control of all records from their creation, or receipt, through their processing, distribution, organization, storage and retrieval to their ultimate disposition." It seems important to us to point out here that this is "a single profession " whose fundamental maxim is "one goal, different responsibilities."
- Appraisal should be carried out by means of lists that must be developed, but especially by means of the incorporation of retention periods into the classification system. Thus, appraisal affects the whole "archives group" rather than individual records (e.g. ARCS – Administrative Records Classification System: Province of British Columbia).
- The writing of such a classification system and/or different forms of lists including retention periods, should be the shared responsibility of archives and producers, and the outcome of their collaboration during the very process of developing the system of classification or list, and at the time of their validation.
- The trend towards "the management of the historical heritage" (rather than individual records) and the use of new technologies (electronic records) place the appraisal process at the very stage of records creation.
- Once ongoing collaboration is established between the archives and the producing services, a central database which identifies all producers ("the categorization of producers" allowing for the establishment of an acquisition policy), and disposal endorsements are no longer just appraisal control mechanisms.
Bibliography:
- Brown, Richard. "Macro-Appraisal in Transition: Recasting the Government Records Disposition Program of National Archives of Canada." Annual Conference. (Sacramento, California:) National Association of Government Archivists and Records Administrators, 18 July 1997.
- Cleyet-Michaud, Rosine. "La sélection dans les archives : une réflexion et une pratique en constante évolution " in Tri, sélection, conservation. Quel patrimoine pour l’avenir? Collective work of the proceedings of the Round Table organized under the auspices of the École nationale du patrimoine held 23, 24 and 25 June, 1999 : 48-53.
- Cook, Terry. The Appraisal of Case Files: Sampling and Selection Guidelines for the National Archives of Canada. Draft five. Approved (as revised) by the National Archivist for purposes of external consultation. 24 September 1992.
- Guercio, Maria. "La selezione dei documenti archivistici nel recente dibattito internazionale: evoluzione e continuità nella metodologia e nella prassi in" Archivi per la Storia, XI (1998), 2 : 43-64.
- Massabò-Ricci, Isabella. "Théorie et pratique du tri dans l’archivistique italienne." Ibi.: 54-60.
- Records and Information Management Manual (Province of British Columbia, BC Archives), 1999; http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/rim/dda.txt.
- Reed, Barbara. "Appraisal and Disposal" in Keeping Archives. (2nd ed.), (Thorpe in association with The Australian Society of Archivists Inc.), Brunswick: 1993. 157-206.
Josip Kolanovic
Undergraduate degree in History and Philosophy, master’s degree in Auxiliary Sciences of History and Records Management, doctorate in History. He has worked at the Croatian State Archives since 1972. Former editor-in-chief of the work Les fonds et collections d’archives en RSFY - la Croatie [Archival holdings and collections in the SFRY - Croatia], he is currently editor of the journal Fontes. He is the author of articles and books on records management, history and the auxiliary sciences of history, as well as a number of translations and collections of archival records from the Middle Ages. He has been Director of the Croatian State Archives since 1991, and teaches Records Management at Zagreb University.