International Council of Archives

Official website of the 2012 Congress

A climate of change

The challenges and changes that archivists and information management professionals face are based in the need to manage, preserve and make accessible our collections be they paper, film, audio visual or digital formats. Join us in Brisbane in 2012 for a Congress program that is focused, innovative and interactive.

Sustainability...and the archives

Preserving records for the long-term benefit of future generations is the core business of archives. Can we be confident about our ability and capacity to fulfill this mission, to sustain our archives, in the digital age?

Sustainability also is about preserving traditional records in archival custody and records in active use by records creators so that they last long enough to meet the needs for which they were created. In a world of climate change, and human made catastrophes, the preservation challenge only grows larger.

Finally, sustainability relates to the sustainability and relevance of the archival profession itself as one technological wave after another, washes across the information world. Archivists must demonstrate that they are essential in this rapidly changing information world."

Trust ... and the archives

Archives support good governance and accountability by offering reliance on and confidence in the authenticity, worth and reliability of the information in its charge. Those responsible for the custody and care of such information demonstrate their commitment to archival science by advocating ethical and professional processes, developing standards and gaining international acceptance of the methods and practices.

What can archives do to ensure that trust? What are the expectations and are they or can they be held to a higher standard? What is the effect on governance and accountability if archives fail in their mission?

Identity ... and the archives

Archives provide evidence of identity not just in the most obvious way through identity documentation but also through collections of archives which provide the memory or story of complex groups and individual identities both at one moment in time, and through time. They help the community to connect with their heritage and protect their rights.

Archivists themselves have an identity, shaped by the individual archivist's background as well as society's perceptions of archivists. This identity, both inner and outer, is changing in the 21^st century as the nature of archives changes and as society itself changes with traditional divisions changing and disappearing. We need to strengthen the value, impact and influence of archivists and information managers.