International Council of Archives

Despite the disastrous earthquake that befell Japan and the resulting nuclear worries, the SBL bureau meeting and the international symposium "The Value of Business Archives: Their Use by Japanese Companies and New Global Trends" were successfully held in Tokyo on May 10 and 11, 2011.

Conference Venue

In addition to one participant from South Korea, the symposium was attended by over 100 participants from across Japan.  The first four sessions, "The Power of History Marketing" (1 and 2), "National Strategies and Business Archives," and "Archives: A Tool for Change," comprised presentations by SBL bureau members on how to fully realize the value of business archives as management and intellectual resources.  In the final session all speakers gathered on stage for a panel discussion that looked at a range of themes and issues vital to the practical realization of the multi-faceted value of business archives (such as: access to information on company history, the usability of a company's negative heritage, relationships with corporate museums, partnerships with or support from public sector archival institutions, ways to promote archives and recordkeeping in organizations, etc), as well as discussing the significant contribution business archives can make to a company's corporate social responsibility.

In an effort to reach a wider international audience the symposium was streamed live on the internet (webcast via Ustream).

We hope the symposium provided an opportunity for the SBL to demonstrate its role as an arena for the acquisition of professional skills and exchange within the international archives community.