On the first day of the Congress the Expert Group on Archive Buildings & Environments (EGABE) ran a workshop on “Archival buildings; Standards and Developments”. The workshop was held in one of the seminar rooms within the huge and impressive COEX complex, which hosted the Congress. The workshop was attended by a total of 25 participants, from a wide range of countries; even though translation could not be provided, the participants all helped and assisted each other.
The morning part of the workshop was structured into three sections; short papers were delivered by three EGABE members on Standards, Environmental Monitoring and Security. After each paper the participants were presented with three different written scenarios to discuss and work on (in groups). At the conclusion of each work activity, participants elected a raporteur to report back to the whole workshop on their findings and conclusions; this information was discussed and debated with the participants. Each participant was given a hard copy of the three slide presentations and there were relevant publications and standards available for consultation.
This morning session was a great success and the overall feedback from the participants was very positive; some had even contacted the seminar leader with questions in advance of the congress about building plans and projects. It is hoped that this theme can be further developed and integrated into the programme for Mexico 2017.