Once again, the European Union (EU) has blocked progress by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright & Related Rights (SCCR) towards copyright laws that would aid libraries and archives in fulfilling their missions in an international digital environment. The full statement is available below and also on IFLA's website : http://www.ifla.org/node/9677

  In April, members of the Programme Commission and the Executive Board met in Bali, Indonesia for the annual Spring governance meetings. I am very grateful to our host Mr Mustari Irawan, Director-General of the National Archives of Indonesia (Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia) and his very professional team for their hospitality and professionalism in organising a very successful schedule of events.

The Section of Professional Associations published a digital brochure created to give advocacy advice to the individual archivist and records manager and also to associations. This brochure develops golden rules of advocacy, including elevator pitch and media attention, as well as how to advocate towards politicians and other stakeholders, and how to endorse and promote the UDA (Universal Declaration on Archives).   It is available in the online resource center following this link .  

 A blog from SPA’s spring meeting in Poland by SPA member Vilde Ronge May 28, 2015

The Expert Group on Archive Buildings and Environments of the International Council on Archives (ICA) requests that you complete an online survey to enable the group to speak with more authority on building issues within the membership of ICA. The data results will be anonymous, but the data will enable the group to develop a range of activities to service and advise ICA members on best practice, ensure better standards of care for archival collections, and so embed preservation as a key goal across the membership.

This issue of COMMA intends to show the commonalities and differences in the functions, characteristics and structure of local, municipal and territorial archives in different countries, and how these relate to their political and institutional organization.

Yesterday the Elected Officers (David Fricker, Andreas Kellerhals, Henri Zuber) joined the staff of the Secretariat (David Leitch, Nathalie Florent) in order to express their gratitude to Annick Carteret for her long and conscientious service to ICA. David Fricker, Henri Zuber, David Leitch

  The subject of improved access to archival information has been debated increasingly over the past years, not the least in numerous presentations held at ICA´s conferences. Archives all across the world are marketing their collections in a new way, to create an interest in them. These efforts are often initiated by political decisions. Archives are undergoing great changes, due to new technologies and trends in society, but also because of new needs and demands from their users.