ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 40. (ZAGREB, 1997.)

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M. Carassi, A few Remarks about Professional Training of Archivists in Italy, Arh. vjesn., god. 40(1997) str. 83-87 Archivists training would be integrated in regional schools in order to specialise them in history of local institutions and archives. These local studies are needed in Italy due to the different administrative traditions until 1861. It is impossible to summarise all the contents of teaching in Italian schools, but I would like to emphasise some points I consider to be relevant. - Italian schools tend to balance the teaching of theory and practice. Theory is felt to be the instrument for problem solving of any kind, as mere practice is only empirism. Moving from sound archival theory, it would be easier, for example, to realise that a file containing paper documents, photos, floppies etc., shouldn't be splitted away into different storage areas, unless very serious conservation problems suggest it and always preserving the intellectual unity of the original file. - Italian schools attach great importance to a legal and administrative background in order to allow archivists to understand the internal procedures of institutions which created the archives. - At the moment schools offer a common professional background to "historical" archivists and archivists who produce archives (records) in today's administrations. In contrast to other national traditions where archivists are more sharply set apart from records managers, in Italy the different steps of the life cycle of documents are considered to be successive phases of a unique process. In other words this link is felt to be not only in the interest of a good access to archives for historical purposed, but first of all in the interest of administrations who produce records. An example of how "historical" archivists can help records creators to adopt more reliable and efficient filinf and retrieval methods, can be found in the recent reorganisation of the Pentagon electronic archives, in which two Italian archivists were involved. State Archive Schools, in competition with private schools, from time to time organise seminars to update the professional knowledge of employees in State and local administrations. - Appraisal and disposal dilemmas are additional fields in which being intellectually well equipped is thought to be particularly important. Rather than little historical value, which seems to be a very subjective criteria, a better approach for destroying documents if felt to be keeping at least essential testimony of the records creator's functions and activities. - Italian schools teach how to apply the principle of provenance and of original order. A. Mule in her report at the Beijing international congress, said these should remain the bedrock of the profession. This emphasis is intended to guarantee the most objective and impartial conditions of access to archives for every kind of users, present and future. In fact, historical fashions change over time: the best way to preserve archival context in favor of all researches is to keep archives as they 86