Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 39. (1986)
Archive Buildings and the Conservation of Archival Material. An Expert Meeting, held in Vienna, Austria October 30 - November 1, 1985 - DUCHEIN, Michel: Introduction
Introduction 201 Zimbabwe to Norway, including the United States of America, such European countries as Albania, Austria, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the USSR, and such tropical countries as Malaysia, Papua-New Guinea and Sri Lanka. We did not, of course, expect to really solve any technical problems in the limited space of a three-day discussion. The aim of the seminar was rather to outline the main difficulties which face archivists and architects when planning, building and equipping archive repositories, and to discern the main trends of technological evolution which enable them to meet those difficulties. In the course of the lively debates which followed the three reports, many questions were touched upon, some of them of fundamental importance, some others - such as the conservation of large-size documents, or the debated advisability of sprinklers in repositories — of a more limited scope. I hope that, on all these points, the contribution of this seminar is not negligible. The participants also benefited by a visit, led by architect Franz Requat and his staff, to the impressive new Austrian State Archives building, presently under construction. This provided an opportunity to discuss many points about the planning and equipment of the building: an outstanding achievement in its field. The publication of the proceedings of the seminar nearly coincides with the issue of volume 31 of Archivum, the journal of the International Council on Archives, dedicated to Modern Buildings of National Archives5): another proof of the interest of archivists all over the world in these problems of construction and equipment. It is hoped that, in accordance with the wish expressed by the participants in the seminar, some kind of permanent international co-operation and coordination between archivists, conservators and architects will be established in the future by the International Council on Archives in order to gather and disseminate all the relevant information on current experiences and progress in the field of archival buildings and equipment. When this is achieved, it will indeed be possible to say that the Viennese seminar of 1985 has been useful to the whole archival community. The readers of this publication will feel deeply indebted to all those who made it possible. It would be a hopeless task to endeavour to name them all, but five, at least, should be named as a token of gratitude: that is, the three rapporteurs, Dr Wolf Buchmann, Miss Cristina Usón and Mr David Thomas; Dr Rudolf Neck, Director General of the Austrian State Archives; and the infatigable organizer of the seminar, Dr Leopold Auer of the Austrian State Archives. 5) Publisher Saur KG (München 1986) 142 p.
