Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

1. Session / Séance. Experiences gained, current Situation, future Prospects / Expériences acquises, Situation actuelle, Perspectives futures - Körmendy, Lajos: International Cooperation in Europe. A Survey / Programmes de Coopération internationale des archives en Europe. Un bilan (english 13 - français 27)

1. Session/Séance: Körmendy, International archival Cooperation

tionships, but a series of practical reasons: a common history (and hence administrative similarities) produced and perhaps continues to produce analogous documentation with the result the archive stocks are complementary and hence, archival problems are similar. It is logical for the countries in question to seek joint solutions and to exchange ideas.

Those countries which have made the greatest advances in archive systems exercise a major pull on less developed countries seeking to learn. Although only four countries gave this as a reason for their listing of preferred countries, it does appear that apprenticeship4 is an important factor in several other countries as well. These are two most common and most important factors in international cooperation. We shall now examine the other factors affecting international relations.

2. 2. Structural Reasons 2. 2. 1. Traditions

In countries where the ,archivist-historian mentality' traditionally predominates, and where the profession is consequently concerned above all with using historical archives, archivists are uninterested in international cooperation. This is only logical because their work centres on their own documents - foreign archivists who look after other documents are of little help to them in their work. On the other hand, in countries where modern archival techniques and practices have a high profile, the profession is automatically open to the rest of the world because all these archivists are dealing with a comparable set of problems; they are faced both with a rapid increase in the sheer volume of documents and with the need to find a proper place in postindustrial society for archives and archivists.

These challenges evoke similar responses, and therefore it is eminently useful for such archivists to exchange experiences, attend conferences and hold international courses.

Naturally, this does not mean that the ,archivist-historian' tradition is incompatible with international contacts; historical archives also pose international' problems, particularly as concerns the preservation and the conservation of documents. Moreover, as these countries are also suffering from the phenomenon of .inflation' as regards documents and information, they too, as several examples reveal, are being compelled to abandon their splendid isolation.

2. 2. 2. Professional conditions

The lack of sources sometimes leads archivists to seek external contacts, as all of them are concerned to complete their stocks with copies (microfilms) of documents help abroad. Programmes of this type are run, above all, by former colonies (the most important sources concerning their history being located in the archives of their former colonial masters). There are, however, examples in Europe too, such as Bulgaria, which for historical reasons possesses very few documents earlier than the end

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