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

4. Session / Séance. Strategies for Links with Historical Research / Stratégies de Communication envers la Recherche historique - Palayret Jean-Marie: Towards a New History of Europe (integration period) / Pour une nouvelle Histoire européenne. La période de l’intégration) (english 393 - français 413)

4. Session/Séance: Palayret, Towards a new History of Europe

the same everywhere. Such provisions are opening times, the number of files given for consultation each day, the possibility and cost of reproducing documents, the consultability of inventories where these exist, the preparation of working tools, etc. In short, it would be highly desirable to start by developing criteria that relate to the everyday life of the researcher.

Regarding the practical conditions of access, the regulations and traditions in being in the Member States are marked by great diversity.

The imposition of a uniform archival service is certainly inconceivable, since it would attack habits deeply rootes in the socio-cultural heritage of each country and have an impact in terms of the costs of archival services financed by national budgets. It is however important in the context of a wider opening of archives to respond increasingly to the needs of users, be they ordinary citizens or specialized researchers. The organization of access and services ought to offer the desired environment for consultation and avoid discriminatory treatment, particularly between national and non-national users, without losing sight of the requirements associated with the preservation and integrity of the irreplaceable heritage that archival documents constitute.

1. Release Terms in practice

All countries have rales for the practical terms of release, particularly governing reading rooms. These regulations sometimes apply to all holdings coming under the national archives service (Belgium, Italy, Netherlands), but more often concern only one records office (Germany, Spain, France, Greece, Ireland, United Kingdom).

a) Regarding access formalities, apart from a few indispensable security measures (everywhere readers are required to establish their identity), there is no longer in theory any question of complex accreditation procedures. However, access to the archives of the foreign and defence ministries remains covered by special regulations requiring accreditation by the embassy and/or a letter of introduction from research directors (United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Greece, Spain, Germany, for instance).

From a concern for transparency and equity, the experts unanimously rejected the application of an alleged principle of reciprocity as regards access to national archival services. On the other hand, they wished to encourage the on-going approximation of accreditation procedures for consultation, in the prospect that ultimately this accreditation might be valid for all the archival services of the Member States and of the Community institutions.

b) Terms of consultation in the Twelve are not always or everywhere in line with user expectations. The drawbacks resulting from these shortcomings increase in proportion with the distance separating the archives from the reader’s place of residence. Foreigners, who are often up to 25 % of total attendances in the reading room, are particularly penalized by this. A consensus on opening hours of national archival services might be aimed at. Reading rooms ought, for instance, to be accessible at least forty hours per week, according to Mem409