ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 42. (ZAGREB, 1999.)
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J. Kolanović, Autonomija arhivske službe, Arh. vjesn., god. 42(1999), str. 29-42 AUTONOMY OF ARCHIVAL SERVICE I have a special honor to welcome you in Dubrovnik, the town whose phrase Libertas is written on its ancient flag. Liberias is another name for independence, sovereignty and autonomy. This town has been preserving that autonomy for centuries in very difficult historical contexts and its unique archives is a testimony of the City Republic's past and an evidence of all countries to which it has been communicating with as well. That was a reason to choose Dubrovnik to be a place of the conference on "Autonomy and Integrity of Archives". Later on, at the proposal of the Council of Europe, the conference subject had been extended to "the destruction and reconstruction of archives". Primarily, by this was meant destruction that had been happening on the territory of the former Yugoslavia during the last nine years. The idea to elaborate this subject emerged from considerations on archival service's position in the countries of former communist society. That does not mean that the subject is topical for transition countries only. In many aspects, it can be of interest for archives and archival services in countries of western democracy. The idea about the conference dedicated to autonomy of archives has been supported by the ICA/EUR (International Council on Archives, Coordinating Board for European Program). Mr. Erick Norberg, president of the ICA/EUR and director of the Swedish National Archives and the ICA/EUR secretary, Mr. Patrick Cadell, director of the Scottish Record Office gave theirs special support on realization of this meeting. We have been gradually building a framework of this subject on regular ICA/EUR meetings, and it got its final look after a survey had been conducted in all European countries. The survey had shown a whole range of problems referring to this subject that are common to all countries and their archival services. One of the most significant segments of these problems is clearly stressed in the first article of the archivists' Code of Ethics, which had been accepted three years ago at the International Conference on Archives in Beijing: "Archivists should protect the integrity o f archive materia l... The objectivity and impartiality of archivists is measure of their professionalism ". In conclusion of the Code of Ethics, it is explicitly said: "They should resist any pressure from any source to manipulate evidence so as to conceal or distort facts". The autonomy of archival service is essential to preserve integrity of rec ords as a reflection of objectivity, integrity, and impartiality during entire process of recor d creatio n. Let us be free to say that professional archival service is another name for that autonomy. It excludes any influence of political ideology on archive service, and consequently selecti on. preservation and access to recor ds. On the other hand, it is necessary to ensure all prerequisites to realize the goal, but in the way that another request put by the Code in its 8 th article can be achi36
