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 - STEWART, William J.: Summary of Discussions
260 William J. Stewart to serve as the architect’s reference handbook. That brings me to my second point and an admonition. Do not rely on a model brief. No two institutions are alike. What may be good for one repository may be bad for another. The third point I wish to voice is what I see as a growing dissatisfaction with sophisticated technical apparatus. It is expensive to purchase and now we are finding it costly to maintain. I predict we will see more research that seeks economical solutions and less interest in developing more advanced and costly paraphernalia. Finally, a word on bibliography as it relates to the symposium topic. Two volumes to appear shortly are particularly relevant. Archivum, volume 31, will direct attention to those national archives constructed in the last ten years, specifically in Norway, Malaysia, and West Germany. Regrettably, we will have to await a future volume for a discussion of the new Österreichisches Staatsarchiv. The second book is the new French edition of my Les Bailments et Equipements d’Archives (Paris 1966). The English edition, published in 1977, is still in print. SESSION II Chair: Haris de Silva De Silva: Now we have to start the second session which I have the pleasure to chair. Without taking too much of your time and without anticipating what will have to be said, I wish to ask Ms Usón to present her paper. Papers by Ms Usón, Ms Massabd-Ricci and Carassi, and Ms Harrach see pp. 221-232. Auer: Dr Carassi has drawn our attention to yet another aspect of adaptation, that is the renovation of older buildings going back to the 18th century. They often do not meet modern safety and fire security standards. On the other hand, they are historical monuments and as such are protected by law. This is an issue that merits our consideration. Very often, it would not make sense to abandon these structures so the goal is to find another use or renovate them to meet requirements for fire protection, security, and so forth. In his slide presentation Dr Carassi has shown us an example from the 18th century where we observed problems with the roof and shelving. I would be interested to know whether the antique wooden shelves are in use or are they intended as a historical curiosity only? There is another problem for buildings of this period which were built according to the magazine system. There you have the floors separated by grillwork which creates a fire hazard. So it would be interesting to ponder what to do with these buildings, how to adapt them, and how to upgrade the entire security environment.
