Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)
3. Session / Séance. Sharing of Experience and Exchange of Staff / Partage d’Expériences et Echange des Personnes - Huyda, Richard: Coordination Research in Archival Sience and Dissemination of Professional Information / Coordination de la recherche en archivistique et diffusion de l’information professionnelle (english 231 - français 251)
3. Session/Séance: Marcoux - Huyda, Coordinating Research in archivai Science pace and in too specialized areas to permit anyone to claim universal expertise in archival science. To this we add, the natural human inclination that the people involved in research do not always have common interests and sometimes even pursue goals that are strictly private. Though researchers are, by definition, continually seeking information, the dissemination ofthe results of their labours and the information amassed therein is not a routine matter. Let us not forget that control (or ownership) of information still confers prestige and power. This egoism and egocentrism in individuals emerge even more glaringly at the institutional level. Institutions set up research programs to solve problems. Once these have been dealt with, the institutions do not necessarily accept any moral obligation or community, professional or social responsibility to communicate the results of the research carried out under their auspices. „Every man for himself1 is an accepted and deeply rooted concept in our societies. And since Kant, we are naturally persuaded that the pursuit of personal happiness and private benefit is enough to ensure our collective progress. In this same vein, let us remember that our individualism often prevents us from seeing the need for planned and concerted action. In such a context, disseminating professional information often takes the form of a Brownian movement. We seek, we find, we sometimes publish (some of us even frequently), but the formal systems for centralizing and exchanging information remain embryonic and bereft of support. So that, as Jean Fourastié has complained concerning scientific information: This weakness in our knowledge of methodology raises problems indocumentation. We scarcely know how the great minds work, and we can hardly confront and assess their methods. But more generally, the increasing incidence of discoveries and „news“ of scientific interest makes it more and more difficult for the scholar to keep informed. This is a problem related to the problem of common ignorance; but here, we are speaking of scholarly ignorance, since the specialists themselves are its victims. We are at the point where teams of researchers are seeking results that have already been found and published. So that the question is to determine the point at which a discovery is actually implanted in the science. The boundary between schooled science and ignorance, very clear in principle, is thus blurred24. Finally, there are the limitations to the European integration of archival institutions cited by Michel Duchein25, limitations that can be seen as so many factors opposing the potentially extensive dissemination of professional information: language barriers, the diversity of historical and cultural traditions, and differences in archivists’ training and professional status. Concerning the incentive factors for increased dissemination of professional information, we have already mentioned certain socioeconomic imperatives and professional responsibilities. To round off this list of centripetal and centrifugal forces that promote or block the more extensive dissemination of professional information, let note that there’s a certain effort to harmonize archival practice, noted in recent years, can only encou24 Fourastié, Jean: Les conditions de l’esprit scientifique. Paris 1966, p. 55-56. 25 Duchein, Michel: The History of European archives and the development of the archival profession in Europe, in: The American Archivist 55 (1992) n° 1, p. 24. 239
