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 cally very productive and cheap, it appears that the scope offered by multilateral cooperation for reducing the cost of projects while increasing the number of countries benefiting are neither sufficiently known nor exploited. During the 1980s two bilateral projects of this type were carried out in Europe: a microfilming of the ,Turcica1 stock held in the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv, Vienna in 1984-85 for the Balkan countries as a whole, and the UNESCO/ICA programme to reconstitute the inherited documentary wealth of the developing countries. 4. 2. Exchange of Professional Experience Simplifying matters, we could say that searches and the transfer of copies are a continuation, at international level, of practical archive work, while the exchange of experience (study missions, visits and conferences) is more concerned with their theoretical work. Searches and the transfer of copies quickly produce tangible results, while the exchange of experiences may be considered as a human investment, which will come to maturity in the long term. The profitability“ of this investment will depend above all on the general conditions governing the profession and on the human factor (see paragraphs 2.2. 1.-2. 2. 2.). As a general rule, visits and study missions are generally organized within a bilateral framework, while the majority of conferences and meetings are held under the aegis of international organizations, particulary the ICA. The reason is that they are able to have the organizational costs covered by the host countries and to mobilize the intellectual weight to ensure that these four attain an appropriate level. International meetings are sometimes organized by national institutions. Thus the representatives of the EC Member States and the Central European countries were invited to attend the 3Ht Congrès des Archives de France (Lyon 1990) which was dedicated to problems of European integration. The Maastricht colloquy 1991 organized by the Royal Association of Dutch Archivists also dealt with questions of European integration. In connection with systematic searches in archives abroad, I have already referred to the way this divides up geographically into countries where there is a shortage of source material and those where there is not. This geographical imbalance is even more striking as far as exchange of experience is concerned. It is a simple matter of fact that there are front-runner countries in archival matters, and underdeveloped countries. Although useful experience can be gained in any archival institution, it is normal that the underdeveloped countries should wish to learn from those leading field. According to the replies to the questionnaire, the countries most in demand are Spain, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the USA. 4. 3. Training Post-university training abroad, which is the subject of this report, is not always strictly distinguishable from the exchange of experiences, since the exchange of ideas often forms an integral part of the work of seminars. In the 1980s few educa20
