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 - Boven, Maarten van: Scope and Aims of Mobility. A Dutch View / Cadres et Objectifs de la Mobilité. Un Point de vue néerlandais (english 293 - français 302)

archivists would provide a good starting point. Such links could be extended to other departments, such as restoration.

In my view, however, effective placement schemes would provide a more solid basis, enabling young archivists to learn a great deal about how archives work in another country. After all, we can surely still expect young people to be enthusiastic about mobility. Moreover, they will be confronted to a greater extent than the present generation of management staff with the process of European integration.

If placements are to be successful, language barriers must be removed wherever possible and trainees must be given an opportunity to do practical work in a foreign record office.

I believe the AFS programmes are the most appropriate for this purpose. May I outline their principal features.

1. The placements last for at least three months.

2. They begin with intensive language courses (ca. 20 hours per week) which last for four weeks. Experience has shown that the language barrier is the main obstacle to success.

3. During these four weeks, excursions are organised for the trainees from all the participating EC countries, to show them something of archive work and the working climate in the host country. It is therefore a truly international experience.

4 After the language course, trainees spend 8 or 9 weeks in a post related to the post they occupy at home. The central theme is learning by doing, with attention also being devoted to the functioning of the institution as a whole. The trainee is assigned a permanent supervisor from the record office staff.

5. Throughout the placement, most trainees lodge with the families of archivists, thus learning about the customs and daily life of the host country at first hand.

The advantages of intensive, well-organised placements of this kind are as follows. It is feasible for them to be subsidised by the EC. The trainee learns a great deal about archives and records work in the host country. The placements can be arranged on a reciprocal basis, so that both countries involved do the work and reap the rewards. The experience gained may be put to good use in the trainee’s own organisation. Exchanges bridge the gaps between what might be called the archives culture in different European countries. As far as the Netherlands is concerned, I can assure you that there would be a great deal ofinterest in such a scheme.

Conclusion

There is a need for archivists to broaden their European horizons and there is scope for them to do so. In the first place, the histories of European countries are closely interconnected. Secondly, public records departments in the different countries are fairly advanced and have undoubtedly influenced one another. Nevertheless, Dutch archivists are somewhat different from their foreign counterparts because they

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