Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

4. Session / Séance. Strategies for Links with Historical Research / Stratégies de Communication envers la Recherche historique - Gonzalez, Pedro: Data Bases and Long Distance Communication. A Spanish Éxperience / Bases de données et information a distance. Une expérience des archives espagnoles (english 319 - français 343)

4. Session/Séance: Gonzalez, Data Bases and long distance Communcation

The first of these Source Guides, which is the one which really gives rise to and serves as a model for the other projects, is concerned with the history of Italy. The commencement of this project is to be found in an agreement with the Italian Archives to undertake an archival information exchange project on the history of both countries. In Italy information on Spanish history to be found in the Italian Archives’ document fonds was to be gathered, and in Spain information on documents relating to Italian history.

The information exchange had to be done using a computing medium so it was necessary to produce a common format for collecting information and, eventually, one single data base structure. At the present moment more than 14 000 references are included in the GUFU data base (Source Guide for the History of Italy), with information which is gathered directly in each one of the Archives involved in the project, although data entry into the system is still done centrally in CIDA.

The following archives are included in this project: Archivo General de Siman- cas, Archivo Histôrico Nacional, Corona de Aragon, Reino de Valencia, Archivo Histôrico Diocesano de Barcelona, Archivo del Palacio Real de Madrid, Archivo Bartolomé March etc.

4. 4. Other Source Guides

Making the most of the experience accumulated with the GUFU data base, as well as its structure and the format for information gathering designed for it, other Source Guide projects are being undertaken which we mention only briefly:- GUCI (Source Guide for the Spanish Civil War, Exile and the Workers’ Movement), with more than 6000 references.- HAME (Source Guide for the History of America), with more than 1500 references.- MESA (Source Guide for the History of the Sciences and Technology), divided into areas:- Medicine and Health: around 4000 references- Botany and Mining: around 500 references- Meteorology and Astronomy (being planned)

The State Archives will now have the necessary infrastructure in order to connect up to the Ministerio de Cultura and with each other using the IBERPAC network. The first result of this connection, to be undertaken during 1993, will be to permit systematic access to CIDA data bases, as well as other data bases of a cultural nature which are disseminated by the Ministry. This access will also enable decentralization of the data input process toin the different Source Guides we have discussed earlier. With this the process of entering information can be done directly by each one of the archives preparing it.

An important result of this connection will be that of setting up bases for the creation of the automated Archive network, which is to begin functioning by using the system developed for the Archivo General de Indias.

329