The National Archives Service is active in international cooperation

International Council on Archives

The International Council on Archives (ICA), the organisation for the archival sector, was established in 1948. It operates around the world and focuses on promoting the preservation, development and use of the archival heritage. The ICA organises the annual International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA), that is, the Annual General Meeting, and a larger congress every four years. The next congress will be held in Brisbane, Australia, in 2012.

The ICA has over 1,600 members in 190 different countries, the majority of whom represent an institution. The organisation has branches established on a regional and subject basis. The ICA’s European branch operates under the name of EURBICA (European Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives).

The Director General represents the National Archives Service at the annual general meetings of the ICA. Kenth Sjöblom, Senior Research Officer at the National Archives, is Chair of the ICA’s Section on Sport Archives (SPO) and he is also a member of the ICA’s Executive Board. The National Archives Service is represented on the ICA’s Audit Commission by Senior Expert Jari Lybeck.

European Board of National Archivists

The European Board of National Archivists (EBNA) is a cooperation body of the European Union and the National Archives Services of all EU member states are members of it. The EBNA convenes twice a year in the capital city of the EU country holding the EU Presidency at the time. The Director General of the National Archives Service participates in the meetings.

The activities of the EBNA focus on the Report on archives in the enlarged European Union. The report presents a total of five joint projects:

• Preventing damage to archives and records and the creation of a joint operational programme on restoring damaged records.
• Increasing interdisciplinary cooperation in managing and digitising electronic records.
• Establishing a European archives portal for digital materials.
• Establishing the best models to facilitate the development of European legislation on archives and to improve access to archival records.
• The creation of an operational programme to prevent theft from archives.

The aim of the EBNA’s report is to seek best practices in archives management and records management and in this way to improve the archives services offered to EU citizens.

Nordic cooperation

Our traditional form of international cooperation is close cooperation with other Nordic countries. There are several channels for this to take place. The Nordic Directors General convene regularly. The directors of the Provincial Archives also meet regularly. A Nordic archives academy is held twice a year around a different theme each time.

A Nordic archives congress is held every three years, during which professionals in the field meet and take part in small groups and lectures.

One of the fruits of Nordic cooperation is benchmarking activity. A particular clearly defined function, such as digitisation or private archives, is chosen as the theme for benchmarking. Practices are compared and are used as the basis for trying to identify the best possible operating models that can then be used in a manner suitable to each country.

Document Lifecycle Management

Document Lifecycle Management (DLM) is the electronic records management cooperation organisation in the European Union. It brings together experts in the field from the public and private sectors as well as the European Commission. The aim is to promote research, cooperation and training in the sector. The DLM Forum’s core areas include subjects relating to the life cycle of documents, such as electronic storage and the long-term storage of documents. The first DLM Forum was held in 1996, after which they have been held every three years. The DLM Forum also organises smaller meetings every year.

The DLM Forum’s most important project since its establishment has been MoReq (model requirements for the management of electronic records), which involves requirement specifications relating to electronic storage. At the start of 2008, a new version of the standard was published: Moreq2.