XX Nordiska arkivdagar 6 10 augusti 2003

XX. Nordiska arkivdagar 6 – 10 augusti 2003 Reykjavík, Island Seminariet ABM-samarbeid Gudmund Valderhaug 8 augusti 2003

ABM-samarbeid Cooperation between archives, libraries and museums Gudmund Valderhaug, XX Nordiske arkivdagar Reykjavik 8. 03

What is ALM-cooperation? • Cooperation between individual institutions? – “…this has been done for a long time… nothing new in this…” • Or is it possible to identify a certain ALM-perspective? – Common for archives, libraries and museums 3

Searching for the ALM perspective… • • A change of mentality? The ICT revelation A new social role for the archives? Some societal challenges – Democratising knowledge and sources – The multicultural challenge • One sector – and three sectors 4

A change of mentality? • “The archives to the people – from isolation to openness” – ”…to follow the development of archives from an apathetic and isolated society to an open user-orientated organisation…” • A shift of focus – From preservation towards giving access – From serving researchers towards serving a broader public 5

Why do we exist? • Archives, libraries and museums are social institutions • Set up by the society to contribute to some purposes, which may change over time: research, popular education, nation building • What are the society’s challenges today – and how can we contribute? 6

The ICT revelation • ICT has led to fundamental changes in our societies – two cues for archives, libraries and museums: – The information society – The knowledge society • New demands • New possibilities 7

New demands from the society • Archives, libraries and museums are… – Organisations which a society establishes to achieve certain societal values there are general agreement should exist – Equal rights to information and knowledge – Make the individuals capable of taking part in a living democracy – Give individuals equal opportunities to act as active participants in the society (Stortingsmelding om arkiv, bibliotek og museum) 8

New possibilities… • From the reading room to the Internet: – New ways of communication – New user groups – New professional challenges • A new social role for the archives? 9

Archives as social institutions • ”Society’s challenges are our challenges” – What are the most important challenges? – In which areas can we contribute? – How can we contribute? – What should we give priority? 10

Two important challenges • Democratising access to knowledge and sources – Expanding our “markets” – Adapting to new users • The multi-cultural society – How do we create contacts? – How do we give/get documentation? 11

Democratising… • New user groups: – Lifelong learning – Schools • How do we serve new user groups – Who only use our web-services – Who often lack adequate qualifications to make use of and understand archives 12

Methodology and pedagogy • The methodical challenges: – How to intermediate the sources together with administrative and historical contextual information? – How to adjust sources without loss of integrity? • The pedagogical challenge: – How do we get through? 13

Multicultural societies • Norway: – Aboriginal people: Samí – National minorities: Jews, kvenar, romani, skogfinnar – New immigrant groups • Ratification of international conventions: – Prepare conditions so that national minorities may express, preserve and develop their identities 14

ALM and national minorities • Contribute to documentation and intermediation of history, culture and historical rights: – Archives are mainly created by and tell the majority’s version of the history – Minorities may have other sources for history and historical rights than the written document 15

One sector – three sectors • In confronting social challenges archives, libraries and museums in many ways represent one sector: – Memory- and knowledge institutions – Providers of services the society needs • The way they keep their collections still make them three separate professions 16

And… • In the tension of being both one and three sectors, we maybe will find the most challenging and exciting ALMperspective? 17