15
th
International Congress on Archives
Hoy
www.wien2004.ica.org
10
Shared knowledge and collaboration will strengthen our profession everywhere, and will
better prepare us in addressing critical archival emergencies world wide.
The importance of collaboration continues. McKemmish shows how collaboration can be structured;
using the continuum model to identify how different professions involved in recordkeeping in its
broadest sense can move out of their traditional boundaries or dimensions and look beyond to new
partners. The framework and rationale are in place, the next step is how to implement them.
Ivanco, in debating links between the archival and information management sector does not see that
collaboration or partnerships would de-professionalise the archives and records sector, and indeed,
encourages it as a way of strengthening the profession in the longer term.
for some convergence between the sectors, but believes they should retain their domains of expertise.
Cunningham canvasses the issues of a future merger of the Australian Society of Archivists and the
Records Management Association of Australia (RMAA) by discussing areas of collaboration.
examples of this include the Joint ASA/RMAA Education Committee and the 2003 Archives and
Records Education Stakeholders (ARES) Forum, a meeting of educators, employers and professional
associations, where issues of common interest and concern were debated.
Ultimately, however, it will
be the compatibility of professional values that will determine the extent of mergers between
associations, as values dictate the culture and identity of associations, which in turn inform the goals of
professional development.
4. What are the sources of inspiration and hope for the archives profession?
The work of the Committee on Automated Records and Techniques (CART), G4 Electronic Records
Working Party and DLM European Monitoring Committee offers a new direction for how we define
and develop understanding of our profession. While the focus of their work was on digital records, the
paradigm they presented would also be relevant for other areas of the profession. I would like to see
their work used as a guide, to ensure that professional development is more than just reinforcement of
current practice.
Governments are starting to pay a lot more attention to lifelong learning, to equip all agencies and
groups to participate in future knowledge generation and growth. Concepts associated with lifelong
learning have moved out of personal contexts to support long term economic investment strategies for
our ageing population and changing labour market. The Organisation for Economic Co-peration and
Development (OECD) also recently reported that higher educated people were more likely to continue
learning, and that a high proportion of workplace or enterprise training focused on upgrading
Authorities (CAARA) to better reflect the need to give attention to both archives and records management issues,
and to include New Zealand.
55
T Hickerson, `Ten challenges for the archival profession', The American Archivist, Volume 64, Number 1,
Spring/Summer 2001, p. 9.
56
McKemmish, p. 30.
57
J Ivanco, `Archival education and information management: rivals or allies?' Reading the Vital Signs: Archival
Training and Education in the 21st Century, European Conference for Archival Educators and Trainers, Marbug,
2425 September 2001, ICA website:
www.ica.sae.org/mrconfpaper4.html
(accessed 22 April 2004), p. 3.
58
C Beghtol, `In interesting times: from the twentieth century to the twentyfirst', The American Archivist,
Volume 64, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2001, p. 154.
59
A Cunningham, `What's in a name?: broadening our horizons in the pursuit of a recordkeeping profession that
cherishes unity in diversity', Archives and Manuscripts, Journal of the Australian Society of Archivists, Volume
29, Number 1, May 2001, pp. 11017.
60
Archives and Records Education Stakeholders (ARES) Forum, `Facilitator's summary', Proceedings of the
Archives and Records Education Stakeholders (ARES) Forum, Melbourne, Australia, 1213 June 2003, ARES
Website:
http://www.archivists.org.au/events/ARES2003/facilitatorssummary.html
(accessed 15 May 2004).
61
Cox, p. 27.
