Report on the 40th International Conference of the Round Table on Archives
The 40th International Conference of the Round Table on Archives held in Quebec City
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The 40th International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA) was held in Quebec City, Canada from the 12th to 16th November 2007, where some 200 participants from 66 countries/areas came together.
The theme of this year's CITRA was "Cooperate to Preserve Diversity", and presentations were made on issues such as cooperation between libraries, museums and archives, cooperation between government agencies and national archives in the area of records management, and cooperation with the international projects such as World Digital Library.
Following the format applied last year, there was also time allocated for participants to discuss on specific topics at round tables in small groups. They exchanged experiences and knowledge each other regarding certain topics including Archipaedia Project (an archival dictionary on the Internet), long term preservation of digital records, measures to counter theft, disaster preparedness, and professional competency for today's archivists.
This year, CITRA organized for the first time in its history a special session for national archivists. The session consisted of the four presentations by the national archivists from Australia, UK, Fiji, and Trinidad and Tobago, followed by discussions. It was pointed out that rapid development in information society changed the role of national archives from Keeper to Manager and defining strategies on knowledge/information management became more essential for the national archives. The importance of international cooperation and the role of the ICA under such circumstances were discussed. Concurrently, another session was organized to exchange views among delegates both from professional associations of each country/region, delegates from each section of the ICA, and local archivists of Canada, and it is said that it was quite successful.
The Annual General Meeting 2007 has elected Mr. David Leitch, present Deputy Secretary General of the ICA (and former staff of the National Archives of UK) as the next Secretary General of the ICA (to take over in autumn 2008). Also the members amended the ICA Constitution regarding the ICA management system, like changing the President's term from four years to two, approved and resolved the external audit report, the next year's budget and the scale of next year's membership due. And finally, Resolutions of the 40th CITRA were adopted.
CITRAs from 2005 to 2007 were chaired by Mr. Mitsuoki Kikuchi, the President of the National Archives of Japan and the Vice-President of the ICA, under the unified theme of "Archives, Diversity and Globalization." This year's CITRA was the last one which President Kikuchi chaired over, and he received a big hand from participating delegates of each country/area at the closing session for his efforts and commitment for organizing the CITRAs in 2005-2007 cycle. For more information on the CITRA 2007 and the Annual General Meeting, please see our information journal, Archives, No.32, to be published in April 2008.
The International Council on Archives (ICA) is an international non-government organization founded in 1948 with assistance extended by UNESCO. The National Archives of Japan became a member in a year after its establishment in 1972. ICA currently counts some 1,400 members including national and local archives and related organizations in 190 countries/regions. ICA holds the International Congress of 2,000 participants in every four years and Round Table Conference (CITRA) of 200 participants in other years. The 16th International Congress on Archives will take place at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from the 21st to 27th of July, 2008.
Secretary General-elect Mr. Leitch and President Kikuchi
National Archivist of Australia making a presentation at the special session for national archivists.
Group discussions at the round tables
President Kikuchi delivered a speech at the Farewell Dinner
