CITRA finally ended its 57-year history

• The 43rd International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA) was held in Toledo, Spain from September 22 to 29, attended by some 350 participants from 90 countries.
• Of the professional program, the following three plenary sessions were held, in which presentations comparing digital materials and paper materials were given.
  
      Session 1: The Archival Preservation Landscape in the 21st Century
      Session 2: Debate: Stakeholders in Archival Preservation
      Session 3: Disaster Planning and Response
  
  In addition, presentations about preservation and conservation activities by states and professional groups of various regions were given in the 12 parallel sessions. Also held were ICA Awareness Sessions, a new attempt to raise awareness about ongoing ICA projects, where presentations about ICA-funded projects, the International Fund for Archival Development (FIDA), and the Universal Declaration on Archives were given.
• On October 25, the Forum of the National Archivists was held with Daniel Caron, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, as chair. The Forum consisted of three sessions on the theme of “Open Government,” “Modern Appraisals for Digital Information Resources,” and “Trust Digital Repositories Development” respectively. Here, presentations by the national archivists of the following countries were given: the United States, the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland, New Zealand, Belgium, Finland, Brazil and Mozambique. In the general discussion after those presentations, the national archivists agreed to enhance cooperation among archives at the state level, in order to pursue a new business model in the digital age and make visible and meaningful contribution to the society.
• In the plenary session “Disaster Planning and Response” of October 27, President Takayama of the National Archives of Japan made a report titled “Save the Disaster-stricken Archives!: From Devastation to the Discovery of Hope for Tomorrow.” In it, what the Japanese government and archival community had done to tackle with archives damaged by the Great East Japan Earthquake was reported, and it got much attention of the audience as the latest case report about restoration after a disaster.
  >>Presentation of President Takayama [PDF]
• In parallel with CITRA, some administrative meetings of ICA were held. President Takayama, as the chair of the East Asian Regional Branch of ICA (EASTICA), attended the ICA Executive Board meeting, the meeting of the chairs of ICA Branches, and the joint meeting of ICA Program Commission (PCOM), and the chairs of ICA Branches and Sections. Moreover, former President Kikuchi attended the Meeting of the FIDA Board of Trustees, in which applications for funding for archival projects in the developing countries were reviewed.
• The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of October 28 decided to put a period to the 57-year history of CITRA which had been held annually (except for the years the quadrennial ICA Congresses were held) since its first meeting at Paris in 1954. In the coming years, CITRA is to be replaced by the Annual Conference which consists of (1) governance meetings such as AGM; (2) the Forum of the National Archivists; and (3) professional seminars. AGM amended the ICA Constitution in response to the abolishment of CITRA, and decided that PCOM was to be responsible for the new professional seminars, and the secretariat of the Forum of the National Archivists would be newly established. Although CITRA was open only for Category A (federal/national archives) and B (professional archival associations) members, this new Annual Conference will be open for all ICA members.
• At AGM, it was reported that the Universal Declaration on Archives, which had been approved at the AGM of CITRA 2010 in Oslo, was submitted to the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for endorsement. This owes very much to Mr. Papa Momar Diop, Ambassador of Senegal at UNESCO and former President of the National Archives of Senegal. Considering the implication of its endorsement by UNESCO, the mentor organization of ICA, ICA had asked its members to support it from before. Subsequently to CITRA 2011, the Declaration was unanimously endorsed at the General Conference of UNESCO on November 10.
  >>The Universal Declaration on Archives
• And besides, AGM approved the annual activity reports of 2011, the audited financial report of 2010, the suggested dues of Category A members for 2012, the draft budget of 2012, etc. Furthermore, Korea, the single host candidate for the 2016 ICA Congress, was officially elected to be the host after giving a presentation.

Details of the 43rd CITRA will be reported in The Archives, 46 (to be published in February 2012).