Report on the 2nd Annual Conference of ICA in Girona, Spain and the visit to The National Archives, UK
1. ICA Annual Conference
International Council on Archives (ICA) held its 2nd Annual Conference (AC) in Girona, Spain from October 11 to 15, 2014. Also took place at the same time were the 9th European Conference on Archives and the 13th Image and Research Seminar. This time, AC alone attracted over 900 participants from 90 countries/territories.
The theme for AC 2014 was "Archives and Cultural Industries." Under this, the professional program was composed of 6 keynote addresses, 4 plenary sessions, and over 40 parallel sessions covering 9 topics. More than 250 speakers delivered presentations.
>>Professional program timetable
>>Keynote speakers information
>>Abstract and full text of the presentations
In parallel with the professional program, ICA governance meetings were also held. Among them, NAJ delegates attended the Forum of National Archivists (FAN) on October 12 and the ICA General Assembly on October 14.
What was most discussed at the FAN meeting was its long-term strategy as a principal organ of ICA. In order to better approach influential government figures and to promote cooperation with industry, national archivists agreed to develop position papers of the Forum. After the discussion followed 6 presentations including those on UNESCO-PERSIST, an international project for long-term sustainability of digital heritage, and on the Basic Principles on the Role of Archivists in Support of Human Rights, a statement currently being developed by ICA.
At the General Assembly, new elements of the Internal Regulations, which provide for detailed rules to manage ICA, were approved. Proposed elements put at the meeting this year were about procedure to select host for AC; mandate of the Fund for the International Development of Archives (FIDA) and its board members; and procedure to appoint the Program Commission (PCOM) members. All of the three elements were ratified. Other agenda items included host cities of future ICA meetings. Reykjavik, Iceland first delivered a presentation as the host city of upcoming AC 2015 and announced that it would be held from September 18 through 22, with the theme of "Archives as One of the Pillars of Modern Society." Then, Korea, the host of ICA Congress in 2016, went on to invite the archival community to join this quadrennial event.
2. Visit to The National Archives, UK
After AC 2014 was over, Senior Vice-President Saito visited The National Archives (TNA) in the suburb of London, UK on October 17. TNA has expanded its exhibition space recently and been active in the area of educational programs in close cooperation with relevant organizations.
* Further details of the Annual Conference in Girona, as well as the visit to The National Archives, will be reported in No. 55 of our journal "Archives" published in February 2015.
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Opening ceremony of the AC
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Keynote speech by a local star chef
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From the floor of the main conference hall
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The National Archives
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Work space in the reading room
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