PLENARY ASSEMBLY MINUTES
GIRONA CONFERENCE CENTRE
13 OCTOBER 2014 1730-1830
Present : Dr Deborah Jenkins (Chair), Jantje Steenhuis, Tim Harris, Mies Langelaar, Sylvie Clair, Peter
Scheibner, Liu Zhi Cheng, Anna Pia Maissen, Peer Boselie, Ingfrid Baekker, Torgeir Aase, Lluis-Esteve
Casellas, Joan Boadas, Norma Fernoglio, Dominique Taffin, Michal Henkin
1. Welcome and Opening of Meeting
Deborah Jenkins opened the meeting and attendees were invited to introduce themselves and
identify their respective institutions. She emphasised that it was a flexible group and that members
could always send updates if they could not attend meetings in person.
2. Adoption of Agenda
Agreed. The language of the meeting would be English with opportunity for translation on request.
3. Approval of Minutes of Joint Bureau and Plenary Assembly Brussels 2013
The Chair noted that the minutes of the previous meeting had been circulated. Agreed.
4. Matters arising from the minutes
None.
5. Update from the ICA Executive Committee meeting Paris 2014
There had been a restructure of finances and there had been considerable debate over the
balance between funding resources for central activities of the Secretariat and that of the Sections
and Branches at a local level.
6. Update from informal ICA officers meeting Rotterdam 2014
The programme of the Section SLMT had been discussed together with opportunities for
cooperation with other ICA sections, for example with the ICA/SUV over the Paris Conference on
Big Data held in July 2014.
7. Update on PCOM meeting Paris 2014
The Chair represents ICA/SLMT on PCOM, the Programme Committee of ICA, as well as being
Chair of the Chairs of Sections. The strategic priorities were: Solidarity in archives; Access to
archives; and digitisation of archives. There had been an important development in the
establishment of Expert Panels on particular subjects, for example Tim Harris the Secretary of
ICA/SLMT was on the Expert Panel on Archive Buildings. Other Groups had been formed for
Digital Archives, Copyright and Disaster Planning.
8. SLMT Steering Committee/bureau elections: Procedure
The Chair explained that the Steering Committee/bureau needed to be re-elected each year. The
Secretary had contacted each member of the current committee to check that they were willing to
stand again. Annabel Lloyd has stood down. Peter Scheibner recognizes that this will be his last
year, but the Chair commented that he would be welcome to attend as an observer for the
remainder of the Committee term (until Seoul Congress 2016).
9. SLMT Steering Committee/bureau nominations to Plenary Assembly
The bureau for 2014/15 was duly elected:
Chair
Deborah Jenkins
Vice-Chair
Jantje Steenhuis
Secretary
Tim Harris
Webmistress
Mies Langelaar
Members
Mariela Alvarez Rodriguez, Sylvie Clair, Michal Henkin, Peter Scheibner, Zhu Jihua
New members Dominique Taffin, Celine Fernandes
The Chair offered the opportunity for others to join the Steering Committee and suggested anyone
interested should contact the Secretary.
10. Report on 2013/14 Business Plan
International Archives Day 9 Jun 2014 was a fantastic success for the poster website set up by the
Webmistress (www.internationalarchivesday.org) . Over 1.4 million users of the site in May and
June 2014 and still averaging 15,000 per month. Originally the site was going to close down after
June 2014 but because of continued interest, and acknowledgement that teachers were using the
site as an educational resource, it had continued to exist. It had attracted interest from over 500
archives across all continents and it was felt more archives should be encouraged to participate on
9 June 2015.
Preparation of COMMA edition on LMT archives had taken place during 2013/14 with 16 authors
being invited to submit papers before December 2014. An editorial board had been established.
The edition could be 2 volumes if required.
A joint Conference was held with ICA/SUV in Paris in July on the subject of big data.
The SLMT was working with ICA/SPA to establish a New Professionals Programme. For the first
time, bursaries were offered to new professionals (with less than 5 years’ experience) and over 50
people had applied. A mailing list was being compiled and a working lunch was taking place with
new professionals during the Girona Conference.
11. Proposals for 2014/15 Business Plan
a. International Archives Day 9 June 2015. Proposals for 2015 included the ability to add links to
the archive institution and also to vote for a favourite image.
b. COMMA 2015 edition on LMT will be worked on by the Editorial Board to ensure papers are
suitable and properly presented. It may be printed before the end of 2015.
c.
A further joint conference will be held with the ICA/SUV in North Carolina from 13-15 July
2015. This will be on the subject of Audiovisual archives. Some financial help will be given
towards speakers travel expenses.
d. ICA/SLMT will sponsor the following project: ‘Gobierno Abierto y Transparencia de la Gestion
Publica: su incidencia en la Legislacion Archivistica – Estudio comparado con
recomendaciones (GATLA)’ an international project which will publish a comparative guide on
archive legislation.
e. Under a call for new projects, a joint conference between CARBICA and SLMT on Access to
Archives will be held 2-6 December 2014 in Martinique.
f.
Submission of ideas for new projects should ideally be made before March each year to enable
due consideration to be given to choosing priorities alongside other ICA projects. Current
possibilities include the use of archives in branding of municipalities, a project originating in
Sweden. Also there are possibilities in providing advice and assistance to the establishment of
smaller territorial archives in Africa and Sri Lanka. Further links with other ICA groups,
including ICA/SAE, were possible and the Chair stressed that there were many different
approaches to projects but all needed a truly international dimension.
g. Joan Boadas mentioned the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage Day on 27 October
2014.
12. SLMT Webpages
The webpages had received a massive number of visitors in 2014 thanks to the International
Archives Day poster site. The Webmistress welcomed new news stories and the Secretary noted
that he would submit one on the new City of London Heritage Gallery. The latest minutes from the
Brussels meeting in 2013 would be uploaded now that they had been approved in Girona 2014.
13. Future SLMT Meeting 2015
This meeting would take place in Reykjavik, Iceland in September 2015 to coincide with the Third
ICA Annual Conference. Dates were to be finalised.
14. Future SLMT Meeting 2016
There would be a meeting at the ICA Congress at Seoul, South Korea in September 2016.
15. Liaison with other ICA sections
The Chair noted the useful work of other ICA bodies and invited members to participate in other
parts of the ICA’s activities.
The Dissenting Authors archives project was highlighted.
The Universal Archival Declaration is now an established guiding principle for UNESCO archives
policy.
The Human Rights Working Group produced a regular bulletin which provided an overview of the
subject across international borders.
16. Any other business
None.
17. Closure of Meeting
The Chair thanked Joan Boadas, our host in Girona for the marvellous welcome in his City. She
also thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.