How can we prevent disasters in archives?

Disasters in archives were the main subject of the session “Rebalancing preservation policy in the light of current challenges”. Interesting thoughts in this area were presented by two speakers, Per Cullhed from Uppsala University (Sweden) and Dr. Wang Liangcheng from the State Archives Administration of China.

 The focus of the first speaker was the work of IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) during the last decade. Although Per Cullhed´s presentation primarily dealt with library issues, the matters which he brought up are valid just as much in the archival area as well. Through some examples of major disasters in libraries and archives in recent years, one of his conclusions was the importance of constantly being aware of risks and of monitoring the collections, in order to act quickly when something goes wrong. The logistics are very essential too, to be able to evacuate the material in case of an emergency.

 Dr. Liangcheng pointed out the main risks for the Chinese archives. Natural disasters (rainstorms, earthquakes, mudflows) have ruined a number of archives in the country only in the last years. The worsening environment (pollution etc.) has also had a bad impact. Dr. Liangcheng came to the same conclusion as the speaker above, when he stated how important it is to analyze the risks and actively deal with them, before they become a reality. A third area where China has encountered particular difficulties is the great loss of digital information. The speaker gave the audience a few examples. The total Chinese population census of 1983 was one of them. However interesting Dr. Liangcheng´s presentation was and how great a sympathy we probably all felt for China´s tragical loss of parts of its cultural heritage, I wasn´t as convinced about the Chinese strategy to convert all the digital information, worth to be preserved, into microfilm.

 Per Cullhed from the Uppsala University Library (Sweden) was one of the two speakers who addressed the problem with disasters in archives.

 /Martin Ståhl