The Merger of the National Archives and
the National Library of Canada
Regiefunctie
Tot slot nog een vraag over dynamische
archieven/informatie. Martin Berendse:
"De archiefsector heeft een adviserende
en inspectiefunctie wat betreft
dynamische archieven en schuift meer op
in de richting van regie. Je ziet dat
archiefdiensten 'het concern' worden
ingetrokken juist om de
informatiehuishouding te helpen
inrichten en op orde te krijgen. De
overbrengings-termijn van archieven van
20 jaar zal verdwijnen. Door digitalisering
zal het gebruikelijker en gemakkelijker
worden archieven sneller of zelfs vrijwel
direct na aanmaken over te brengen. In
de wettelijke overbrengingstermijn
verandert niets. De KB staat wat verder af
van die problematiek, maar overlegt wel
degelijk met uitgevers wat de wensen
zijn voor digitale aanlevering."
BS: "Het is niet onwaarschijnlijk dat
publicaties dynamischer van karakter
worden. In de wetenschap zie je het
belang van versies. Er zit meer dynamiek
in. En wat te denken van websites, blogs,
kranten, tweets?"2
Noot
René Spork redacteur Archievenblad
en projectleider bij het Gemeentearchief
Rotterdam.
Shelley Sweeney
Library And Archives Canada (LAC)
was formed in 2004 with the merger
of the National Archives of Canada
(founded 1872) and the National
Library of Canada (founded 1953).
The merger was seen as resolving
problems and providing advantages.
Problems included longstanding
jurisdictional conflicts relating to the
National Library"s acquisition of
maps, music manuscripts and literary
papers. A single institution would be
responsible for preserving government
websites, avoiding another
jurisdictional quagmire. A single
website would serve both institutions,
facilitating access to collections.
Clients would only have to register
once to use both collections. Service
standards would be merged.
Preservation facilities, IT and support
services would be shared. Perhaps
most importantly, a single large
institution would have a higher
profile and be less of a target for
government cutbacks than two
smaller institutions.
Against these advantages were
certain disadvantages. There was a
significant cultural divide between
librarians and archivists when the
merger occurred. Librarians felt
archivists were not concerned enough
with reference and focused too
heavily on preservation and collecting.
The archivists felt librarians were
doing work that was technical and
repetitive and insufficiently scholarly.
An earlier settlement that gave
librarians higher salaries than
archivists has not been completely
mitigated by increases to the wages
of archivists, causing a wage imbalance.
While the two professional staffs have
reached a truce in the years since the
merger, a recent survey among
archivists at LAC has found that they
are deeply unhappy with the way the
institution is heading. 70% of
archivists did not feel respected as
professionals and 42% had looked or
would be looking for another job at
the time the survey was taken. In
addition, many of the current leaders
of the institution are neither archivists
nor librarians, including the Librarian
and Archivist of Canada. Many inside
and outside of the institution feel this
has had a detrimental effect.
It is difficult to say however how the
merged institution has fared compared
to what might have been, had the
two institutions remained separate.
The merged institution has lost
funding - but is it more than what
each separate institution would have
lost? There have been a great many
complaints from researchers in recent
years. But does this arise from having
a merged institution, from financial
cutbacks, or from a policy of
emphasizing online service delivery
at the expense of in-person service?
Staff were moved to a building
outside the capital city of Ottawa,
close to the preservation facility in
Quebec where collections reside. This
has severed contact between the
archivists and the researchers using
the reference facility in the downtown
area. But would staff have found
themselves in any better location if
they had moved to two separate
places once they outgrew their
original space? All one can say is that
the new merged institution is taking
on new challenges, without solving
many old problems. Perhaps in
another 10 years the nature of
collections will make any questions
one might have about merging
immaterial.
specialisaties bestaan. Bas Savenije:
"Naarmate de KB zich ontwikkelt als de
instelling die alle Nederlandse publicaties
bewaart, wordt het internationaal gezien
een instelling die net als het NA feitelijk
unica bewaart. Samen behouden we
uniek materiaal."
1 Zie www.faronet.be/e-artikels/
een-paar-gedachten-over-de-toekomst-
van-de-archiefsector; en
www.zeeuwsarchief.nl/zeeuwse-
verhalen/lezing-mr-m-berendse.
2 Zie voor beschouwingen over de
voorgenomen fusie ook de blog van
Ingmar Koch (provinciale archiefinspectie
Noord-Brabant en Limburg) http://
ingmarbladertenschrijft.blogspot.
com/2012/01/fusie-van-de-kb-en-het-
na.html; en het Historisch Nieuwsblad
(2012/1), www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/
nl/artikel/28512/nederlands-geheugen-
in-een-instituut.html.
Hans Berende hoofdredacteur
Archievenblad en plv. gemeentearchivaris/
archiefinspecteur bij de Gemeente Ede.
Shelley Sweeney Head Archives
Special Collections, University of
Manitoba.
Studiezaal Nationaal Archief (foto NA).
14 2012 nummer 3
