That was the conclusion of the Committee on Professional Training when it met
in Zagreb, in the spring 2004. The work in progress of the French association
was presented then, and it was decided to arrange, on the basis of this case
study, a session for the 2004 international congress in Vienna, whose title was
"Which archivist are you? Being sensitive to Hans' influence, I decided to be
provocative and promoted the session launching on the International Council on
Archives website a survey with the same title as the session: "Which archivist are
you? Come to Vienna to get your answer." The survey focused on the traditional
aspects of the profession, and it was expected that a number of professionals
would not be happy with it, and would come to Vienna or simply answer the
survey to react to the conventional approach proposed by the survey. Though the
expected result was not there with the survey, the session in Vienna was crowded,
and the debate stimulated by a Hans in peak form. The discussion focused not
on the competencies, but on the model itself, which led the Committee on
Professional Training to turn its reflection into defining a methodology more
than defining content for the model.
In Vienna, the Committee on Professional Training was abolished, like the other
ICA committees, to be replaced by a projects driven approach. We did not want
to give up in such a good way, and I therefore decided, with Hans' approval, that
the Committee would become "the Underground Committee on Professional
Training" which fitted in with Hans' taste for subversion.
I open the act in Zagreb, I will close it in Zagreb, remembering a pleasant dinner
offered by the National Archives of Croatia, when Hans and I had a one hour of
giggles. Had I got the right sense of humor?
Act two: How Hans tested my dancing skills
(Varsovia 2006, Madrid/Québec 2007)
The life of an underground committee is not easy. You should know that most
of the members of the ICA old committees were supported by their institutions
or associations. The moment a committee did not officially exist anymore, then
support faded away... But some of us were still interested in going on with this
important project, among them the French association of archivists. And Hans
was very happy with the idea of working within an underground - therefore not
official - committee.
Then came a wonderful opportunity to drive forward the project, the Vllth
European Conference, which took place in Warsaw in May 2006. The
conference is traditionally organized by a professional association of a country,
and supported by the National Archives. The co-organizers are the Section of
professional associations of Archivists and records managers of ICA (SPA), and
EURBICA, the European branch of the organization.
I was asked to be a member of the scientific committee, representing EURBICA,
while my colleague and friend Joan Boadas I Raset represented SPA. The first step
was to convince our Polish colleagues that the conference should focus on the
profession in Europe and the perspective for the future. From the point of view
of the Polish colleagues, this was a challenge: would the conference, with such
a topic, attract as many professionals as "electronic archives" or "preservation
and conservation" would have attracted? In the lobby of the Hotel Europejski,
PROFESSIONAL
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