European Commission European Archives Group
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION Secretariat-General Directorate B - Institutional and Administrative Policies SG.B.1-Corporate Management, Budget and Administration EUROPEAN ARCHIVES GROUP / EUROPEAN BOARD OF NATIONAL ARCHIVISTS JOINT MEETING RĪGA, 19 JUNE 2015 MINUTES The participants were welcomed by Einārs Cilinskis, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia. 1. Adoption of the agenda The meeting was chaired by Julien Guerrier (COM). The minutes of the meeting in Turin, Italy on 3 November 2014 were adopted by written procedure and can be consulted on EUROPA. The agenda was adopted without change. The chair noted that this was the first agenda established by the subgroup for programming and cooperation. 2. Archives and the digital agenda Commissioner Oettinger, responsible for the “digital economy and society” spoke with some of the National Archivists on 18 June. His introduction was recorded and played at the EAG meeting. The Commissioner encouraged the National Archives to continue and strengthen their cooperation, offered his support and asked that they let him know what in his portfolio is useful to them and what could be added to his agenda. He noted that current EU funding possibilities might be too far from the reality of archives and asked for their input so that the funding programmes could be optimised. The importance of the digital agenda and the role of archives in e-government, were further explored in four presentations. Hervé Lemoine (FR) provided an introduction to clarify the terminology and an update on the PSI legislation that will be discussed in the French parliament later this year. Bjorn Jordell (SE) reported that the Riksarkivet had lobbied intensively for new legislation on the re-use of public sector information (PSI) that was on the verge of being adopted in Sweden. The legislation is of strategic importance to the Swedish National Archives and will give it new responsibilities, including for the Swedish Open Data Portal. Karel Velle (BE) reported that, in reply to the new Belgian government's ambitious policy to accelerate the transition to digital workflows and digital information management in the federal administration, the National Archives are preparing a policy note for the Council of Ministers on long-term preservation and public access. Jeff James (UK) described the huge potential benefits as well as challenges of big data for archives. He noted that there are practical consequences, e.g. for traditional methods of appraisal and acquisition, for the respect of privacy and for trust in archives and that archival institutions will need to change to remain relevant and retain their influence and authority with governments. Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 After a short discussion, Josée Kirps proposed to prepare a first draft reply to Commissioner Oettinger which she will submit to the coordination sub-group. 3. Archives and the European Research Agenda The presentations focussed on the role of archives vis-à-vis research, how (national) archives can provide added value and how the contacts with the research community are organised. Valerie Johnson (UK) noted the changing context for archives services as archives are increasingly digital and researchers increasingly expect online access. As the volume of digital archives increases, the nature of the archival record and the means to search and exploit digital information are changing the way in which archives work as well as their relationship with the research community. Creating communities of practice, knowledge sharing, developing networks of collaborative research and joint funding applications could be areas for cooperation in EAG/EBNA. Josée Kirps (LU), reported on a project to create a multilingual e-learning platform for online archives courses. The project was undertaken together with regional archives in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands and is the first archives project funded from the Erasmus+ programme. In Finland the National Archives have a statutory duty to promote research and are recognised as the most important national research infrastructure for the humanities. Jaana Killki (FI) reported that the role of the National Archives is changing as a result of the potential of digital archives and data to build new research infrastructure services and establish new partnerships for research projects beyond the traditional historical research community with, e.g., the social and computer sciences. The National Archives are also increasingly becoming a data provider for data that are not in its custody. A major issue that should be prioritized on the European Research Agenda is the sustainability of these new research infrastructures. The Belgian State Archives are themselves a scientific establishment, an unusual situation that facilitates the development of relationships with other scientific organisations and makes it easier to obtain funding for scientific research projects. Karel Velle (BE) reported on the projects in which the Belgian State Archives are involved and noted some of the advantages, including the possibility to recruit young researchers, the contacts with international networks and the visibility of the archives. He recommended that, in addition to their statutory and cultural roles, the European Archives participate in the national and European research agendas. He noted that the EU supports innovative research projects and concluded that the European research agenda offers opportunities for closer collaboration between the European National Archives. He thought that it was too early to define an action plan but suggested that a first step could be to identify the actors, networks and European organizations with which the archives could form strategic partnerships. The chair concluded that the discussion will continue at the meeting in Luxembourg in October and said that the Commission will seek to invite an expert from the Commission to discuss the European Research Agenda. 2 4. EU copyright legislation Rihards Gulbis, the Latvian representative in the Copyright Working Party of the EU Council of Ministers said that technological developments had changed the economic models for copyright, which in turn requires an adaptation of the legal framework. He summarised the latest developments with respect to EU copyright legislation, the difficulties and possible solutions and concluded that there is no silver bullet. It might be necessary to use multiple solutions and to leave member states room for manoeuvre. Josée Kirps (LU) reported (enclosed) on the informal discussion on copyright between the Commission and representatives from the National Archives of Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Hungary. The purpose of the meeting was for the Commission to learn about the interests of archives with respect to EU copyright legislation. A request from the Commission for further information had been sent to all the National Archives on 15 June with a deadline of 3 July 2015. She concluded that the discussion will continue at the Luxembourg meeting in October. 6. Reports and updates - Zoltán Szatucsek (HU) reported on the DLM Forum triennial conference in Lisbon in November 2014, the first such conference organised wholly by the DLM Forum itself and without subsidies. The Riga members meeting earlier in the week had seen the highest number of participants ever at a members meeting. Two new directors were elected to the Executive Committee and the chair was re-elected. The financial situation of the Forum had stabilised. - Zoltán Szatucsek also reported on the E-ARK project. The evaluation by the Commission after the first year of the project had been very positive. The deliverables were completed on schedule, including the draft Submission Information Package (SIP) and more recently the Dissemination Information Package (DIP). - Gerrit de Bruin (NL) noted that the Archives Portal Europe Foundation (APEF) had been established in October 2014 and underlined that it is of the utmost importance that all the beneficiaries/ National Archives become fee contributing associates. This will allow the European Archives Institutions to collectively maintain the portal. They will profit from the network itself as well as from the generic tools that it develops. On 7 September 2015, during the final APEx conference in Budapest, the official handover to APEF will take place of all APEx project results, (IP) rights, possessions etc. APEF will acquire sole ownership so that it can continue to maintain the portal from 1 October onwards. - A written update by Lucie Verachten (Council) on the General Data Protection Regulation was distributed at the meeting. 7. Conclusion The chair concluded that the following had been agreed: - Josée Kirps will prepare a draft reply to Commissioner Oettinger for discussion in the programme and coordination subgroup after which it will be sent to all the members of the EAG. - The discussion on Archives and the Research Agenda will be continued at the Luxembourg meeting in October. A speaker from the Commission will be invited. 3 - Hervé Lemoine asked that the Luxembourg meeting take stock of the transposition of the revised PSI directive by the member states. 4 .