ABC of Archival Work
ABC ...
"Welcome to the Digital World" event series
Event series "Welcome to the Digital World" organised by the Brandenburg State Archives and the State Office for Archives and Libraries for Digital Archiving.
Introduction to archival work
An archive is an institution or organisational unit in which analogue and digital documents that are no longer necessary for the ongoing fulfilment of tasks are recorded, indexed, preserved, evaluated and made accessible.
Archive management
The term archive management refers to the collection of business management methods in the work of archives and information institutions, which have to deal systematically with the (super-)vital questions of personnel and resource planning, target and strategy development, project management and service marketing.
Archive law
Many archival questions in daily practice are legal questions. Frequently, questions of responsibility must be clarified in the case of takeover, according to depository or contribution contracts or regulations regarding use and charging fees.
Working Group "Recording and Evaluation of Electronic Procedures"
On the 6th of January 2017, a working group was established to deal with the evaluation, transfer and archiving of electronic records, initially focusing on electronic specialised procedures.
Working Group "Recording and Evaluation of Electronic Procedures"
Building files
The files created in the building permit procedure are called building files. These building permit files often contain building applications with building plans showing the ground plan, views and building section of the building to be erected.
Use and presentation
The use of the archival records is the goal of all archival work. The research concerns of present and future users must be taken into account from the outset in all archival activities in order to be able to design target group-oriented offers.
Conservation
The preservation of archival holdings encompasses almost all areas of daily handling of archival materials, including site selection, structural design of the stacks, storage, packaging, climate control, mould prevention and control, emergency preparedness, digitisation, filming or mass conservation.
Brandenburg archives day
The annual Brandenburg archives day of the Verband deutscher Archivarinnen und Archivare e.V. provides a platform for specialist information and professional exchange among colleagues.
Digitisation
The digitisation of existing archival holdings is playing an increasingly important role in the everyday work of many archives. In the context of preservation, it is a useful addition to other preventive measures to safeguard the archive's existence.
Development
Indexing is one of the essential core tasks of an archive and is the indispensable prerequisite for any form of use of archival records.
Funding opportunities
In archives, project work increasingly complements and expands daily tasks. Emergency planning, digitisation, indexing - there is a project for many tasks! Here you will find an overview of the various funding opportunities.
Newsletter
The newsletter of the Brandenburg State Office for Archival Consultancy informs you regularly about events and consultancy services, funding opportunities and news from the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam.
Emergency preparedness
Emergency preparedness is a central task to ensure the legal mandate of permanent preservation of the archival property.
Online offers for archivists
Numerous information services that inform archivists about the latest developments, help them in their daily work and provide further technical information are now easily accessible online.
Public and historical education work
Public relations work in the archive means active and convincing confidence-building on one's own behalf for one's own prestige.
Historical education work is characterised by the cooperation of the archive "as an extracurricular place of learning".
Civil status records
On the basis of the Personal Status Act (PStG) of 01 January 2009, the registry offices are obliged to hand over the closed personal status records to the archives.
Lore
The historical tradition in an archive is understood to be the totality of the historical sources stored there. The tradition is a result of conscious archival actions.
"Welcome to the Digital World" event series
Introduction to archival work
What is an archive and what tasks does it fulfil?
The term "archive" is not clearly defined in the German language. Colloquially, an archive is usually a place or room where materials that are no longer needed immediately are stored and kept for a longer period of time. This can be the basement room or attic of a public authority, where files no longer needed for daily use are stored as long as they may still be legally relevant (old registry), but also a storage space for electronic documents that are no longer relevant for current processing or information (e.g. press release archive in the internet presentation of an organisation). Scientific journals that are intended to keep their articles available for a longer period of time also traditionally like to have the word "archive" in their title. As a rule, the term "archive" is used in connection with written records, but occasionally also for places that store objects.
In the archival sense, the term could be defined as follows:
An archive is an institution or organisational unit in which analogue and digital documents that are no longer necessary for the ongoing fulfilment of tasks are recorded, indexed, preserved, evaluated and made accessible. In a figurative sense, it also refers to the building or a room.
This definition also designates the tasks of the archives.
Archive management
The collection term archive management refers to the totality of business management methods in the work of archives and information institutions. These methods consider the vital issues of staff and resource planning, goal and strategy development, project management and service marketing. Archive management helps to make archival and administrative processes transparent and to plan them systematically.
The tasks of archives as non-profit institutions relate to the perception of social and administrative interests. Archives operate in many different forms. On a higher level, they act as service providers for the provision of archival records as information objects. The successful and efficient operation of an archive thus requires strategic and operative management thinking in planning, organisation and control in addition to archival expertise.
Archive law
Many archival questions in daily practice are legal questions. Frequently, questions of responsibility have to be clarified when taking over archives, according to deposit or contribution contracts, or regulations on use and charging fees.
The handouts and information provided on this page are intended, on the one hand, to give suggestions for the development of legal bases and regulations for smaller archives and, on the other hand, to point out current legal questions and archival literature.
Working Group "Recording and Evaluation of Electronic Procedures"
On 6 January 2017, a working group was founded consisting of representatives of several Brandenburg municipal archives.
The working group deals with the evaluation, transfer and archiving of electronic records and initially concentrates on electronic specialist procedures. The aim was and is, in a first step, to record and evaluate all electronic specialist procedures used in the district administrations and administrations of the independent cities. An "internal list" is now available to the working group and will be further maintained.
In a second step, the electronic specialised procedures assessed as worthy of archiving are to be looked at more closely in order to analyse the records created in them.
Selected results from the work of the working group can be found here.
- List "Recording and Evaluation of Electronic Specialised Procedures" - will not be published. Information from it can be requested from the state office.
- Questionnaire "Recording and analysis of an electronic specialised procedure".
- Explanatory sheet for the questionnaire "Recording and analysis of an electronic specialised procedure".
Building files
The files created in the building permit procedure are called building files. These building permit files often contain building applications with building plans showing the ground plan, views and building section of the building to be erected. In addition, however, these files also contain documents depicting the inspection and approval process, which take the form of minutes with inspection reports, statements, conditions as well as certificates for building approval or rejection. The documents often provide comprehensive information about the time of construction, the client, the architect, the trades involved in construction, the building materials used and the construction costs, as well as the style of construction and the type of use of the building.
However, building files are not limited to new buildings, but also document structural changes to existing buildings that require approval.
It becomes clear what a wealth of information the building files, many of which have been preserved in the archives, can offer for research into house construction and the history of settlement, among other things.
Use and presentation
The use of the archival records is the goal of all archival work. The research concerns of present and future users must be taken into account from the outset in all archival activities in order to be able to design target group-oriented offers.
Conservation
The preservation of archival holdings encompasses almost all areas of the daily handling of archival materials. It begins with an appropriate choice of location for the archive and the structural design of the magazines, and ranges from the problems of storage, packaging, climate control, mould prevention and control to questions of emergency preparedness, digitisation, filming or mass conservation.
Brandenburg archives day
Since 1998, the Brandenburg branch of the Verband deutscher Archivarinnen und Archivare e.V. has held the annual Brandenburg archives day. This shows the need for specialist information and the desire for colleagues to exchange specialist information with each other. Programmes and information on the archive days (from 2023) are deposited here.
Digitisation
The term "digitisation" encompasses the digital reproduction, provision and publication of finding aids and archival materials on the internet. The digitisation of existing archival holdings is playing an increasingly important role in the everyday work of many archives. In the context of preservation, it is a sensible addition to other preventive measures to safeguard the archive's holdings. Archive holdings can thus be made available to users in digital form, which helps to preserve the originals. Digitisation therefore offers the possibility of effectively providing preventive preservation of the originals (preservation, protection and use digitisation) and is a partner of preservation and protection filming. In the future, replacement digitisation will play a further role, since in the case of information carriers that are extremely affected by decay and cannot be preserved in the long term (e.g. thermocopies, Ormig prints, magnetic tapes), the replacement medium (digital copy) will take the place of the original. The replacement digitised copy must therefore meet high quality criteria and must then be permanently preserved.
Digitisation offers a multitude of further additional possibilities for a contemporary and competent fulfilment of tasks, which, among other things, can meet the expectations of present and future archive users. Thus, users expect the presentation of indexing data as well as the presentation of selected digitised archive holdings. The way into the Archive Portal-D of the German Digital Library offers, among other things, suitable possibilities for this.
Digitisation is an opportunity, a challenge and an additional task at the same time. A task that requires a conceptual approach. Questions need to be answered in advance: What is to be digitised, how and with what, and how can permanent preservation, maintenance, user-friendly research and presentation of all digital documents be guaranteed?
Development
Cataloguing is one of the essential core tasks of an archive and is the indispensable prerequisite for any form of use of archival materials. Nevertheless, it often takes a back seat in the daily work of smaller, understaffed archives, which often leads to backlogs in indexing that are difficult to make up. The guidelines and information on this page provide tips for professional and efficient indexing and point to supra-regional guidelines and indexing aids.
Funding opportunities
In archives, project work increasingly complements and expands daily tasks. Emergency planning, digitisation, indexing - there is a project for many tasks! The diverse offers of project funding are additionally boosting this boom. This page aims to give an overview of the various funding opportunities.
A funding guide for archives in Brandenburg, created by the Brandenburg State Agency, aims to provide orientation on funding opportunities that are particularly worth considering.
Newsletter of the Brandenburg state specialist centre for archival advice
Emergency preparedness
Emergency preparedness is a central task to ensure the legal mandate of permanent preservation of the archival property.
Online offers for archivists compiled
Public and historical education work
Public relations work in the archive means active and convincing confidence-building on one's own behalf for one's own prestige, among other things through open days as well as press and media work. The production of publications is also a possibility of public relations work, to which the archives are legally obliged. Every citizen has the right to know what treasures are hidden behind the walls of the archives. Public relations work serves as the basis for the archive to be recognised as a respected member in its social environment. To be effective, it must be firmly integrated into the archive's work and systematically carried out.
Historical education work is characterised by the cooperation of an archive "as an extracurricular place of learning" with schools, but also with the historically interested public.
Civil status records
On the basis of the personal status act (PStG), the registry offices have been obliged to hand over the closed personal status records to the archives since 01 January 2009. An essential core point of the PStG is that the continuation of the civil status registers by the registry offices is limited. Subsequently, the closed registers are subject to the obligation to offer them to the competent archives. Archive users are thus given the opportunity to research these records, e.g. for family and local history research, on the basis of the provisions of archival law.
Formation of lore
The historical tradition in an archive is understood to be the totality of the historical sources stored there. The archive's records are the result of deliberate archival actions. The creation of records includes the recording of the records in the archive's area of responsibility in the case of official records as well as the development of a collection or documentation profile in the case of non-official records.
The activity of archival evaluation is closely connected to the formation of records. As a rule, only about 3% to 10% of the total amount of written records in an archive's area of responsibility are evaluated as worthy of archiving and taken over as archival materials.
Questions about the formation of records and their evaluation arise for every archive in its daily work, be it in dealing with masses of uniform records from its own administration, or in deciding on the acquisition of unofficial archival materials. The state office regularly initiates working groups to deal with these questions. Representatives from municipal archives agree on theoretical and methodological evaluation principles for selected archive holdings, which are made available to other archives as recommendations.
The guidelines and information on this page are intended to give advice on how to plan the formation of records, especially in municipal archives. In addition, practical aids for the evaluation of individual groups of records are provided.
