The American Archivist / Vol. 42, No. 2 / April 1979 223 The Internationa] Scene: News and Abstracts RONALD J. PLAVCHAN, Editor Inside the New Kew Repository The new Public Record Office at Kew, located about ten miles from central London, stands along the Thames River on a Crown site at the end of Ruskin Avenue in the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames, Surrey. The prime contractor for this new archives building was Taylor Woodrow Construction Lim- ited, which began work on the site in May 1973. The basic requirements determining ultimately the external design at Kew were the needs to provide: (1) a secure repository with properly controlled tempera- ture and humidity conditions for the storage of about 360,000 linear feet of rec- ords, (2) seating accommodations for up to 500 researchers (readers), and (3) accommodations and facilities for archival staff and technical services. An im- portant operational requirement considered in the planning was installation of a system by which documents could be transmitted as rapidly as possible from shelf to user. These requirements led to the concept of a five-story building of square design with a central distribution core linking the various floors. Space for staff offices, technical services, and reading rooms are concentrated mostly on the ground and first floors, whereas the main storage areas are located on the second, third, and fourth floors where narrow horizontal window slits reduce the admis- sion of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays to a minimum. The staffs of the Establishment Division, Records Administration Division, and Modern Records Department, principally, occupy space in an open area on the ground floor. Senior staff members maintain individual offices around the per- imeter of this area. At one end of the area is a Committee Room and rooms for the keeper, deputy keeper, and their secretaries. Additional staff office space is available on the first floor where there is also a conference room. The library, located likewise on the first floor, is equipped with shelving similar to that in the storage areas and with specially designed furniture. However, that part of the library relating to the records and to the work of the staff at Chancery Lane is not located at Kew. The new building contains ample space for a full range of technical services with the most up-to-date equipment. A majority of the Conservation Department D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 224 The American Archivist—April 1979 • t PRO, Kew, exterior. UK Crown Copyright staff and a substantial part of the Reprographic Section staff remain at Portugal Street and Chancery Lane, respectively, to undertake work arising from the rec- ords at Chancery Lane. Eventually Chancery Lane will contain the medieval and later legal records, the State Papers, the census records, and some records more suited to storage in Chancery Lane than at Kew. Records of modern government departments, some of which extend back to the sixteenth century, will be kept at Kew. The main entrance at the Kew repository opens into a large reception hall and public lounge containing a registration desk, cloakrooms, and an entrance to a public restaurant. On the first floor there are two main reading rooms, the Lang- dale and Romilly Rooms, each of which can accommodate 248 readers at specially designed octagonal tables. These rooms have been named in honor of the first two Masters of the Rolls who were keepers of public records after enactment of the 1838 Public Record Office Act: Baron Langdale (1783-1851) and Lord John Romilly (1804—74). In each reading room sixty-four seats are located in a partitioned area designed to permit researchers the use of typewriters. Although every seat in both reading rooms has an electrical outlet suitable for microfilm reading equipment, eight seats are reserved for the use of microfilm readers. Closed-circuit television cameras provide security, scanning the areas in which documents are available to the public. This has reduced the need for continuous surveillance by staff on duty in the reading rooms. Photocopies of available doc- uments may be ordered at a counter directly accessible from each reading room. Situated between the two main reading rooms is a separate Reference Room containing two complete sets of typescript lists of record classes kept at Kew, find- ing aids, and standard reference works. Readers may consult these to identify sources and the reference codes of the documents needed. Some reference ma- D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 225 terials now available to researchers on open shelves and in filing cabinets in the Reference Room were formerly unavailable except when requisitioned as records. This former situation, however, frequently caused needless delays. In this room researchers can consult also with Search Department staff on available sources for their research. Also, there are three computer terminals located in the Reference Room, on which readers requisition documents. The reading room in which re- searchers can use maps and oversize documents is situated on the second floor. To facilitate the rapid handling of requests for records, a small computer sys- tem, based on a Data General NOVA-2 mini-computer, has been installed at Kew. This system controls access to the reading rooms via turnstiles operated by ma- chine-readable tickets. When a researcher's presence in the building has been recorded on these turnstiles, he/she can either use one of the three terminals with visual display units in the Reference Room to make his/her own records request, or he/she can ask a staff member to do so at a fourth terminal which is restricted for staff use only. A fifth terminal is located in the Map Room, with two other terminals restricted to staff use and situated outside the Search Department area. At each of these available computer terminals, the researcher uses a keyboard to communicate to the computer the following data: reader's ticket number, seat number, and the code reference to the desired documents. In turn, the computer verifies the data provided as well as the availability of the requested documents, and almost instantaneously informs the reader. A request for a particular availa- ble document is then transmitted instantly to the appropriate storage area, where the information is printed out on a special two-part form. This form is so de- signed that one part remains on the shelf in place of the removed document, and the other part accompanies the document to the reading room. At the distribution area in the reading room, this slip is properly filed, the document is placed in a pigeon hole marked with the researcher's seat number, and he/she is informed PRO, Kew, Reading Room UK Crown Copyright D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 226 The American Archivist—April 1979 of its arrival by means of an electronic paging system. The paging system operates in all public areas of the building, thereby freeing the researcher from having to wait in the reading rooms until the document's arrival. It takes about fifteen minutes to produce a document via the computer requisitioning system. When a user has finished with a document, it is placed on a conveyor belt lo- cated under the issue counter and carried to the distribution area where it is returned to the appropriate storage area floor via the "paternoster" conveyor. To facilitate the rapid return of the material to the proper floor, each document or its container bears a color-coded patch. Upon arrival at its storage floor, that part of the special request form which had accompanied the document is removed and sent to be read automatically into the computer, cancelling the record from the reader's charge. When the document is ultimately reshelved, the other part of the form is sent to be read into the computer also, indicating that the document is once again available for use. In addition to these functions, the computer main- tains a constant record of all requests and produces periodic listings of records used or in use, and also provides daily and annual statistics. Record storage at Kew is confined to the upper three floors. Each floor com- prises an area of approximately 79,650 square feet (or 1.75 acres), and is divided into three compartments. There are openings in the internal walls of these com- partments with fire-resistant doors held open on fusible links in such a way as to allow the whole floor area to be controlled as a single unit. Within the storage areas, the environment is controlled to provide a temperature of 20°C.,± 5°, and a relative humidity of 55,± 5, percent. All the shelving is steel, with uprights at- tached to both the floor and the ceiling, with cantilever shelves slotted into them, thus providing greater flexibility. Two types of steel shelving are used at Kew: standard shelving which can support 200 pounds, and heavy-duty shelving which can support 400 pounds. In order to accommodate the storage of rolled maps and oversized documents, some special shelving has also been installed. Together with the storage capacity of the inner basement, a total of about sixty- nine miles of shelving has been installed in the new building, of which approxi- mately forty-five miles is already occupied. Based on current estimates, Kew's records storage capacity can accommodate the accrual of records for the next fifteen years. This estimate is based on the average records accrual rate of one mile per year. The shelving on each floor is arranged in four segments, each bisected by a continuous gangway running around the entire floor. The more popular classes of records are stored on the inner shelving between this gangway and the central core. Electric trolleys have been installed to provide for the lateral movement of records on each floor. There is also an automatic "paternoster" conveyor and two heavy-duty elevators running through the center of each floor to provide vertical movement of the records between storage areas and reading rooms. Also located near the conveyor and elevators is the machine which prints out the re- quisitions (records requests) on the special two-part forms. Adjacent to a reading room on the second floor, there is a special storage area for maps, plans, and other cartographic material. This arrangement makes it eas- ier for the staff to furnish these materials to the requester. Oversize documents which do not fit on the "paternoster" conveyor are also stored in the area next to the Map Room. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 227 NEWS International Federation for Documentation (FID) Directory. At its April 1978 meeting the FID Council agreed that the FID Yearbook should be published every two years and should be retitled the FID Directory. The new FID Directory will be issued after each biennial FID conference and congress so that it will reflect the latest changes of the federation. It is anticipated that the new directory for 1979/80 will be available in early 1979. UNESCO Seminar on Archives Administration and Records Management. In San Jose, Costa Rica, 12-14 December 1977, a seminar was held on the UNESCO pilot project in archives administration and records management in Costa Rica. Na- tional archivists from the neighboring countries of Colombia, El Salvador, Gua- temala, Honduras, and Nicaragua, who assisted in the evaluation of the pilot proj- ect, attended the seminar. These archivists discussed problems in implementation of the various components of the project and considered ways in which to apply the Costa Rican experience to their own countries. Underlying the conclusions and recommendations these archivists reached during the three-day meeting was the need for assistance from UNESCO in professional and technical training of their staff and in the development of modern records management programs in their region. [UNISIST Newsletter, vol. 6, no. 1, 1978] Evaluation Guidelines. UNESCO has published Guidelines for the Evaluation of Information Systems and Services (1978). The guidelines, prepared under contract by F. W. Lancaster, pertain to a wide range of activities carried out by information centers and services. They are intended to suggest criteria and methods by which managers of a particular center or service might evaluate some or all of the activ- ities of the center or service. Emphasis is on practical examples of evaluation. For further information write: Division of the General Information Programme, UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris, France. UNISIST Newsletter Title Change. Effective January 1979, the UNISIST news- letter providing current information on activities in the fields of scientific and technological information, and on documentation, libraries, and archives relating to UNESCO's General Information Program, changed its title to General Infor- mation Programme UNISIST Newsletter. The title change resulted from a recom- mendation of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council for the General In- formation Programme, at its first meeting on 30-31 January 1978, calling upon the Division of the General Information Programme to evaluate and reorganize the content of its periodicals. Contents of the newsletter will, therefore, be ex- panded to include news from UNESCO's General Information Program, organ- izations of the UN system, and non-governmental international organizations. In addition, some of the information previously appearing in Bibliography, Documen- tation and Terminology, which ceased publication at the end of 1978, will be in- cluded. [UNISIST Newsletter, vol. 6, no. 4, 1978] D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 228 The American Archivist—April 1979 Consultation on Problems Involved in the Transfer of Documents from Ar- chives. As part of its continuing efforts to assist member states in resolving prob- lems involved in the transfer of documents from archives in the territory of cer- tain countries to the country of their origin, UNESCO held a consultation, 29- 31 March 1978, with a group of experts in Paris. Participants at the meeting included Mohammed Bedjaoui, Algerian ambassador to France; Charles Kecske- meti, ICA executive secretary and author of a preliminary study of this important question; Christian Gut, director of the Archives de Paris and author of a detailed study of archival claims presented at the Seventeenth International Round Table on Archives (Cagliari, 1977); Ivan Borsa (Hungary); A. W. Mabbs (Great Britain); Soemartini (Indonesia); Radomir Bogdanovic (Yugoslavia); and E. T. Akyianu (Ghana). The General Conference at its eighteenth session had adopted a resolution which "invited member states to give favorable consideration to the possibility of transferring documents from archives constituted within the territory of other countries or relating to their history, within the framework of bilateral agree- ments." Also, the director-general was urged to consider the possibility of a de- tailed study of such transfers and to report on his findings. A preliminary study was prepared and a progress report submitted to the nineteenth General Confer- ence; the Cagliari Round Table considered the detailed report. The experts con- sidered the conclusions and recommendations of both these reports and advised the Secretariat on the nature of the report that the director-general would make to the twentieth General Conference. [UNISIST Newsletter, vol. 6, no. 2, 1978] 1979-80 Professional Training Proposals. UNESCO is developing its pro- grams in the field of professional training in archives and called a preliminary meeting of experts in May 1978. There will also be a further and larger meeting of archives training specialists in Paris in late 1979. The purpose of this meeting will be to make recommendations on the harmonization of existing archival train- ing programs and to consider their relationship to education and training pro- grams in librarianship and information science. Three papers have been commissioned in preparation for the 1979 meeting. They are: (1) an assessment of current training by identifying manpower needs and trends, based on existing sources of information; (2) a study of the types and levels of training needed with a comparative analysis of parallel library and doc- umentation training courses; and (3) an analysis of existing training programs with careful attention to the harmonization and coordination of curriculum and facilities, and minimum standards for each level. The objectives of the meeting will be to take steps towards harmonizing the content, level, and methods of ex- isting training courses in all countries, and to bring them closer, wherever possi- ble, to the kind of training provided in other areas of information science. [Michael Cook, University of Liverpool] CANADA Cartographic Archives Seminar. From 10 to 14 April 1978, the Public Ar- chives of Canada (PAC) held a highly successful seminar on cartographic archives, attended by provincial and territorial archivists responsible for cartographic rec- D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 229 ords. Anyone wishing further information about this seminar may obtain from PAC a report prepared by the National Map Collection. Among the PAC's most interesting cartographic acquisitions is a 1695 Domenico de Rossi globe, an excel- lent example of seventeenth-century graphic decorative art, which is the earliest globe held by the collection; and a manuscript map of Sir William Edward Parry's discoveries (ca. 1819-27) in the Canadian Arctic. Also acquired was a map known as the Zeno Map (from the 1574 Venice edition of Ptolemy's Geographia), showing on a fourteenth-century manuscript map portions of North America supposedly visited prior to Columbus by the Zeno brothers, Niccolo and Antonio. PAC Picture Division Publications. After the initial publication of Archives Canada Microfiches Nos. 1-5, the Picture Division has continued the series with five additional issues. The second set of Archives Canada Microfiches (Nos. 6- 10), featuring documentary Canadian art from PAC collections, includes the work of Alexander Cavalie Mercer (Nova Scotia and the Maritimes, 1832-42), William Ogle Carlile (Quebec society and pastimes, ca. 1873), Elizabeth Simcoe (Upper and Lower Canada, 1791-96), Thomas Davies (mostly Amherst's Lake Cham- plain and St. Lawrence campaigns, 1759-60), C. Williams (from the Illustrated London News, 1860-61), George Russell Dartnell (London, Ontario, 1840-43), Daniel Lyons (Montreal, ca. 1836-44), and F. H. Varley (Eastern Arctic Patrol, 1938). A third set of five fiches, currently in preparation, is devoted to the work of George Back (Franklin's Second Overland Expedition, 1825-27; and Back's Overland Expedition to the Mouth of the Great Fish River, 1833-35). Publica- tion of a comprehensive artist-geographical-subject index is planned at the con- clusion of every ten microfiches. New slide sets in the Archives Canada Series, also published by the Picture Division, include Picturesque Quebec, 1826-1832: Views by James Pattison Cockburn; To the Oregon Territory, 1845-1846: With Lieut. Henry J. Warre; Two Artists in the Klondike, 1898-1899: Frederick Gardiner, Jr.—Alfred E. Boultbee, Jr.; Moose Hunt on the St. Maurice, 1842: Journal and Sketches by Henry James Warre; and Captain Cook's Last Voyage, 1776-1780: Portraits and Views from the Northwest Coast by John Webber. Another slide set, scheduled for publication in the near future, is to be entitled "With Franklin to the Top of the World, 1825-1826: Arctic Journal and Sketches by George Back." Mackenzie King Papers. On 2 January 1979, PAC opened the papers of the late Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, for 1948. The diaries for 1948, consisting of more than 1,100 pages, describe in detail King's public and personal life. The year marked the end of the Mackenzie King era in Canadian politics as Louis St. Laurent assumed the leadership of the Liberal Party (4 August 1948) and the prime ministership (15 November 1948). On the international level Mackenzie King witnessed the acceleration of the Cold War and the evolu- tion of the British Commonwealth. The National Photography Collection and the National Film Archives will make available photographs, sound recordings, and films of Mackenzie King's activities in 1948 to supplement examination of the 1948 diaries. Microfilming Project. The Provincial Archives of British Columbia is currently microfilming the papers (1897-1956) of Hugh Wesley Dobson, Methodist min- D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 230 The American Archivist—April 1979 ister and western field secretary of the Evangelism and Social Service Branch of the Methodist Church from 1913 to 1926, and secretary for the Board of Evan- gelism and Social Service in the United Church of Canada. Once the microfilming project is completed, the Dobson papers will be deposited at the United Church Archives in Vancouver. International Conference on "Data Archiving." The Canadian Secretariat of the International Association for Social Science Information Services and Tech- nology (IASSIST) is sponsoring a conference in Ottawa, scheduled for 7-10 May 1979. I ASSIST, formed in 1975, is an international association of individuals who manage, operate, or utilize machine-readable data archives, data libraries, and program libraries concerning social sciences. It consists of several secretariats (Asian, Canadian, East and West European, South and Central American, and United States) with an overall steering committee. IASSIST has established seven "action groups" to grapple with the problems related to acquisition, classifica- tion, distribution, preservation, processing, production, and utilization of ma- chine-readable data of interest to social scientists and other researchers. The theme of the Ottawa conference is to be "Data Archiving: Models for In- ternational Cooperation." For further information concerning the conference, write to Sue Gavrel, chairman of the Program Committee, in care of the Machine- Readable Archives Division, Public Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A ON3. [D. LEE MCDONALD, Public Archives of Canada] Film Archives Unearthed. On 29 September the Canadian Film Archives an- nounced a film find near the Alaskan frontier. Last summer a bulldozer operator, while razing an old hockey arena in Dawson City, Yukon Territory, uncovered a large quantity of classic old silent movie film dating from 1910 to 1921. The 500 films in their original tin cans were located in the deep end of an abandoned swimming pool on the site. A preliminary examination of the film collection iden- tified such melodramas as "The Perils of Pauline," "Wildfire" (1915) with Lil- lian Russell and Lionel Barrymore; two 1917 films, "Princess Virtue" and "Polly of the Circus," starring Mae Murray; and rare World War I newsreels. According to the testimony of old-time Dawson residents, the city, which is lo- cated at the junction of the Yukon and Klondike rivers, was literally the end of the line for movies making the North America cinema circuit. After their Dawson showing, American owners of the 10-minute one-reelers and the 5-reel feature films found the shipping costs too high to justify the return of the out-of-date film to storage. The owners thereupon turned the films over to the local library for safekeeping, but as time passed the film cans became a storage problem. Around 1929, when landfill was needed to fill an old swimming pool, the library seemed to have found the answer for the unwanted film cans and its storage space problems. For the next fifty years, therefore, the old film cans remained, partially preserved by the permafrost and nearly forgotten by all. Like any pre-1950s motion picture film, these newsreels and melodramas are on deteriorating nitrate base film, which is highly inflammable, is chemically un- stable, and has a high deterioration rate. Some of the unearthed films are dam- aged due to improper storage and neglect. While some films have been bleached white by dampness, others have been affected by rust on the metal reels. Another D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 231 common problem facing archivists is that nitrate film can turn to jelly and dust and is easily ignitable. The film collection was transported to the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa via tractor-trailer truck. Both PAC and the Library of Congress are currently engaged in restoration work on the film, transferring it to acetate safety base film. Complete restoration and transferal to modern film will take years and could cost $250,000. The National Archives and Records Service (NARS) has also become involved in the restoration work and has expressed interest in acquiring copies of the newsreels. New Position in British Columbia. The Provincial Archives of British Colum- bia has created a position of Archives Advisor. The duties of this new position include visiting community archives, museums, and libraries to advise on the ar- rangement and preservation of archival material, organizing and conducting workshops, and promoting reproduction and diffusion programs between the provincial archives and local repositories. Groundbreaking for Nova Scotia Archives. On 4 May 1978, Lieutenant-Gov- ernor C. L. Gosse turned the first spade of sod for a new archives building. Com- pletion of the building is scheduled to coincide with planned celebrations marking International Archives Week, in November 1979. The 75,000 square foot, five story, fire resistant, steel and concrete building will cost five million dollars. When completed, it will be the largest building in Canada equipped with a solar heating system, which in this case will generate 55 percent of the building's heating re- quirements. The new building will also be equipped with humidity and tempera- ture controls. All offices have glass walls looking into the reading rooms, and each floor has its own reading room. The new archives will include a fumigating unit, conservation laboratory, photographic laboratory, microfilm cameras, microfilm readers, and photoduplicating machines. Broadcasting Association Formed. A new association, Association for the Study of Canadian Radio and Television/Association pour les etudes sur la Radio et la Television Canadiennes, has been formed. It is concerned with studies in Canadian broadcasting and will be specifically oriented toward the preservation and accessibility of Canadian radio and television material. The fee schedule for membership is $8 (individual), $4 (student), and $16 (institutional). Persons wish- ing further information should write to Ernest Dick, membership secretary, Sound Archives, Public Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa Kl A ON3. Guidelines for Data Collection. A working group of the Social Science Feder- ation of Canada (SSFC), under the chairmanship of David Gagan of McMaster University, has developed guidelines for the transcription of historical census mi- crodata. It is hoped the guidelines will promote a degree of uniformity in data collection methods in order to generate universally acceptable data sets with known characteristics and minimal errors. SSFC intends to make data sets, and the documentation and software related to their successful use, widely available to social scientists. For more information contact: SSFC, 151 Slater, Room 415, Ot- tawa, Ontario KIP 5H3. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 232 The American Archivist—April 1979 New Mennonite Archival Repository. After forty-five years of archives devel- opment, the Conference of Mennonites in Canada (CMC) has moved into the new archival repository of the Mennonite Heritage Centre on the campus of the Ca- nadian Mennonite Bible College, Winnipeg. The centre was officially opened to the public on 15 November 1978, which was also Archives Day throughout Can- ada, sponsored by the Association of Canadian Archivists to emphasize the im- portance of archives. An important new aspect to the CMC archives is the addition of Mennonite Genealogy, Inc., material from Steinbach, Manitoba. This large collection of ge- nealogy and family study materials was originally started by A. A. Vogt of Stein- bach and has been extensively developed in recent years by the corporation. Mar- garet Kroeker, executive director of Mennonite Genealogy, Inc., will continue to work with the materials at the new centre. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY Anniversary Celebration at Regensburg. This year, with a year-long celebra- tion, the historic city of Regensburg, Bavaria, marks the 2,000th anniversary of its founding. The city, which has had more than seventy names during its history (including Ratisbon, in Robert Browning's poem about its capture by Napoleon), contains an old quarter comprising 270 acres and claims to possess more than 1,400 buildings of historical interest. Among the ancient monuments at Regens- burg are the Steinerne Briicke (stone bridge) built in 1135, the Porta Praetoria of the old Roman fort, and the fifth-century basilica of St. Emmeran. As part of the commemoration the municipal archives and the city museum are mounting spe- cial exhibits pertaining to the city's colorful past. GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC Second Symposium of Editors of Documentation, Library, and Archives Jour- nals. UNESCO, in cooperation with the National Commission for the German Democratic Republic, held a Symposium in East Berlin, 4—7 September 1978. Fifty-two participants from twenty-two countries attended this second symposium to seek ways of improving the preparation and presentation of periodical litera- ture of the profession and to attain closer cooperation and coordination between editors of documentation, library, and archives journals. Participants drafted sev- eral recommendations emphasizing: (1) the promotion of the exchange of arti- cles, reports, and other information between primary periodicals, and the estab- lishment of guidelines for tables of content or abstracts in one of the major languages for forwarding to existing secondary services; (2) the undertaking of a study of typographical presentation used in documentation, library, and archives journals to reach optimum standards; (3) the promotion of bilateral or multilat- eral agreements to assist developing countries with equipment, printing, distri- bution of library journals, and both theoretical and practical training; and (4) the need to study which of the major national and international primary periodicals provide abstracts in at least one widely used language to important articles. [UNISIST Newsletter, vol. 6, nos. 1 and 4, 1978] D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 233 GREAT BRITAIN British Archival Celebration. British archivists will celebrate International Ar- chives Week during the week of 5-10 November 1979. In an attempt to promote publicity and to coordinate local activities, the Society of Archivists has formed a working party and hopes all archival repositories and institutions will participate. Regular news bulletins will be issued by the working party as a means of keeping society members informed of coming events. Change of Annual Closing Date at the British Library. The British Library announced on 8 December 1978 a change of date from late Spring to mid-Fall for the annual closing of the Library. Effective in 1979, the annual closing of the Reading Room and other public rooms of the Department of Printed Books, for shelf checking, cleaning, and repairs, will be moved to the week following the last week in October (29 October-3 November 1979). The dates of the annual clos- ing of the Manuscript Students' Room (22-27 October 1979) and the Oriental Students' Reading Room (15-20 October 1979) remain unchanged. For further information, write to The British Library, Reference Division, Great Russell Street, London WCIB 3DG, England. INDIA Nationwide Celebrations of Archives Week. In response to a resolution of the National Committee of Archivists at its twenty-ninth meeting, in Mysore (3 Feb- ruary 1977), India celebrated Archives Week throughout the land during the week of 7-13 August 1978. The planned celebrations had a dual purpose: (1) to arouse an archival consciousness in the average citizen, and (2) to convey to the scholarly community the importance of archives and its role in preserving the cultural heritage of this vast country. Both the National Archives and various state repositories carried this message via special exhibitions, radio and television pro- grams, seminars, newspaper articles, brochures, and booklets. Under special security precautions, the National Archives opened its doors to the people of Delhi to allow them to gain an insight into the various operations of the Archives as well as to view the immense quantity of diverse records preserved in the 1893 archives building. Archives personnel also conducted forty-five-min- ute tours for groups of twenty people. During the tour visitors saw specimens of the different types of records stored in the Archives and samples of various pres- ervation techniques. A separate exhibit entitled "Our Heritage" used selected historical documents from official records, Persian manuscripts, and private pa- pers to illustrate the richness of Indian history. Although the entire program was organized on a modest budget and without prior publicity, it proved a great suc- cess. Officials are currently considering numerous suggestions to undertake more frequent exhibitions and to hold regular open-house programs in the future. Similar celebrations occurred in the states but on a much smaller scale than at the National Archives. Assam: All India Radio broadcast from the Ganhati Center a special program on the importance of archives in modern democracies, while The Assam Tribune (11 August 1978) ran an article on "Archives—Its importance D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 234 The American Archivist—April 1979 in Modern Democracies." To acquaint the people of Bihar with the importance of preserving records, the Patna station of All India Radio broadcast (13 August 1978) a program on records management and modern conservation practices. In addition to the radio program, the Bihar State Archives distributed a pamphlet on the care and preservation of records at the state archives as a source for the study of modern Indian history. English and Hindi newspapers in Patna carried articles on the history of the state archives, its holdings, publications, and services. In Delhi, wall posters appeared in the city and villages of the Union Territory of Delhi appealing to the people to realize the importance of archives. The press, radio, television, and cinema covered the celebrations. The exhibit of documents and photographs entitled "Chandni Chowk Then and Now" was so well done that the Television Division of the Indian Government prepared an international documentary. Gujarat: The state archives prepared a pamphlet on developments at the archives, which appeared also in the biweekly magazine "Gujarat." Ah- medabad Radio Station arranged a radio talk show to give the state archives greater public exposure. Haryana: Under the auspices of the Haryana State Ar- chives, an exhibit of rare documents, nineteenth and twentieth-century maps, and photographs of the Freedom Movement in the state were organized at Bhiwani, Farida-bad, Jind, and Narnaul. In addition to the exhibit, All India Radio Rohtak issued news bulletins on Archives Week and presented a talk program with the deputy director of the state archives. The history departments of government colleges at Bhiwani, Faridabad, and Narnaul sponsored a lecture series on post- graduate research facilities, the importance of reading history on the basis of ar- chival resources, and the preservation of old documents. Maharashtra: The gov- ernment issued an appeal to the public to deposit old records in their custody to the state archives to insure their preservation. All India Radio Bombay inter- viewed B. G. Kunte, Director of Archives, and scholar Arun Joshi. The Bombay Economic Times published (12 August 1978) a reporter's visit to the state archives. Orissa: The Orissa State Archives distributed a free special bulletin on archives to the scholarly community. In Tauril Nadu, the English daily newspapers Hindu, Indian Express, and Madras Mail provided coverage of the various archives pro- grams. An exhibit of selected historical documents, including a copy of a 1940 letter from Mahatma Gandhi to Adolph Hiker in which the Indian leader appeals to the Fuhrer "in the name of humanity to stop the war." [N. H. KULKARNEE, SWARBICA and National Archives of India] NIGERIA Conference of African Library, Archives, and Information Studies Schools. A meeting on the theme of African trends in professional education in library, archives, and information studies was held at the University of Ibadan, 3-10 May 1978. The meeting was the second in a series which had started in Dakar, Sene- gal, in 1974, and was organized by the dean of the Faculty of Education and faculty members of the Department of Library Studies at Ibadan, with UNESCO assistance. Representatives of schools from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia attended this meeting. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 235 The agenda included discussion of common curricula for librarians, archivists, and information scientists, criteria for the evaluation of teaching programs, prob- lems of local relevance in professional education programs, importance of prac- tical work in the region's curriculum, and activities and professional programs in African schools. Participants also adopted statutes for a Standing Conference of African Library, Archives, and Information Studies Schools. Since 1974 there have been notable developments in Africa relating to library, archives, and information studies schools. Six of these developments include: (1) the spread of the tendency to concentrate all professional training at a single institution, (2) tendency to have professional training attached to universities, (3) rapid enrollment growth in most African schools, (4) renewed quest for local relevance in instructional programs, (5) reinforcement of academic status within the university communities with increased emphasis on research, and (6) intro- duction and strengthening of programs at the post-graduate level. The group expects to meet again in 1980 in Ghana. [UNISIST Newsletter, vol. 6, no. 4, 1978] PERU New Journal. With the aim of "publicizing research based on documents in the Archives, giving information on archival activities, and issuing significant lists and documents," the Archivo del Fuero Agrario has published the first issue of its journal, Tierra y Sociedad (April 1978), under the editorship of historian Manuel Burga. The journal is divided into three sections: studies, activities in the Ar- chives, and documents and documentary indexes. The Archivo del Fuero Agrario is one of the most important Latin American repositories for its type of documentation. Established as a result of the 1969 Agrarian Reform Law, the Archives preserves sources for the study of agriculture and cattle raising in Peru as well as related subjects. This material is particularly useful for a socio-economic approach to the history of Peru. Documentary Exhibit in Lima. The Archivo Historico Riva-Agiiero (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) organized, 17-30 November 1978, a documentary exhibit entitled "Riva-Agiiero and His Spanish Correspondents," at the Instituto Riva-Agiiero, Lima. The exhibit centered on a display of letters sent to Lima's eminent teacher and cipherer, Jose de la Riva-Agiiero y Osma (1885-1944), by some of Spain's dis- tinguished personalities. The exhibit attempted to accomplish three objectives: (1) to publicize a little known facet of Jose de la Riva-Agiiero's life, that of an accomplished letter writer; (2) to commemorate the work of Lima's illustrious teacher, Pedro Benvenutto Murrieta; and (3) to stir among the general public an archival awareness of the contributions to Peruvian and Spanish-American cul- ture. [CESAR GUTIERREZ MUNOZ, Archivo Historico Riva-Agiiero] VATICAN CITY Opening of the Archives of Pope Leo XIII. In a pre-Christmas speech to an assembly of cardinals and officials of the Roman Curia, Pope John Paul II an- D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 236 The American Archivist—April 1979 nounced on 22 December 1978 the opening of the archives (1878-1903) of Pope Leo XIII. The twenty-five year pontificate of this pope coincided with the great political, social, economic, and intellectual turmoils of the last part of the nine- teenth century. Born Gioacchino Pecci, the former archbishop of Perugia is per- haps best known for his 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum, which sought to reconcile labor and capital. This encyclical is considered to be the basis of modern Catholic social thought. As a patron of learning, Leo XIII set a new intellectual tone in the Roman Catholic Church with his insistence on a renewal of philosophical thought based on the works of St. Thomas Aquinas. Also, in an effort to promote scholarly re- search, he was in 1883 the first pope to make the secret Vatican Archives acces- sible to scholars. The archives of the most recent popes, however, remain closed to scholars until a decision is made to open a new section for research. ABSTRACTS International Council on Archives. [MEYER H. FISHBEIN, National Archives and Records Service] CAD Information CD A, no. 1 (September 1978). This is the first issue of a bulletin, in English and French, published by the ICA Committee on Archival Development (CAD) and distributed to ICA members and sent free upon request to individuals and institutions interested in archival development throughout the world. Under the editorship of Bernard Weilbrenner, assistant Dominion Archivist, Public Archives of Canada, the CAD bulletin will irregularly publish news about archival developments in the Third World and articles of interest to its archivists. The lead article in the inaugural issue (pp. 3-8) is by CAD Chairman Morris Rieger who explains CAD's objectives and activities. Al- bert H. Leisinger, secretary of the ICA Microfilm Committee, discusses (pp. 13- 14) the establishment of microfilm demonstration centers. News items in this issue relate to Barbados, India, Iran, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, and the South and West Asian Branch of ICA. ADPA: Archives and Automation I I nformatique, vol. 2, no. 3 (August 1978). This issue of the bulletin published by the ICA Committee on Automation contains three articles: an outline by Lionel Bell of the British Library, and Arie Arad of the Israeli State Archives on the main elements for automated archival descrip- tion (pp. 2-9); an explication of plans for automating the Federal Register, by Carol Mahoney of the Office of the Federal Register, National Archives and Rec- ords Service (pp. 10-12); and an analysis of computer applications in the ar- chives of the Smithsonian Institution, by Alan L. Bain (pp. 13-20). The next volume of ADPA (no publication date has been set) will be published in Belgium under the editorship of Jean Pieyns, Archives de l'Etat. BELGIUM. [PAUL V. and SIMONE U. GUITE, Washington, D.C.] Archives et Bib- liotheques de BelgiquelArchief - en Bibliotheekwezen in Belgie, vol. 49, nos. 1-2 (1978). Two articles in this issue pertain to judicial archives. J. Th. de Smidt, a professor at Leiden-Amsterdam, describes (pp. 274-86) the preservation of and access to judicial archives in The Netherlands. According to de Smidt, the situation in The Netherlands resembles a judicial pyramid with the French judicial system im- D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 237 posed by Napoleon I on the bottom, the 1838-41 Dutch legislative decrees in the middle, and the 1962 laws at the top. The 1962 legislation directed the min- ister of justice to maintain the records in his custody in good order. Article 5 of the same law stipulates that records older than fifty years should be transferred to the Archives of the Kingdom. The 1962 legislation also requires that disposi- tion schedules be submitted to the Council on Archives, a ten-member body estab- lished in 1968 representing the Archives, the universities, and the administration. The principal concern, according to the author, with regard to judicial archives is to locate and identify those series and registers which are permanently valuable. Ph. Godding of the Catholic University of Louvain discusses (pp. 287-306) the use of Belgian judicial archives by historians. He points out that historians wishing to use judicial records face a number of major obstacles. Among these obstacles are the chances of their preservation via the archival selection process, access difficulties resulting from control exercised by public attorneys, and the ignorance in which historians often find themselves concerning the types of data contained in these legal documents. Godding also discusses at some length the legal and procedural questions governing access to judicial records. Also in this issue, J. N. T. van Albada, municipal archivist of Tilburg, reviews (pp. 245-59) latest developments in municipal archives administration thinking in The Netherlands. The author states that the primary purpose of archives administration should seek to uphold what he refers to as "legal order," main- taining the rights and obligations of both municipal authorities and citizens. To accomplish this task, van Albada suggests the enactment of municipal archives bylaws as well as a well-trained staff, ample space, and sufficient funds. BULGARIA. [G. KOOLEMANS BEYNEN, Ohio State University] Izvestiia na dur- zhavnite arkhivi, vol. 33 (1977). This issue contains a wide variety of subjects. Boris Popor reviews (pp. 13-21) the nature of document retrieval systems and the possibilities of automation for archives. He discusses the benefits and points out some of the problems with automated data processing. Vasil Serafimov discusses (pp. 3-8) the place and role of records management in contemporary adminis- tration, whereas Petur Totsev stresses (pp. 9-12) the importance of establishing a national or regional master plan in the preservation of permanently valuable documents. Other articles included in this issue are as follows. Elena Doicheva provides (pp. 289-96) a survey of documents relating to the political, economic, and cultural relations between the Province of Burgas and Russia (1878-1944). Dimitur Po- por briefly reviews (pp. 297-305) the holdings of the Red Cross archives of the town of Vidin up to 1944. Mariana Bluskova and Ani Kalinova describe (pp. 307-15) documents in the Central State Historical Archives on the abortive April (1876) Uprising against Turkish rule; these pertain mostly to pension claims by some of the participants. Nadezhda Pruvcheva provides (pp. 317-24) a survey of records pertaining to Vasil Levski in the Central State Historical Archives. Two articles in this issue illustrate the use of Bulgarian archives for anthropological research. On the basis of documents from various villages Gatia Simeonova dis- cusses (pp. 259-66) commerce, jobs, public health, village traditions, and village- town relations in the Rusa region. Stoian Borisov presents (pp. 267-72) a general impression of life in Dragoeva from 1891 to 1944, utilizing source material from D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 238 The American Archivist—April 1979 the archives of the communal administration in the village of Dragoeva. Other articles deal with various aspects of Bulgarian history. FRANCE. [JUDITH KOUCKY, National Archives and Records Service] La Gazette des Archives, n.s., no. 101 (1978). Helene Prax and Paule Rene-Bazin discuss (pp. 95-103) the system by which the Archives Nationales sends archivists to the var- ious ministries of the central government in order to process non-current minis- terial records. The authors state that the equivalent of eleven full-time archivists are presently assigned to fourteen ministries. Some of these archivists maintain permanent offices at the ministries to which they have been appointed; others work only part of the time at their respective ministries. The authors explain that, although these archivists are expected to identify any permanently valuable min- isterial records and to prepare those records for deposit in the Archives Nation- ales, they have had to perform records management duties since the opening of the government records center at Fontainebleau in 1977. In effect, the archivists attached to the ministries are now handling the masses of non-current records which, because they still may be needed for the conduct of government business, are designated for storage in Fontainebleau until their final disposition at a later time. The problem, according to the authors, is that non-current ministerial records are not uniformly treated prior to shipment to Fontainebleau. The level of tech- nical competence of the staff assigned to assist the archivist and the amount of working space provided for records processing, vary greatly from ministry to ministry. Those archivists with a staff trained in archival techniques and with an adequate working space can do much of the processing at the ministry itself. They can, for example, combine into a single body the records of a particular adminis- trative unit which have been retired to the ministry's non-current records area in small loads at different times, and tbey can retain in the ministry's storage rooms any non-current records which are soon to be destroyed. Limitations of staff and working space, however, force other archivists to send ministerial records to Fon- tainebleau that have been imperfectly processed or not processed at all. The authors propose two measures for resolving the problem. First, they urge a closer relationship between the staff at Fontainebleau and the archivists at the ministries. The archivist of each ministry could, they suggest, be paired with a staff member at Fontainebleau so that the two could collaborate in processing the records of that particular ministry. Ultimately, the authors declare, all units con- cerned with the management of current records and the administration of con- temporary archives should be combined into a single organization. Second, the authors recommend that the archivists assigned to the ministries be given an of- ficial position within the administrative structure of the ministries; that the rec- ords processing staffs include more personnel trained in archival techniques; and that adequate working space be allocated to enable the archivists and their staffs to process the ministerial records before sending them to Fontainebleau. This issue also contains an article by Michel Duchein on the publications pro- gram of the Essex County Archives in England (pp. 104-9), and a review by Ariane Ducrot of the recently revised edition of the guide to the Bundesarchiv of the Federal Republic of Germany (pp. 110-15). In a technical note, M. Meras D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021 The International Scene: News And Abstracts 239 describes (pp. 119-23) the method used by the Archives Departemental du Rhone to protect the seals attached to its ancient and medieval documents. [MARY ELIZABETH RUWF.LL, National Archives and Records Service] Note d'Information, no. 11 (1978). This issue of the serial publication on automated data processing presents an inventory of the centralized minutes of Parisian pub- lic notaries for 1751. Earlier issues (nos. 9 and 10) had made reference to the completion of the first phase of this project. A computerized index listing about 75,000 acts has been available to researchers for almost a year. This issue justifies the methodology for the continuing project, describes the development of a working vocabulary, and defines the terms used within the pro- gram. With the publication of the inventory for the 1751 records, present plans are to produce inventories of these records for every tenth year, that is inventories for 1761, 1771, 1781, and so forth. PERU. [CESAR GUTIERREZ MUNOZ, Archivo Historico Riva-Agiiero] Tierray So- ciedad (April 1978). In this inaugural issue of the journal of the Archivo del Fuerto Agrario appear two articles based on material in the Archives: "The Ha- cienda in Peru, 1850-1930: Facts and Methods" by Manuel Burga and "The Development of the Cattle Raising Industry in the Central Andes, 1910-1960" by Gerardo Renique. In reference to activities at the Archives, there is a review of the first program of Peruvian Agrarian History; significant attempts to recover the documentary sources of the old landed estates of Piura, Lambayeque, Caja- marca, La Libertad, Lima, lea, Cuzco, and Puno; a description of the papers of Pomalca, Udima, and Algolan; and a summary of research projects at the Ar- chives by Peruvian and foreign researchers during 1976-77. Also in this first issue there is a chronological list of the manuscripts of the hacienda San Jacinto de Ucupe (Lambayeque), which Don Juan Meji'a Baca, literary connoisseur of Lima, donated in part to the Archives. D ow nloaded from http://m eridian.allenpress.com /doi/pdf/10.17723/aarc.42.2.r367725p283xt569 by C arnegie M ellon U niversity user on 06 A pril 2021