Description
The CIfA Archaeological Archives Group (AAG) would like to invite you to join us for this year’s day conference and AGM, where we consider how current archaeological archiving practices reflect the changes, challenges, progress and transformation of the sector since the millennium.
The world of archives has transformed dramatically in the last quarter of a century. Just ten years ago, the AAG was running basic training on how to ‘put things in boxes’, and now members of our group tackle a wide variety of more complicated challenges. To name a few:
- Large infrastructure projects, and their often-collaborative nature, have changed the way that archivists work, offering challenges, opportunities and room for new specialisations.
- Legacy projects, and the associated task of bringing collections up to date with modern guidelines, are more central to our practice.
- New technologies – changing and advancing all the time – offer new data and information as well as challenges for data gathering in the field.
- The introduction of digital archiving and the Archaeology Data Service have revolutionized our processes, making our archives more accessible than ever.
- Cross-sector collaboration and awareness of archiving within individual organisations have significantly increased in recent years, opening new avenues of working and changes to project processes and management.
So, what is going well, and what has room for improvement? Where do we see archiving going over the next 25 years, and can we agree on the next set of priorities for the AAG? getting back to basics and reminding ourselves why we all get together in the first place - to share good practice and celebrate archaeological archives.