‘Flying archivist’ project started
Member parties of EFA can apply for archival assistance and consultancy as a part of the Flying Archivist project.
At the end of the Guide to the Archives (GTA) project, carried out by NISE on behalf of CMC from december 2009 to december 2011, the ensuing report made clear that for some of the member parties of EFA, the situation their archives find themselves in (material conditions, state of arrangement, level of management etc.) puts their use and even their actual survival in serious doubt. To remedy this situation it was deemed necessary to offer an archival service on a temporary and limited basis. The Flying Archivist project, co-funded by the European parliament through the Centre Maurits Coppieters (CMC) organises that service.
The project organises the application process by EFA party members as well as the consequent selection process, signs with each participant separately a cooperation agreement, setting out the mutual obligations; and sends a qualified and experienced archivist for a maximum of 5 days to each of the selected party archives.
This flying archivist performs one or more tasks, in accordance with the specific circumstances for each situation. This could entail consulting on the storage, materials, handling, arranging, drawing up finding aids, digitalisation, access regulations and procedures etc.; executing an exemplary arrangement; assisting with finding and organising due material care and attention; pointing to and arrange for the relevant ICT environment for digital born archives; drawing up a report with conclusions and recommendations for each participating party archives separately.
From the experience gained with the different cases, the flying archivist will also be in a position to add to the on-line archival manual for the preservation and management of archives of nationalist and regionalist political parties.