About ArchivesOfDevelopment.org
What?
The ArchivesOfDevelopment.org project is attempting to establish an online guide to archival collections related to international development. This project will provide a searchable database of archival finding aids from development institutions, NGOs and other agencies.
International development is a wide range of activities that generally focus on helping developing countries address broad societal issues such as governance, poverty, health care, education, technical infrastructure, and economic growth.
The goal is to establish the ArchivesOfDevelopment.org website as a starting point for researchers interested in studying the rich history, lessons and stories of international development as it has evolved over the past century.
It will enable researchers to identify archival materials relating to a particular development topic, locate the country and repository in which the archival materials are held, and determine the conditions for access to these documents.
Archival materials are documents and records that are preserved to serve as evidence and memory of events, activities and transactions. They are created in both paper and digital formats and can include letters, photographs, movies, financial records, emails, databases, etc.
Archival materials are the basis for historical research, legal evidence and collective memory. They may be preserved in a variety of repositories including international development agencies, NGOs, archival institutions and research libraries.
Who?
The World Bank Group has recently opened its archival collections to the public through its Disclosure Policy. It has recognized that its archival collection is a unique knowledge repository that contains valuable lessons, of both success and failure, which can be applied to current development projects and practices.
Of course, the World Bank is only one of many development organizations. Researchers would benefit significantly if they could visit a collaborative catalogue first, before moving on to the website or physical reference rooms of the institutions that are preserving the archival materials which match their research interests.
Therefore, the World Bank Group Library and Archives wants to gauge the interest of other development institutions, NGOs and agencies to collaborate on developing such a central catalogue of archival finding aids on this ArchivesOfDevelopment.org website.
How?
The World Bank Group Library and Archives will need to collaborate with interested partners to discuss the scope and requirements of an actual operational website, the partnership model and to identify project funding sources.
This prototype website uses the ICA-AtoM archival description software from the International Council on Archives (ICA) to store, organize and provide access to the finding aids. Project partners will be able to import their existing archival finding aids or do data-entry directly into the database. Researchers will be able to search the finding aids and browse by topics.
The ICA promotes the preservation of humanity's archival heritage around the world and facilitates the sharing of ideas and best practices related to the archival profession and the management of archival repositories.
The open source ICA-AtoM software is in early alpha release. It is a multi-lingual and fully web-based product that uses ICA standards as its core data model (ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF), ISIAH).
Further development of this ArchivesOfDevelopment.org prototype website will help to advance the functionality of the ICA-AtoM software. ICA-AtoM will be released in 2007 as a free, open-source product for the benefit of the archival community at large and, in particular, for the benefit of archivists in developing countries that have limited budgets for procuring archives management software.
Why?
The ArchivesOfDevelopment.org project holds the promise to deliver on a number of worthwhile objectives:
- improve researcher access to archival holdings related to international development
- increase partnership and collaboration between archival institutions within the international development community
- deliver on our own development agenda by supporting a standards-based, archival description software system that is provided as a free, open-source product for the benefit of all international archival institutions worldwide
Contact Us
For more information about collaborating and contributing to the ArchivesOfDevelopment.org project, please contact: Andres McAlister, World Bank Information Officer.