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Date: August 2005

 Foreword

Dear colleagues,

On behalf of all the members of CARBICA I congratulate and extend a sincere welcome to Renita Charles, recently appointed as director of the National Archives Documentation Center of Dominica. CARBICA is prepared to give Mrs. Charles the necessary support for the safeguarding of the Dominican Archives and documentation. CARBICA extends her gratitude to Mrs. Yulu Klein-Griffith of the National Archives Department of Libraries, Archives and Documentation Services of St. Vincent & Grenadines for having conducted the assessment report of the impact of hurricane Ivan on the records and archives in Grenada.
 
In joint venture with the Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers (ACARM) preparations are made to organize a workshop regarding archival legislation. This workshop will be held in St. Kitts on the 17th and 18th of October 2005. Countries of CARBICA with no legislation yet are being encouraged to participate.

I represented CARBICA at the last ICA Executive Commission meeting in Washington. ICA is encountering financial difficulties. The depreciation of the dollar against the euro, which has deprived ICA of 30% of its operating resources, is the main reason. Some measures are taken to reduce operating expenses. Hopefully next year the ICA budget will be adjusted.

P.3    Greenwich Museum records
P.3    Slavery memory in France and in Europe
        (French committee recommendations)

 
Reports
P.3-4 ACURIL, Martinique

Coming events
Next year is very important for the Caribbean region as we will host the annual International Conference of the Round Table on Archives (CITRA) in Curaçao and we hope and count on your support and participation. Do not forget to check our website for news.

The president of CARBICA Mrs. Nolda Römer-Kenepa


Short news
P.4   International survey about audiovisual records (TAPE)
P.4   Records management : RMCAS, new tool of diagnosis

Word of the editors
This newsletter is yours. To make it the true reflection of archival activity in the Carribbean, your contributions are welcome.
Please send your contributions to bonjean@cg972.fr.
 
P.4   MoReq, European model for electronic archi¬ves management
P.4   Endangered Archives Programme
P.4   Electronic records : an ICA workbook

Grenada : rescue plan for the records
Hurricane Ivan was devastating. Especially in Grenada there was much damage. At the Government House we know that the entire building has been destroyed and that archives has been flooded or has been exposed to the elements. On the floor of the vault there was about 6 inches of water.

The Executive Board of CARBICA was very concerned after following the press reports. It was in October that CARBICA came in contact with Cheryl Sylvester, member of the Executive Board and Lillian Sylvester, director of library. The next concern was how to assist in safeguarding the documentary heritage of this island after the disaster.

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) through the Margaret Cross Norton Fund provided the financial assistance and this has made it possible for CARBICA to make a report on the situation in Grenada. Mr. Trudy Huskamp Peterson played an important role in getting this support.

In November CARBICA officially offered its services and we have found Yulu Griffith Klein, archivist at the National Archives of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, willing to travel to Grenada. She made in December an assessment of impact of hurricane Ivan on records and archives in Grenada. With the assistance of locals she fulfill the task. In her recommendations she accentuate the need to manage records properly taking into consideration their important role for the right as citizens, accountability and national memory. Furthermore she stresses the importance to dispose of a records disaster preparedness plan and the need for co-operation between sectors.

She recommended a consolidation of the various repositories under a new public agency, the National Archives of Grenada, for which the Government House can form the core. Her report is being circulated in Grenada and to some other organizations e.g. the SAA and ICA.
CARBICA is committed to the process of recovery.

Plans for 2005

     a. Workshop on legislation and ISO 15489 standard
In October CARBICA will be organizing a workshop for the members. This workshop is to take place in St. Kitts. It will be a combined workshop dealing with the topics of archival legislation and the international standard 15489. The Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers (ACARM) is willing to sponsor. Furthermore we will do a call on FIDA to cover part of the cost for the participation of the non-English speaking members.

     b. Executive meeting
While in St. Kitts a meeting with the board will be convened as a preparation for the election of a new board to take place in Curacao in November 2006.

     c. Ministers meeting.
CARBICA wish to organize a ministers conference to sensitize governors, in charge with the archives, to the problems of archives in the Caribbean. As so far 4 countries (Cuba, Barbados, Cayman Islands and British Virgin Island) reacted positively, giving their approval to continue with the preparations for such a meeting.

     Publications
The papers for the presentations of the two CARBICA sessions in Vienna (Shared Memory), the PATC/ICCROM course in Curacao (2003 in) will be published. The aim of CARBICA with these publications is to reach a wider public. We will have to look for funding to realize this intention.

Elections at the ICA

     Results of the first elections of ICA/CIA, April 2005
For the first time in the history of ICA/CIA, all the directors were chosen by votes from the whole world. The following officials have been elected to be part of the executive committee, of the audit commission and of the CITRA Bureau.
 
Président :
Lorenz MIKOLETZKY, General director of the national Archives of Austria Representant of A category : Mitsuoki KIKUCHI, President of the national Archives of Japan Audit commission :
President :
Moncef FAKHFAKH, Director of the national Archives of Tunisia Member : Zohar ALOUFI, member of the Praesidium of the Association of Israeli Archivists.

Financial restrictions
Because of the dollar drop, financial resources of ICA have considerably decreased. That is the reason why ICA will not be able to give financial support to activities of the regional branches. Only the ratified projects will receive financial aid on the basis of negociations.

Current Status of Archives and Records Management in the British Virgin Islands
The Virgin Islands Archives have suffered many decades of neglect, a situation not dissimilar to that experienced in several other Caribbean countries. Records range from 1800- 1970 and are housed in a small room (approximately 2.3 X 4.5 metres) in the Old Administration Building situated in Road Town, Tortola. Advice and guidance have not been lacking over the years.
Although the recommendations of the Victoria Lemieux report (1998) were accepted and approved by the Executive Council in 2001, it was not until April 2004 that a Chief Records Management Officer (CRMO), who doubles as Coordinator of the Archives Project, was appointed. A deter¬mined effort to institute an Archives and Records Management Service, through legislation is being made, as there is none at present, except the Registration and Records Act 1881.

One month after the appointment of the Chief Records Management Officer, the Executive Council of the Virgin Islands Government approved her Action Plan to establish a National Archives and to introduce an integrated system of records management along the lines recommended by Lemieux, a consultant from the International Records Management Trust (IRMT) in October 1998.
One priority of the Action Plan was to conduct a records survey throughout the Civil Service to establish the provenance, location, and how much space the intermediate records occupy. As another priority, the assistance of a BESO Archives Consultant was procured during November 2004, to advise on the restoration of the older documents in the Old Administration Building. He also advised on the large quantity of intermediate records in the basement of the New Central Administration Complex and made recommendations for staff, legislation and appropriate buildings for the archives and intermediate records.
 
During February 2005 sixty Senior Managers and sixty-four Supervisory and Clerical officers attended records management workshops conducted by two consultants from the University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. It is hoped that skills learnt will be utilized to effect change in Departmental Registries.

Meanwhile the Unit (consisting of the CRMO and one clerical officer only) hopes that the Government will actively support the recommendations put forward by Cantwell and Lemieux. As Cantwell concluded, ‘the Chief Records Management Officer must be given the resources to manage effectively the Records Centre….As regards the Record Office itself, quite apart from the need for a purpose-built repository, the appointment of an archivist is obviously necessary in the near future… At this stage I should not expect the Archives Service to do more than to offer ‘secure custody’ to these records until staff become available to review and dispose of them.’ (Cantwell 2004)

The post of Government Archivist was not approved in the 2005 budget nor was any new post across the Civil Service.

Verna Penn Moll

Guadeloupe : archives training for local staff
The Conseil général of Guadeloupe, with support of the Direction of cultural affairs, has initiated in 2005 a training cycle for the officers more or less in charge with local records management.

The archivist had pointed out the very worrying state of the local records and the risk for this heritage to disappear shortly. This risk was threatening birth, marriage and death certificates and deliberations also, although they represent the core of local administration and its memory.

The training is made up of three parts :
1) a 3 days theoretic training, dealing with the whole French archives theory, from gathering to enhancement (January 2005)
2) 5 further development sessions, allowing to repeat theory and to analyze it with hands-on training (February-June 2005)
3) carrying out of this training, on the spot, by an archivist, once every two or three months. The experiment is at its third stage : the trainees – who represented 17 from the 34 districts of Guadeloupe – have to write a training report and an action project about their district that will be ratified by the mayor and the archivist during the 4th trimester of the year, for immediate implemen¬tation.

Although it is too soon for conclusions, we can underline the interest this training aroused ; and even if we may hope vainly that the trainees succeed in giving a boost to archives in their district, 25% at least woud be a good figure.

 
Hélène Servant

Your Caribbean Heritage
The History of the British Caribbean from Jamaica to Trinidad is to become more accessible to the public, thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The National Archives are cataloguing over 250,000 Colonial Office government documents from the 17th century to the 1920s. During the project, these entries will be added to the online catalogue which can be found on the National Archives website : www.nationalar-chives.gov.uk

There are over 5,000 volumes relating to various islands in the British West Indies. Among the collection are public and private correspondence, newspapers, maps, reports and plans recovering topics from the transatlantic slave trade, struggles against slavery and colonialism, political conflicts, and the role of West Indian soldiers in the First World War.

The project will take place over three years, and a virtual exhibition will be developped to complement the National Archives’ online service.
A travelling exhibition will also be prepared for loan to community groups and local archives.

Further information and enquiries contact :
Your Caribbean Heritage Team
Mandy Banton, Georgina Hague
Gemma Romain, Kristy Warren

Your Caribbean Heritage
The National Archives
Kew, Surrey, Richmond
TWP 4DU

0820 8392 5330 ext. 2577
caribbean@nationalarchives.gov.uk
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk


IREL : Downloadable research tools of the « Centre des Archives d’outre-mer »
Since December 2004, the National Archives of France have put on line a series of research tools that researchers and amateur genealogists of overseas departments often use. Specially, with a few clicks, it is possible, to get a brief description of all the records about the French colonial empire, including those of the West Indies, thanks to the conversion into EAD/XML of the general list of collections, published in 1980 and updated for the occasion. The historian may now easily prepare his or her research program in Aix, locating the relevant documentary data.

Moreover, the digital list of birth, marriage and death certificates of the colonies, up to the XVIIth century for some parishes, is also accessible. The digitization of the original records is in progress and the dowloading of the deeds themselves is planned for the next years.
 
Website address : http://www.archivesnationales.culture.gouv.fr/caom/fr/in-dex_irel.html

Digital library of the Caribbean : Crossing borders
In order to preserve and increase access to valuable resources for the study of the Caribbean and the advancement of Caribbean Studies, the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University, in consortium with the University of Central Florida, University of Florida and the University of the Virgin Islands, proposes a multifaceted and collaborative international digital library project. The Digital Library of the Caribbean (dLOC) intends to cross borders and build collaboration among diverse institutions to share resources in a common space, thus expanding the range of Caribbean materials available to scholars, students and citizens through enhanced electronic access in multilingual interfaces.

The dLOC will be an umbrella for digital projects and collections from and about the Caribbean that might exist in isolation at a single institution, thus providing a critical mass of resources in a single space.
Building upon the success of a cooperative pilot project and the progress made at the first dLOC Planning Meeting in July at the University of Puerto-Rico, Rio Piedras, and with a grant of $US 450 000, this project proposes to meet the following goals for a four-year period :
. • Increase access to Caribbean research resources by digitizing and making available through centralized searching collections of note, in English, French, and Spanish, including from the Archives nationales d’Haïti, Ca¬ribbean Community (CARICOM), Fundación Global Desarollo y Democracia (Dominican Republic), National Library of Jamaica, and Universidad de Oriente (Venzuela);
. • Build capacity by developing a multi-layered and comprehensive digitization training program for international partners ;
. • Advance Caribbean Studies by building an aggressive and engaging outreach program that delivers these collections to scholars, to the classroom, and to the general public ;
. • Cultivate the development of new research initiatives among Caribbean scholars by providing a supportive framework to desseminate this work ;
. • Ensure sustainability of the dLOC by consolidating the organizational framework, both in the governance and technical infastructure. Further information : www.lacic.fiu.edu

Greenwich : National Maritime Museum Development Project
The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London (UK) is undertaking an important project to enhance access to its archival collections. It contains over 2 million items, including manuscript letters and journals, prints, drawings, maps, charts and ephemera, that record the history of Bri-tain’s imperial maritime endeavour over the last 500 years. They offer unique and valuable insights into a range of subject areas, from imperial studies to art history and the history of science and technology.
The Museum, in a user-friendly perspective, calls for suggestions from inte¬rested scholars.
Further information : www.hmm.ac.uk/briefingnotes

Memory of slavery in France
We know the part dedicated to slave memory in the Memory of the World and the Slave route programs, supported by UNESCO. There, relevant documents concerning slave trade and slavery in the West Indies are inventoried and presented. This project, coordinated by the Barbados museum, is presented on the following website : http://www.caribbeanslavearchives.org/.
The final report can be downloaded from Unesco website : www.portal.unesco.org/ci/en
 
At the same time, in France, following the law of the 10th of May 2001 that recognizes slavery as a crime against humanity, a comittee for the memory of slavery gave its conclusions on the 12th April 2005. The text notably proposes to « improve the knowledge of slave trade history and of slavery in schools », particularly in school text-books and to « promote research » thanks to a grant awarded once a year for research projects. To this end, the text recommends the creation of a « National center of history and memory of the slave trade and slavery and its abolitions ». For the archives, the working out of a French sources guide concerning the history of slavery was decided. It could even be extended to European sources.
The comittee report is downloadable on the following address : http://lesrapports.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/BRP/054000247/0000.pdf,
 or on the « Documentation francaise » website : www.ladocumentationfran-caise.fr
 
35TH ACURIL CONGRESS (June 4th –6th 2005)
The Association of Caribbean University, Research and Institutional Libraries (ACURIL), established in 1969 gathers professionals from libraries, archives, museums and information research institutions from the English, French, Spanish and Dutch speaking countries. The annual conference provides a forum for networking and the sharing of professional experiences.
The 35th Congress was held at Trois Islets under the theme Identifying Information Needs to Provide Public Access to Knowledge in the Caribbean. There were presentations of papers, debates, poster sessions and workshops.

On Monday 6th June, 2005, Mrs. Margot Thomas of the National Archives Authority of Saint Lucia (CARBICA member) presented a paper entitled, Connecting the Past and the Present: An Analysis of Saint Lucia’s Jounen Kwéyòl which was well-received by the participants. Another Saint Lucian, Ms. Caroline Popovic presented a paper entitled, Newspapers and Magazines: Contribution to Knowledge. The other CARBICA members who attended the conference were Ms. Cheryl Sylvester, Mde. Dominique Taffin and Mr. Jean-Wilfird Bertrand.
Mrs. Thomas also chaired the Special Interest Group – Archives and Records Management. Co-chair was Ms. Cheryl Sylvester of Grenada. On Wednesday 8th June, 2005 Mrs. Thomas and the members of the Special Interest Group assembled at the Carrayou Hotel where she facilitated a workshop called, « Oral History: A Tool for Knowledge ». This was presented in two sessions with the first dealing with Oral History as a Supplement to the Written Word and the second session providing practical participation called « Guidelines to Conducing an
Oral History Interview ».
A total of twelve(12) persons participated in the workshop which ran from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Of special interest was the digitization process which is currently underway by the National Archives of Martinique. Mde Dominique Taffin hosted a special session to explain the digitization work being done by the Archives Nationales which proved to be very interesting. A group of ACURIL participants was able to visit the Archives Nationales to have a first hand examination of the process. The French Government has invested heavily in the purchase of equipment and the training of staff to ensure the success of the work being undertaken. The University of Florida has begun a digitization project in cooperation with the University of the Virgin Islands in which the Americans are seeking to make digital copies of all the archives and other records of interest which exist in all the Caribbean islands. In fact, the University of Florida has set out to become the largest depository of Caribbean records which would mean intellectual control even though persons from the Caribbean may have access.

ACURIL 2005 was a refreshing learning experience which had its fair share of social activities. Special mention must be made of Mr. Jean Wilfred Bertrand from Haiti who was awarded a special medal as a Past President of ACURIL and for his participation in ACURIL through the years.
The next annual conference of ACURIL is slated for May 28th to June 2nd, 2005 in Aruba under the theme Information and Human Rights.

TAPE program for audiovisual preservation
ECPA (European Commission on Preservation and Acces) launches a survey for the TAPE program (Training for Audiovisual Preservation in Europe), supported by the Culture program 2000 of the European Union Européenne. The TAPE program is about audiovisual collections, and particularly sounds and animated pictures collections, kept by local archives, museums, libraries (including university libraries and research libraries), research institues, etc.
This survey will be presented as an introduction to the promotion of audiovisual collections.
This e-survey is available (PDF formate) in various languages (French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, German, Finnish, Polish and English) on www.tape-online.net/questionnaire.
For further information : www.tape-online.net.

European Commission on Preservation and Access (ECPA)

P.O. Box 19121, NL-1000 GC Amsterdam,
Adresse : c/o KNAW, Trippenhuis, Kloveniersburgwal 29,
NL-1011 JV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
tel. ++31 - 20 - 551 08 39 fax ++31 - 20 - 620 49 41
URL: http://www.knaw.nl/ecpa/

Records management : a new diagnostic model
The Records Management Capacity Assessment System (RMCAS) is designed to help assess records and information systems capacity in the public sector, particularly for developing countries. It is now available for records managers, national archivists and other government officials to download and use free of charge.
The International Records Management Trust’s aim is thus to provide a methodology to identify problems and begin to plan solutions. RMCAS is a three-part tool that maps capacity levels to the infrastructure and systems needed to deliver effective records management, regardless of the format in which records are created and held. It comprises:
. • A data gathering element
. • A diagnostic model : RMCAS has modules for measuring records and information systems in the financial management, human resource management and legal and judicial areas. Though structured interview questions, the diagnostic model produces reports pointing out the strengths and weaknes¬ses of the records management system. It also can be applied generically
. • A database of capacity building resources (guidance materials, training modules, strategic planning tools) that you can manage and use through a simple software application.

Three standards or models have been analysed and used as the basis for deriving statements of good practice (ISO 15489, the European Commission’s Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records and the Na¬tional Archives of Canada’s Information Management Capacity Check).
RMCAS can be downloaded free of charge at: www.irmt.org

Moreq
Parallel to the ISO 15489 standard about Records Management, the Mo-Req project (Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Documents and Records), financed through the European Commission IDA2 program, is supposed to become a reference frame for the organization of electronic records management in Europa. It aims to implement « a system that could manage electronic records comprising levels of confidentiality and integrity, combining the advantages of electronic management with those of classic management theory ».
Thus, MoReq proposes various recommendations concerning :
-control and security of documents,
-perservation and final destiny for documents,
-data capture (integration of the documents into the system),
-identification of documents.MoReq specifications are now at last available in French.
They can be downloaded on the following website : http://www.archive17.fr/, or on the one of the ADBS: www.adbs.fr/site/publications/texte_ref/reference.php, and in English : www.cornwell.co.uk/moreq.html


Endangered Archives Programme
The British Library has launched a new programme for archives. The Programme’s aim is to safeguard archival material relating to societies before ‘modernisation’ or ‘industrialisation’ generated institutional and re-cord-keeping structures for the systematic preservation of historical records. The time period will therefore vary according to the society. Any theme or regional interest will be considered, although the Programme particularly welcomes applications concerned with non-western societies The Endangered Archives Programme, which focuses on the preservation
and copying of important but vulnerable archives throughout the world, is now accepting applications for the next round of funding. Detailed information on the timetable, criteria, eligibility and procedures for applying for a grant is available on the British Library’s website at: http://www.bl.uk/en-dangeredarchives

Electronic records : an ICA workbook
ICA has just released a workbook designed for archivists on electronic
records management. It is at present available in English and Portuguese. Electronic Records : a workbook for Archivists, International Council on Archives, Studies, 16, April 2005.
Info : www.ica.org

Please contact:
Nolda Römer Kenepa
Director
National Archives of the
Netherlands Antilles (NANA)
Scharlooweg 77—79,
Curaçao N.A.
Tel: (599-9)-461-4866
Fax: (599-9)-461-6794
E-mail: nrom@cura.net

Editor:
M.A. Scriwanek
National Archives
Tel +599 9 4614866
Fax +599 9 4616794
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