Universities have historically made a significant contribution to and served as hubs for the preservation and utilization of archives for research and other purposes. Academic organizations produce large volumes of archival material on a daily basis. This led to the need for creation of policies, archive sections in academic libraries, or independent operation of archive organizations within universities, with the aim of collecting, classifying, and using the material for academic, research, and more broadly for cultural purposes. Internationally, during the mid-20th century, and increasingly during the 1950s and 60s, universities and professional associations of archivists turned towards the preservation, management, and utilization of academic archives.
In Greece, interest in university archives began in the 1990s and, despite the efforts that have taken place since then, only a few Universities have collected archives classified by date. Their importance of university archives management for administrative operations and more broadly for the science creates an imperative need for institutions to know and provide processes of current archive management, of refining and preserving archival material, as well as develop well-documented and scientifically valid archiving policies.
This research project focus on the development of a strategic plan for the systematic preservation and classification of historical archival material, and the appropriate management of active archival entities at the University of West Attica (UNIWA). Methodologically, research will focus on three main pillars: a) archiving policies b) strategic plan for the development and management of archives/collections and c) technical rules and administrative processes. The results of this research project are not only of interest to UΝΙWA. They will revive dialogue on academic archives management, a relatively neglected field in the literature, and will promote standard-setting initiatives on implementable administrative policies in Academic Institutions.
Project Τitle: Α.UNI.W.A. – University of West Attica Archives and Special Collections Strategic Plan
Project Duration: 1 April 2020 – 30 July 2021
Project URL: https://iml.alis.uniwa.gr/
Project Framework & Funding:
[EDVM103] European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) and Greek national funds throught the Operational Program “Human resource development, education, and lifelong learning” of NSRF 2014-2020, Project “Supporting researchers with emphasis on young researchers – 2nd round”.
Funding: 41.041,00 €
Principal Investigator (UNIWA): Professor Georgios A. Giannakopoulos, Email: gian@uniwa.gr, Tel: +30-2105385202
Consortium – Partners: University of West Attica – Department of Archival, Library and Information Studies, Information Management Research Lab
