This article examines how workflows in audiovisual preservation have shifted in response to the accelerating deterioration of magnetic media, drawing on anecdotal evidence from practitioners across a range of institutions and community archives. Through the experiences of archivists, volunteers, and cultural heritage workers, we argue that ‘degralescence’, once framed as an approaching crisis—is now fully underway. To ground this claim, the article begins with an overview of magnetic tape’s history and physical fragility, highlighting the format’s inherent ephemerality. The authors trace the evolution of preservation efforts over the past two decades, including past collection surveys, advocacy campaigns, and collective knowledge-sharing initiatives that attempted to assess and address the magnetic media crisis. Despite early warnings and numerous large-scale digitization initiatives, the crisis persists and has grown more complex. This current reality calls for a strategic shift toward more agile, grassroots approaches—focused on smaller-scale, achievable goals—that acknowledge the limitations of time, funding, and equipment. The authors move beyond the “all or nothing” rhetoric that has historically dominated the crisis narrative of the field. They recommend that collaborative resource-sharing; curatorial insight; and creative, localized solutions are key to achieving greater resilience and impact in these preservation efforts. This collaboratively authored article draws on the firsthand experiences of the GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museums) professionals predominantly from North America within the Magnetic Media Crisis Committee (MMCC). The authors examine the crisis from a preservation perspective and build on more than a decade of earlier surveys and reports that have repeatedly sounded the alarm.

Este trabajo busca analizar los caminos inciertos de las colecciones privadas en Brasil, destacando las contingencias y temporalidades que atravesaron la patrimonialización de la colección Memória do Movimento Estudantil (MME), creada entre 2004 y 2008 por la Unión Nacional de Estudiantes (UNE) y otros socios. Diseñada para integrar el Centro de Memorias de la UNE (que nunca se construyó), la colección Memória do Movimento Estudantil permaneció sin ubicación definida e inaccesible al público durante casi dos décadas, hasta que finalmente fue donada al Archivo Nacional de Brasil en 2022. El trabajo aborda, en un primer momento, los desafíos e intereses que implica un proyecto de “reconstrucción” de la memoria de un movimiento social —el movimiento estudiantil— y de su principal entidad nacional, la UNE, creada en 1937. También destaca la influencia del contexto político y de las políticas institucionales en la incorporación de esta colección al Archivo Nacional, con el fin de arrojar luz sobre las dinámicas de ingreso de otras colecciones privadas a la institución. La investigación buscó resaltar la imprevisibilidad que involucra el destino de los archivos privados en Brasil, así como los cambios institucionales que impactan la trayectoria de los archivos.

This study recounts and examines the development of the Master in Archives and Records Management (MARM) program of the School of Library and Information Studies, University of the Philippines Diliman (UP SLIS). The first of its kind in the Philippines, this two-year graduate program equips students with essential knowledge and skills to manage and develop archives, record centers, special collections, and other memory and collecting institutions. The authors, who also serve as faculty and proponents of the MARM program, trace the evolution of archival education in the Philippines that reflects the country’s colonial history, as well as the early initiatives to offer courses and a specialized graduate degree program for archives and records management. These initiatives, particularly the proposal to launch a graduate degree program faced issues and challenges. Some of the major hurdles were the faculty qualification requirements and infrastructure, which shape the subsequent faculty development plans and programs of the UP SLIS. In 2021, the MARM program was finally approved, and it accepted its first cohort of students in 2022. The authors share their own encounters and lived experiences as archival educators, curriculum designers, decision makers, and learners. They connect their various experiences in generating the program contents and pedagogical approaches with the archival landscape

El artículo se presenta como una revisión y descripción de diferentes experiencias de la comunidad patrimonial de lo que en Chile conocemos como “Canto a lo Poeta,” en relación con la archivística comunitaria. Primero, aportaremos antecedentes generales sobre el caso, y lo relacionaremos con su investidura y reconocimiento como patrimonio cultural en Chile. Luego se abordarán relaciones entre esta condición patrimonial de la práctica y la archivística comunitaria. La base empírica de nuestro análisis será una experiencia formativa de la comunidad, como es el Taller de Archivística Comunitaria para Cantores a lo Poeta. Posteriormente, se analiza esta experiencia de enseñanza-aprendizaje relativa a archivos comunitarios en diálogo con sus respectivas proyecciones y potencialidades tanto patrimoniales como archivísticas para, finalmente, caracterizar un eventual archivo comunitario de Canto a lo Poeta en cuanto proyecto para la comunidad.

Le Conseil International des Archives (ICA) a vu le jour en 1948. A l’aube de son 75e anniversaire, il n’existe toujours aucun ouvrage consacré à son histoire. Il serait temps de combler cette lacune. Les sources existent : les archives de l’ICA sont déposées aux Archives nationales françaises, à Paris, et elles sont décrites dans deux instruments qui couvrent la période qui va des débuts de l’ICA aux années 2000. L’étude de ces archives pourrait être complétée par celle d’autres sources ainsi que par le dépouillement des publications de l’organisation. En plus d’une histoire, il serait souhaitable que l’ICA regroupe sur son site web, sous un onglet spécifiquement dédié au passé de l’organisation, des éléments historiques (chronologie, documents numérisés, exposition virtuelle, etc.). Quel plus bel hommage pourrait rendre la communauté internationale à Charles Kecskeméti que de lancer un projet qui réunit archivistique et histoire ?

Cultural competence is essential in approaches to archivists’ work and needs to be included in continuing professional development. In this article, I focus on how the AIATSIS CORE Cultural Learning modules inspired me to rethink culture and identity, and how cultural competence training has influenced how I work. I view culture as an organism: it is dynamic and evolving. The narratives of every generation and different communities’ cultures define their identities. Archivists have a mission to safeguard the culture by preserving tangible materials as the culture is the context of collections. Working with manuscripts reminds me that archives and culture are human-centred. Collections are not just materials; they connect with people. The subjectivity of the archivist is evidence that our culture and identity are genuinely presented in the workplace. Even if the archivists seem anonymous and silent, their subjectivity leads them to choose, interpret, and analyse during the processing of collections. Moreover, recognising power relations in the archive, I realise that archivists have the privilege to select what is to be remembered and what will be forgotten. Two examples are provided to explain how cultural competence training changed the way I work and the thoughts of my career. For the archive as an organisation to preserve and shape history, it is essential that archivists understand the importance of cultural competence. Only when we know ourselves better and recognise our problems can we embrace diversity and preserve culture and history more comprehensively.

While there is a developing international discussion on the topic of community archives in different parts of the world, there has not been any sustained attempt to study community-based archives within a comparative framework. The aim of the article is to initiate a more systematic and comparative discussion of the different realities of community archives internationally (measured against and perhaps critiquing the descriptions and definitions offered by the dominant Anglophone literature on the topic). This article draws upon the authors’ presentation at the ICA’s Rome 2022 Conference of their comparative analysis of the contexts, form, and operation of community archives in five different countries (Brazil, China, Poland, Portugal and the United Kingdom). The authors also put forward an initial set of six criteria they believe are useful for future international comparative approaches to understanding community archives: terminology and definitions; typologies and characteristics of the archives; recent history and social structure of the country/region; relationships with external entities; funding and support; law and national archival and heritage systems.

In 2003, a federation of local authorities was established to administrate a shared electronic records management system. This federated system was carried out by an interdisciplinary team and was supported by archival aids and by life-long training based on a blended learning method in order to bridge the digital gap between users belonging to authorities different from each other because of size and specialisation of the institution. The development of a new system’s function is in progress in order to manage the retention schedule and the file plan. The aims include allowing the disposal of the digital files by using metadata and complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) EU by engaging the disposal of digital records with personal data if preservation is not required for historical research.

European archives represent the historical memory of all member states of the European Union, and can also be considered “pillars of democracy.” Defending archives means defending the history and the rights of European citizens. The European Union has never actually issued general guidelines to regulate the management of historical archives produced by independent institutions of the various member countries. At present, there is only legislation for the historical archives of the European Union that are kept at the European University Institute in Florence. The lack of unified regulations represent an obstacle to preserving and defending European archives. Moreover, legislation regarding military defense, and consequently the defense of cultural heritage, is also missing. This article retraces the European Union’s measures concerning archives, focusing on both treaties and resolutions adopted by European councils which have led to the idea of a common defense policy, and thus proposing its application in the archival field.