The Endangered Archives Programme (EAP) at the British Library

1
The Endangered Archives Programme(EAP)at the
British Library

• Graham Shaw
• Head of Asia, Pacific Africa Collections, BL
• JISC/CNI 6th International Conference
• York, 6 July 2006

2
Background to EAP

• The Endangered Archives Programme is modest in
  conception and rooted in practicality it is not
  aimed at promoting theoretical advances in
  archival management or cutting-edge technology in
  digital preservation it is about achieving
  quick results on the ground
• (Thanks to Tetra Pak) It is sponsored by the
  Lisbet Rausing Charitable Fund (see
  www.lisbetrausingcharitablefund.org) NB LRCF
  does not invite bids for funding it initiates
  its own projects
• LRCF has also sponsored the Endangered Languages
  Project at the School of Oriental African
  Studies, University of London (see www.hrelp.org)
  the two projects complement each other
• LRCF is providing 10 million to the BL over the
  next 8-10 years

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Objectives of EAP

• To contribute to the preservation of mankinds
  documentary heritage, particularly in those
  regions of the emerging world where collections
  may be more at risk and where the availability of
  funding may be limited (i.e. principally not
  Western Europe and North America)
• To heighten awareness of the problem of
  endangered archives and so encourage other
  initiatives both public and private - to combat
  their loss and destruction
• To help foster professional standards in the
  cataloguing, preservation, etc. of archives and
  so assist in safeguarding the longer-term
  availability and accessibility of heritage
  collections world-wide

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Why Endangered Archives? (1)

• Documentary heritage reflects the diversity of
  languages, peoples and cultures. It is the
  mirror of the world and its memory. But this
  memory is fragile. Every day, irreplaceable
  parts of this memory disappear for ever. UNESCO
  Memory of the World Programme
• While the appreciation of the importance of
  archives may never have been greater, there is a
  growing awareness that archives around the globe
  are in danger. At the 2004 ICA Congress, 2,000
  delegates from 116 countries discussed how better
  to preserve the worlds documentary heritage
• Archives are endangered both by the actions of
  mankind and by the forces of nature fire,
  flood, earthquake, hurricane, etc.
• War may have catastrophic consequences for
  archives as we saw on TV in documents scattered
  on the ground from the burnt-out National Library
  and Archives building in Baghdad

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Why Endangered Archives? (2)

• There are problems of fragility and in-built
  obsolescence associated with the physical formats
  to which we have entrusted our documentary
  heritage
• Archives not kept under a proper legal system may
  be susceptible to neglect or destruction
  political ideology can impact directly on
  archives Archives are fundamental to ensuring
  the survival of truth, memory and justice. (ICA)
• Lack of professional training coupled with lack
  of resources can often pose a threat the
  unintentional can be the most damaging sheer
  neglect of documentary heritage for want of
  awareness of its significance
• And lastly perhaps the most insidious threat
  gradual cultural homogenisation, aka the
  McDonaldisation of world culture

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Not All Doom and Gloom

• At Timbuktu in Mali various projects have
  combined to preserve a large part of its
  important medieval Islamic heritage
• At the Great Mosque of Sanaa (Yemen) some of the
  earliest known vellum and paper Quran fragments
  have been recovered
• At the monastery of Tabo on the India-China
  border, an Austrian-led project has been piecing
  together manuscripts from an otherwise lost
  tradition of Western Tibetan Buddhism
• The Nepal German Manuscript Preservation Project
  has concentrated on the Sanskrit heritage of the
  country
• In Bangkok the Fragile Palm Leaves Project to
  preserve Buddhist manuscripts has been underway
  for a decade

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What is EAPs Particular Scope?

• Preserving the worlds documentary heritage is an
  enormous and long-term task EAP can only make a
  small contribution
• It therefore focuses on archives relating
  primarily but not exclusively to
  pre-modern/pre-industrial societies - the
  relevant time period will vary from society to
  society
• Any theme will be considered across arts and
  humanities, social sciences, and traditional
  sciences, technology and medicine
• Any regional interest will be considered, but
  particularly relating to non-Western societies
  Asia, Africa, Latin America, etc.
• Private collections are a particular focus as at
  even more risk than those already in publicly
  accessible archives but even national archives
  are being supported

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How Does EAP Define Archives?

• EAP has taken the broadest possible
  interpretation of the term to embrace
• Rare printed sources (books, serials, newspapers,
  ephemera)
• Manuscripts (in any language)
• Visual materials (drawings, paintings, prints,
  posters, photographs)
• Audio or video recordings and film
• Digital data
• Other objects and artefacts - but NB only where
  they are found in close association with a
  documentary archive

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How Does EAP Achieve Its Objectives?

• Primarily by annual awards of research grants (up
  to a guideline of 50K p.a.) to individual
  researchers or librarians/archivists to locate
  significant collections, arrange their transfer
  to a suitable local archival home, make surrogate
  copies (microfilm or digital), and deliver those
  copies to the British Library
• Grants (up to 10K usually) are also available
  for pilot projects to investigate the survival
  of archival collections in a discrete region, on
  a specific subject, or in a particular format,
  and to assess the feasibility of their recovery
• Initially also by annual awards of bursaries to
  enable overseas archivists and librarians (4
  p.a.) to take up short-term work attachments at
  the BL (up to 6 months) in their area(s) of
  professional interest

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EAP and Preservation versus Access

• Ultimately EAPs emphasis is on access rather
  than preservation
• EAP does not fund the physical conservation of
  original materials on any large scale (except the
  minimum necessary for good-quality copying to be
  achieved whether that be microfilming or
  digital photography)
• If we funded original conservation then our grant
  (though generous) would not stretch very far
  EAP would fail to achieve the sponsors declared
  aim of raising awareness re the dangers to mans
  cultural diversity world-wide
• We set minimum technical standards of copying
  most of it is done in the field by academics
  not by trained digitisers from a library or
  archives background we take a pragmatic
  approach

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What Are the British Librarys Responsibilities
under EAP?

• To administer EAP on a day-to-day basis to
  introduce modifications as appropriate - and to
  oversee its future development
• To receive and retain the surrogate copies of all
  the collections rescued under EAP our operating
  principle is that no original archival material
  should leave its home country
• To document those collections and make them
  freely accessible to researchers (on-site
  initially, selectively through the web possibly
  later)
• To seek partnerships with library and archival
  consortia world-wide to facilitate the
  dissemination of those collections into the
  international research domain

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What Has Been Achieved So Far?

• EAP was successfully launched in October 2004
• An International Advisory Panel of academics and
  archivists was established to evaluate proposals
  and award research grants
• 4 criteria set against which research proposals
  judged urgency of the archival situation /
  vulnerability of materials / research
  significance of collection(s) / feasibility of
  what is proposed
• Bursary programme also set up 4 bursary holders
  (2 from India, 1 from Turkey, 1 from Poland)
  completed their attachments in BL
• Project pages set up on the BL web-site
  explaining what grants are available and how to
  apply following the guidelines provided and using
  on-line forms

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Analysis of Grant Applications Received in Year 2

• 63 preliminary grant applications received, 27
  rejected and 36 invited to submit full proposals
  (year 1 figures were 51 / 17 / 34)
• Region of applicant 7 based in North America, 12
  UK and Western Europe, 4 in Asia, 4 in South
  America, 1 in Australia and Micronesia, 2 from
  Africa, 4 from Eastern Europe and Russia, and 2
  from Middle East, 0 from Central America
  Caribbean (year 1 figures were 11 / 11 / 4 / 2 /
  2 / 2 / 1 / 1 / 0)
• 10 proposals focussed on collections in Asia, 11
  in Africa, 1 in UK and Western Europe, 4 in South
  America, 4 in Eastern Europe, 1 in Micronesia, 2
  in Central America Caribbean, 3 in Middle East
  (year 1 figures were 12 / 8 / 6 / 4 / 2 / 2 / 0 /
  0)
• Most applications are based around manuscript and
  archives collections but photographs and sound
  are also featuring well

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What Kind of Collections is EAP Helping to
Preserve?

• Archives of minority peoples in China Chile
• 20th-century political papers in Liberia, East
  Timor Yap
• Photographic collections in Iran, Laos, Siberia
  Argentina
• Newspapers and periodicals in Urdu Nepali
• Sound archives in the Balkans, Russia Iran
• Church archives in Tanzania Ecuador
• Manuscripts in Marathi (India), Tibetan (Bhutan
  China) Indonesian
• Official records in National Archives of Georgia,
  Tuvalu St Nevis

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What Changes Have We Made?

• The web-pages have been enhanced with details
  and images of projects supported also summaries
  of EAP provided in French, German, Spanish,
  Russian and Arabic
• All documentation guidelines, terms and
  conditions, application forms - revised in light
  of the first years administrative experience
• Biggest change the separate bursary strand has
  been scrapped due to difficulties encountered
  both in processing non-EU bursary holders and in
  securing placements within BL
• BUT the aim of assisting professional
  capacity-building has not been abandoned now to
  be incorporated into the research grant strand to
  encourage the employment and training of local
  staff

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What Do We Need To Do Next?

• Improve the balance within EAPs world-wide reach
  with more targeted promotional activities
  certain academic constituencies are well aware of
  EAP (e.g., Sub-Saharan Africanists, South
  Americanists, Tibetologists) others are not yet
  (e.g. Middle East and Caribbean specialists)
• Develop the EAP web-pages further listing the
  collections received at BL once the projects
  supported send in their results and possibly
  mounting some material on the web
• Build up EAPs institutional links so that access
  is internationalised already preliminary
  negotiations with the Center for Research
  Libraries, Chicago Link with UNESCOs Memory of
  the World now established through the
  International Advisory Panel membership

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How You Can Help

• Principally by spreading the word about the
  Programmes existence to all your academic
  contacts, web discussion lists, library users,
  enquirers, and librarian/archivist contacts and
  putting them in touch (endangeredarchives_at_bl.uk)
• By letting us know of any collections that are
  endangered for whatever reason both those in
  public institutions but particularly those in
  private ownership AND
• By watching EAPs web-pages at www.bl.uk/endangere
  darchives for news of award timetables and any
  changes in scope as EAP develops
• The call for the third round of research grant
  applications will be made in September 2006