The Society of Archivists Annual Conference 2007 was held in Queen’s University Belfast from the 28th to the 31st of August. The conference marked the 60th anniversary of the Society of Archivists (SoA) and examined the theme of ‘Differing Directions: Challenging Communities’. Three strands of talks occurred – archives and community, records management and preservation. Additionally, there was an ‘Information Marketplace’ on the Wednesday. Naturally, a host of social events and dinners for the delegates also took place in and around Belfast over the course of the conference, including a Gala Dinner at the Europa Hotel.
Many of the speakers represented Irish archives services and a good proportion of the delegates had journeyed to Belfast from the Dublin and further south. For those of a sociable nature, there were many opportunities for archives and records management professionals from all over Britain and Ireland to mingle and network, as the days were broken into sessions with plenty of tea breaks and a substantial lunch to boost flagging spirits.
Of course, socialising was not the extent of the Conference; many seminars and talks were delivered. Much of the records management strand on Wednesday concerned the legal admissibility and accountability of records, while Electronic Document and Records Management Systems (EDRMS) dominated on Thursday. Each day the archives sessions were devoted to the idea of archives in the community – this varied from how the media presents archives to the general public to how disenfranchised users, such as teenagers, can be encouraged into archives. Among the various conservation projects discussed in the preservation seminars were the Dead Sea Scrolls and Islamic manuscripts in the Chester Beatty and the Victoria and Albert Museums.
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