The archivists of the municipalities in the Kleve district have now met in Geldern. The biannual meetings promote networking between the archives. The focus is on the exchange of current topics.
The meeting focused on the use of artificial intelligence, or AI for short. "Archives are trying to provide as much information as possible about their archive material on the internet," said Dr. Beate Sturm, Head of the Kleve District Archive. "In the age of AI, we have to be much more careful about this," continues Sturm, "because AI has revolutionized research: Complex questions, including personal ones, are researched and comprehensive answers compiled in a short space of time. This can be particularly disadvantageous for descendants of the people named in the archive records." The archivists discussed how information from the archives can continue to be made available against this background and what adjustments need to be made to the archive databases used for this purpose.
Other topics discussed at the meeting included the introduction of electronic files in administrations, the long-term archiving of electronic data and the emergency network. The latter offers archives the opportunity to provide each other with unbureaucratic and well-trained support in emergencies, for example in the event of water damage. The "Day of Archives", when archives open their doors at the weekend, was also on the agenda.
Matthias Senk from the Archivberatungs- und Fortbildungs-Zentrum (AFZ-LVR) attended the meeting at the Geldern District Archive as a guest. He represented his colleague Dr. Manuel Hagemann. As an area consultant for the district of Kleve, Dr. Hagemann advises the archives on all matters relating to the archiving of their holdings and the operation of the archives. The day was rounded off with a tour of the newly refurbished storage rooms at the Geldern municipal archive.
Source: District of Kleve