ARCH-COM 2003-04
7 November 2003
43rd Meeting of
the Archive Committee
Present: G. Veneziano (Chairman) (GV); A. Hollier (Secretary) (AH); C. Pettenati (CP);
F. Costa (FC); J. Karlson-Forestier (JKF); C. Galmant (CG); M. Desnyder-Ivesdal (MDI); J-M. Laurent (JML); P. Mage (PM); A. Placci (AP); E. Sanders (ES); H. Schönbacher (HS); F. Thizy (FT)
Apologies: X. Daney; H. F. Hoffmann; G.Lindecker; C. Onions; T. Pettersson; J. A. Rubio; A. Ball; L. A. Gaume; S. Maio; B. Pollermann; F. Rabier; D. Schinzel
Agenda (as approved at the meeting)
1. Minutes of last meeting (ARCH-COM 2003-02)
2. Chairman’s report (G. Veneziano)
3. Progress report April - September 2003 (A. Hollier)
4. Record-keeping in the Divisions and Experiments:
TIS – Technical Inspection and Safety (H. Schönbacher)
5. Photo captions project (A. Placci)
6 Microcosm historic objects collection (E. Sanders)
7. AOB
8. Next meeting
1.
Minutes of last meeting (ARCH-COM 2003-02)
The minutes were approved.
2.
Chairman’s report (G. Veneziano)
GV reported that there was still no progress on the issue of long-term electronic archiving (LTEA). He and Bernd Pollermann had raised the matter informally with Jürgen May, but with no success. GV concluded that there was no chance of progress this year, and the issue should be raised again with the new management next year.
He also commented that the assignment of Divisional Records Officers (DROs) would have to be re-examined following the reorganisation of CERN.
Action: GV to make preliminary contact
with the new management concerning LTEA.
3.
Progress report April – September 2003 (A. Hollier)
Concerning the Archive team, AH reported that one person had been absent (50%, progressive retirement) for most of the last six months, so the team had consisted of two people plus assistance from two library apprentices one day per week. A new student will start work in the archive (60%) at the beginning of November, working mainly on the Wolfgang Pauli archive. The position of Archive Assistant will be advertised as a Local Staff post.
There have been 625 new entries to the Archive catalogue over the last six months, compared to 1,000 for the previous 6 months, and 2,000 in the six months before that. A lot of time was taken up with migration of the database from version Aleph300 to Aleph500. The Archive Assistant, Sandrine Reyes, has developed considerable expertise in this area. A few small collections of records have been received, including documents on NOMAD from L. Di Lella, and records of K. H. Kissler and J. Adams.
Just over 60 enquiries were answered over the last 6 months, compared with around 40 for the previous six-month period. Most were requests for specific documents, but some more extensive requests have been received (from the Press Office, for example), and Bruno Strasser (University of Geneva), and John Krige (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA) have also visited the archive to carry out more in-depth research.
Following action by AH, the role of Divisional Records Officer is now included in the EDH database of official roles.
AH has given two external talks relating to the CERN Archive:
The latter was given in coordination with the archivist of SLAC, giving the opportunity to show similarities and differences between the two. One major difference relates to the regulatory environment. As a US government contractor, SLAC is subject to the governing agency’s records regulations. SLAC contracts to the US Dept. of Energy, which is bound by the regulations of the US National Archives and Records Administration. Records retention schedules have been set up, and the Archives and Records Management teams at SLAC work in consultation to ensure that records of historical importance are passed to the Archive.
AH passed around details of a forthcoming International Archiving Workshop on the Selection, Appraisal, and Retention of Digital Scientific Data (Lisbon, 15-17 December http://www.erpanet.org). Jürgen Knobloch will speak on behalf of CERN; AH will attend.
4.
Record-keeping in the Divisions and Experiments:
TIS
– Technical Inspection and Safety (H. Schönbacher)
HS said that the Divisional Records Officers appointed for TIS during his period as Division Leader had not been pushed by him to make archives a high enough priority. He hopes to remedy this over the next year, particularly in view of the increasing risk as more people who know where to find records leave CERN. He has begun by inspecting the records of the Radiation Protection group with AH. Some records are clearly of no long-term value and can be disposed of (many have been destroyed already); an inventory will be made of the rest as a basis for retention decisions. Next he will tackle General Safety, the Fire Brigade (where record-keeping is now mainly done electronically), the Medical Service (already well organised, and subject to strict confidentiality restrictions) and the Integrated Safety and Environment group (which should also be relatively straightforward since it was created quite recently). He will report on progress to future Committee meetings.
GV thanked him and looked forward to hearing about further progress.
5.
Photo captions project (A. Placci)
AP outlined the setting up of a new group to select and provide caption information for historically interesting photographs of the period 1975 – 1984 (see also minutes of previous meetings). After initial problems in finding suitable accommodation, they are now installed in room 32/1-C02, which has convenient access arrangements so group members are not hindered in their work. The room has been equipped with light tables and magnifying glasses. Not all group members could attend the initial meeting, but all have now been instructed in the aims of the project and the procedures to follow. A system of colour coding avoids duplication of effort. One difficulty relates to the unwillingness of the Photographic team to allow too many photos to be taken away at a time when they could be needed for the 50th Anniversary preparation. So far the Group only have the black & white photos from 1974 to work on. He said it was too soon to predict how the work is progressing and how long it might take to complete; this will be evaluated at the end of the year.
GV congratulated the Group on their work so far and asked them to let him know if they needed any further support or assistance. AP and GV agreed that it was important to keep up the momentum of this project, perhaps aiming to finish up to 1981 before the 50th Anniversary in October 2004.
6
Microcosm historic objects collection (E. Sanders)
ES briefly described CERN’s collection of historic objects, which includes many pieces from the LEP machine and experiments, wire chambers, and other pieces of historical interest; full details are available at:
http://microcosm.web.cern.ch/Microcosm/objects/home.html
Some of
the objects are very large, such as the OPAL Central Detector (size 4 x
4.5metre, weight 20 tons), see http://cdsweb.cern.ch/search.py?recid=43977.
The items are available for loan, and are borrowed by museums all over Europe where they help communicate CERN’s work to visitors in the Member States. However, this success is achieved in the face of mounting difficulties. Due to reducing staff numbers and the increase in new projects (such as the Globe and the 50th Anniversary) the maintenance situation of this collection is now critical. Adequate storage space has been needed for a long time. The space currently used is on loan. When they were obliged, in 2002, to reduce the area used, the only alternative proposed had a leaking roof, was inaccessible when the COMPASS experiment was running and was covered in animal droppings due to being was already inhabited by weasels (see also minutes of April 2002 meeting). To meet the emergency ETT purchased two large containers to give some protection from the elements, but one of these also leaks.
The fundamental problem is that there is no mandate for taking care of this collection, and no budget. ES, as a user of some of these items, has tried to care for them, but due to lack of adequate facilities they are deteriorating, and some have been damaged or stolen. Due to the pressure of other work there is no longer time to administer the loans service, so exhibitors wishing to borrow items have to be refused (this policy has been in place for three months).
ES concluded her talk by informing the
Committee that the OPAL Central
Detector, mentioned earlier, would have to be removed from its current location
by 6 November. No alternative shelter
had been found for it, so ES was urgently searching (so far with no success)
for a tarpaulin to at least give some protection from rain. She requested the Committee’s help in
meeting this emergency and also with the wider problem.
The ensuing discussion focused mainly on
obtaining adequate storage space. ES
reported that no reply had been received to a memo sent by Paola Catapano to
Hans Hoffmann and the Directorate on 13 March 2002 explaining the problems and
requesting c. 40 m2 of
suitable
storage space. It was felt that this
should be resent by the Division Leader.
It was
also felt that this matter should be dealt with at a higher level than is
currently the case; it should be presented directly at the CERN Site
Committee. ES said that ETT’s space
manager had already submitted a request to them. The Committee felt another one should be sent from the Division
Leader, endorsed by the Archive Committee.
Action:
ES to draft a new request to the Site Committee, CP to ask JAR to sign it.
There
was some discussion of the planned future uses of some buildings.
It was
asked if part of the Globe might be used for object storage, but ES explained
that, while some items would be on display, as they currently are in the
Microcosm, there was no space for the rest.
It was suggested that CERN might charge for the loan of items, but ES
said this would not raise enough money to be worthwhile. Borrowers already have to pay transport and
insurance costs, which can be very high, and some also assist by carrying out
necessary repairs before exhibiting items. Museum budgets tend to be low, and other institutes who wish to
borrow items have sometimes collaborated in building them, which would make
charging awkward. (ES added that assistance
with repairing some of the items in-house would be very useful; AP had already
been contacted with relation to work on the spark chamber in Microcosm).
ES had
also requested assistance in appraising the items to know better how to
prioritise, and CP suggested Luigi Di Lella as a suitable person who might be
contacted. He had already been involved
several years ago in appraising the objects amassed by Jean Collombet, which
form the core of this collection. At
that time he had advised disposal of quite a lot of low-interest items, and ES
said that his advice had been followed.
A reduced selection of the collection had been kept, but new items had
also been added since. GV suggested
setting up a task force on the lines to the one working on CERN’s historic
photos.
Action:
GV to approach LDL for preliminary discussion.
CP thought
the Microcosm Committee might also be able to provide a suitable person to
assess the collection. ES observed that
a key question was whether this collection could continue to be considered as a
part of the Microcosm, even though no budget was provided for its maintenance
and it was therefore deteriorating due to neglect, or whether it should be
considered as part of CERN’s heritage.
GV felt
that a proper appraisal of the collection should be carried out, and the
Committee should urge that those items selected for preservation should be
treated as part of CERN’s heritage and provided for accordingly.
7.
AOB
CP informed the Committee that the ETT Division would disappear next year, and the Scientific Information Service, which includes the Archive, would then come under the Secretary General to the DG.
AH reported that the fire safety inspection of the Archive (an action item from the last meeting) had been arranged but postponed.
Action: AH to request a new date.
AH asked if the Committee would like minutes of the meetings to be made available on-line. It was agreed that they should be freely available on the Web.
Action: AH to implement.
8.
Next meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for:
Friday, April 23 at 2.30pm in Salle B (61/1-009)