After 23 years at the head of the Luxembourg National Archives, director Josée Kirps is stepping down at the end of the year. In her view, the inventories of the National Archives should become more accessible as the younger generation in particular, is no longer used to thinking a little further afield thanks to the major search engines available on the internet.
For her, the most important milestones over the past decades have been the drafting of a new archives law and the move to the new site in Belval. Managing the shift to digital remains one of the challenges ahead.
There is essentially no topic that cannot be found in the National Archives, according to Kirps. The archives hold highly official contracts, but also, for example, plates used to make beer bottle caps. In theory, even Post-Its could come into play. What matters more than the material itself is the historical and social significance of the documents. It is not, however, a case of simply archiving everything. Since the new 2018 archives law, sorting tables, or tableaux de tri, have been drawn up for all ministries and administrations.
The tableau de tri, Kirps explained, can be pictured as a table listing every type of document produced in a given ministry or administration, along with how long each one must be kept. Invoices, for instance, should be kept for ten years, after which two options come into play, namely destroying the documents or transferring them to the National Archives, meaning there is a clear system underpinning the process.
One key element of the 2018 law is the restriction periods, which can, in exceptional cases, run to as long as 100 years. Researchers can request a derogation from the relevant administration, which is usually granted, but even so, the archives are currently working with the Ministry of Culture to adjust those timeframes. A balance has to be struck between not obstructing research and respecting the privacy of the people concerned.
More and more documents are being digitised, but Kirps has noted that younger people in particular struggle to find the information they need.
Unlike the well-known search engines, Kirps pointed out, users cannot simply type in a term such as "witch trials" and expect all the relevant data to appear at once. At the National Archives, they have to think about where the information might sit, since there is no single dedicated file marked "witch trials".
That, she said, is why work is under way to prepare the inventories in such a way that they become even more accessible.
