Specialized problems of practical librarianship: planning

Management in socialist society is inconceivable without planning. The principle of the planned development of the new society and of its economy, science, technology and culture was emphasized even in the works of the classical authors of Marxism-Leninism, and in their resolutions the party and government pay much attention to improving the planning system. Librarianship in Czechoslovakia forms an integral part of - and is an active factor in - the political, economic and cultural development of the advanced socialist society on the basis of planning, i.e. pursuing a given course and a long-term objective.

The work of libraries must be so organized that it is geared as closely as possible to the implementation of the party programmes and influences effectively, by means of its specific forms and methods, further development of our society. With a view to improving the quality Of Planning in the library sector, both the Ministry of Culture and lower administrative echelons issue directives, methodological guidelines and principles as to what should be planned, when and how.

Let us take a look at how we are coping with these essentially simple questions in practice.

First, a little theory. Planning is a systematic balancing of the aims and resources of the object of planning in accordance with the directives and decisions of the agent of management. The result of planning, or rather of the planning process, is a plan in the shape of a system of binding organizational measures, procedures and stipulations which lead to the achievement of the set aim. Thus the plan is a binding directive, a specifically approved norm which applies at all levels of management entrusted with the plan's implementation, which organizes the object of planning and its activity and which prompts it to achieve a socially desirable aim. The object of planning is in our case the entire library sector, a library network or an individual library, while the agent of management might be the Ministry of Culture as the central management authority, or a national committee, etc. By activity we mean the services offered by libraries and by socially desirable aim the fullest possible satisfaction of library users' information requirements. This is a rather simplified way of looking at things, but it is quite adequate for our purpose here.

Librarianship in Czechoslovakia draws on long-term and short-term plans. Long-term plans (outline plans) are mostly compiled for a term of five years and are based on studies and forecasts that look 10-20 years ahead. The source of information about the object of planning is the forecast, which takes a broad view of the object's possible future and establishes basic development trends and the emergence, growth or decline of environmental influences affecting the object of the forecast, such as education, publishing and so forth. On the basis of the forecast development concepts are elaborated which then find their concrete expression in the plan. The forecast sets out a number of alternatives for the future and different ways of reaching them, while the concept, which stems from the forecast, sets out the optimal alternative for the future; and the plan, which stems from the concept, specifies the most effective way of implementing the optimal alternative. The characteristic feature of the plan, as distinct from the forecast, it is feasibility, which, however, depends on the realism with which it was drafted, on an objective assessment of the material, manpower and other potential of the object of planning. Long-range studies and forecasts ensure the continuity of the planning process, while the five-year plan provides more precise data for the given five-year period and in turn provides the point of departure for executive plans. While long-term studies are concerned with general formulations, the five-year plan specifies concrete tasks and quantified indicators to be achieved by the object of planning during the set period, and it indicates the resources by which this is to be done.

The prerequisite for systematic and planned management is the short-term plan (executive plan), which specifies the aims and resources of the object's activity for the set period and helps to tap unused potential to provide opportunities for further development. The most important plan in library management is the annual plan, which, through its highly concrete specification of aims, resources and forms of work, provides every opportunity for subsequent strict verification of its implementation. The annual plan as a rule specifies a library's main tasks for the set period as well as other concrete tasks, depending on its size and organizational structure. The plan's basic structure is as follows: the plan of main tasks; the executive plan, including special tasks; and the organizational and material backup plan. (For further information see bibliography.)

After our excursion into the realm of theory, let us return to our initial questions, which, having learned our lesson, we shall be able to answer with no difficulty. When do we plan? We plan at the end of the year for the next year and at the end of the five-year plan for the next five-year plan. How do we plan? Responsibly, of course, compiling long- or short-term plans depending on our position and seniority. What do we plan? We plan the work of a library, a network, or the entire sector. Essentially very simple answers to very simple questions, but ... that is exactly where the problem lies. Plans are indeed drawn up by libraries within the set deadlines and, what is more, dispatched to superior organs or institutions on time; and they comply with the directives of the higher authority in respect of set indicators and percentages. However, let us ask again: when is it done? At the last minute so as not to miss the deadline! How? At fast as possible so as to have done with it! What is planned? What is asked and required of us and no more! Does this not call to mind a paraphrase of Hamlet: To plan or not to plan, that is the question! Of course, we must plan. If our thoughts and actions are to be meaningful, we must have a certain long-term objective against which we can measure our results and assess the success or failure of our work. Why, then, do librarians view the plan as a necessary evil, why do they not exploit its indisputable managerial advantages and why do they frequently attent to the plan only when verification is due? Verification that the plan has been compiled, I hasten to add, not verification of its execution. Probably because we do not plan the right indicators, or do not plan them correctly.

In addition to general formulations on the lines of 'we will fully satisfy users' information needs during the target period', or 'we will actively contribute to the development and enhancement of the population's cultural and educational standards', indicators whose implementation is very difficult for a higher authority to verify (polling users, perhaps), the plans contain indicators that refer to library statistics - library stock in quantitative terms and its content structure, the number of readers, loans, visits, exhibitions, discussions, staffing and financial provision and so forth. These indicators are quantifiable: hence they are easy to plan and, naturally, their implementation is subsequently not difficult to verify either. At the end of the year we can compare the results achieved with the plan, tick off the relevant sections and consider the job done and finished. Finished? Yes, of course, done and finished, what else? Sometimes we manage to forget that verification is part and parcel of management and that due attention must therefore be paid to it.

However, let us digress a little and pay an imaginary visit to XY - a small town with a small library. There is not much industry, it is more of a recreational area where people have their weekend houses and cottages. A nice library with a devoted librarian, good premises and a good structure and range of library stock, very good working conditions - yet the number of readers has again declined. Loans have been 'bumped up', it is true, by lending magazines, but where are we to find people? There are none. The library organizes talks and exhibitions, it invites citizens to visit the library, yet the growth indicator is completely out of reach. People come here to relax and do not give much thought to the library, either in summer or in winter. You may say that the librarian should have considered external circumstances when compiling the plan. Yes, she should have done, but this is not only a purely fictitious example but also a greatly simplified one. The library's efforts to attract readers may be frustrated not only by a natural decrease in population or a change in the locality's functions, but also by a change in potential readers' interests. The decline in cinema audiences can be cited as an example. No, I am not trying to claim that our people are giving up reading, but they are less prepared to make an effort, they are spoilt by their own libraries or even by other forms of entertainment. To attract a reader today, a library must expend considerably more energy than, say, 10 or 20 years ago, and these efforts, this energy are not revealed by a mere figure, which gives the numerical information and nothing else. It is not my intention to militate against planning and statistics as to the number of readers, loans, library visits, or exhibitions, but it is my humble opinion that they give virtually no indication of the value and quality of librarians' work.

The Package of Measures to Improve the System of Planned Management of the National Economy after 1980, approved by the Czechoslovak Government in its Resolution No. 42 of 31 January 1980, considerably changed the situation in our economy, science and technology. Its purpose is, on the basis of an improved planning system, to make maximum use of all intensive factors for economic growth and to enhance the effectiveness and quality of all work. Throughout our society utmost emphasis is placed on the intensive development both of the economy and of science and technology, yet in the library sector the trend towards extensive development has still not been halted. The constant pursuit of the biggest possible number of loans and readers is, alas, characteristic of us. True, according to Unesco statistics our country holds the world record for per capita number of loans. However, the question is: are our readers really satisfied with the service we offer. The statistically-proven quantitative indicators specified in the plan currently tell us virtually nothing about the quality of library services, thus depriving our plans of their incentive function. Our library sector must react promptly to the new situation. We face the difficult task of establishing new indicators or of retaining the old ones but enhancing their ability to reflect quality. This would result, of course, in greater demands being made not just on the librarians themselves but also, and above all, on library management. Without the appropriate management we cannot expect high-quality results.

Let us imagine that the indicator specifying the number of readers for a given year was further broken down into fully satisfied readers, partially satisfied readers and those dissatisfied with the library's services: and the indicator for exhibitions and discussions organized by the library not only indicated the number of events held and the number of people they attracted but also reflected the extent to which they were satisfied with these events. It would, of course, be a very demanding task to ascertain the level of reader and library user satisfaction, but it would undoubtedly furnish valuable information about libraries' performance which could subsequently be used during the verification and assessment of the institution's fulfilment of its tasks, besides producing an overall improvement in the quality of the services offered, which is our main aim. The relevant scientific and methodological institutions should engage in a quest for qualitative indicators and methods of ascertaining and interpreting them.

By improving our planning system, giving it a new content, enhancing its ability to reflect more information and thus ensuring more effective management, we shall promote a more intensive development of our library sector and a greater contribution on its part to the development of the advanced socialist society. We must not forget that the plan is the basic instrument of management, but also no more than that. There still are 'executives' among us who invoke Pythia's counsel when drawing up plans, 'executives' who during the verification of plan fulfilment pull out of their sleeve a trump card in the shape of objective difficulties. If we fail to objectively assess our potential and decide our priorities, then, naturally, we must bear the consequences.

When do we plan? At the end of the year for the next year and at the end of the five-year plan for the next five year- plan.

How do we plan? Responsibility, of course.

When do we plan? The work of a library, a network of libraries, or the entire library sector.

And so we are back where we started. Or are we?

Bibliography

(1) RIHA, L. Dlouhodobrogna pl (Long-term forecasts and plans). Prague, Prace Publishers, 1974, 347 pp.

(2) PROCHAZKA, B. Plvanie - zadny nastroj riadenia (Planning - the basic instrument of management). CITATEL, Vol. 28, 1979, No. 9, pp. 310-311.

(3) Zdy pro sestaveni petiletemn pl rozvoje jednotnoustavy knihoven v CSR na leta 1976-1980. (Basic guidelines for the compilation of five-year territorial plans for the development of the integrated library system in the Czech Socialist Republic in 1976-1980). Prague, Czech Ministry of Culture, 1974, 19 pp.

(4) JAKUBICEK, M. Pl a plv v knihovn (Plans and planning in libraries). Brno, SVK, 1978, 19 pp.

(5) MICOVSJ J. 0. plv a knizniciach (About planning and libraries). Martin, Matica slovensk1962, 88 pp.

(6) KUSHTANINA, L.I. Bibliotecnoe delo kak zveno narodnohozjajstvennogo planirovanija (Librarianship as a component of economic planning). Sovetskoe Bibliotekovedenie, 1979, No. I pp. 35-47.

(7) KUSHTANINA, L.I. Perspektivnoje planirovanije - vaznaja zadaca bibliotekovedenija (Long-term planning - an important task in library management). Sovetskoja Bibliotekovenije, 1981, No. 2 pp. 63-74.

(8) HEMOLA, H. Komplexni prognosticky model knihovnick syst (Integrated forecasting model for the library system). (Thesis). Prague, 1980, 103pp. typescript. Charles University, Philosophical Faculty, Department of scientific information and librarianship.

(9) Soubor opatreni ke zdokonaleni soustavy plviteho rizenarodniho hospodaistvi po roce 1980 (Package of measures to improve the system of planned management of the national economy after 1980). Plzen, CSVTS regional council, 1980, 59 pp.

Archive planning

by Bernhard Zittel

The peaceful idyll once enjoyed by the archivist and Court Counsellor Grillparzer(1) has been thoroughly destroyed. The archivists of today and tomorrow have to work in an environment in which science and technology impose their law and their rhythm. It is no accident that in recent years the question of the archivist's job, his status and career prospects and the problem of delimitation from others, such as the documentalist, has been posed with ever greater insistence. But a satisfactory answer can be worked out only with difficulty. The aim and function of this profession and the associated problem of a training pattern to meet the needs of the time have become permanent features of conferences and international congresses on archives.(2) The job definition has become hazy and in need of clarification and amendment in two dimensions, depth and breadth.(3)

The archivist's present list of worries does not end here, however. Going through the annual reports of national and foreign archives quickly reveals three problem areas common to all archive administrations:

1. The discrepancy between staffing levels and constantly growing tasks.

2. The discrepancy between the available storage space and the overwhelming inflow of archive material.

3. The difficulty of convincing budget experts, and in the final analysis elected representatives, of the need to provide an adequate archive budget, which would make it possible not simply to cover operating costs and the staff and infrastructure expenditure required to deal with the virtually chronic backlog in archives, but also provide for the tasks of tomorrow.

We do not deny that there are many factors contributing to this state of affairs that the archivist can do nothing about and is not responsible for, but we are not convinced that archivists have really done everything within their powers to create a sound basis for mastering the problems and tasks facing them.

INADEQUATE CULTIVATION OF THE IMAGE

On closer examination, one of these sins of omission is seen to be archivists' failure to cultivate their image. In general, they sell themselves and their 'wares' short. In this respect their colleagues in the libraries are ahead of them. It is small wonder, then, that archives are not infrequently confused with libraries or thought to belong to them. We are well aware that in saying this we are challenging the traditional view of the nature and purpose of archives - justifiably, in our opinion. Archives have long since emerged from their aura of mystery and have instead joined the ranks of service enterprises. The XVth Round Table,. held in Ottawa on 7-10 October 1974, had taken this shift in emphasis into account when, under the general heading of Archives and the public, it dealt with the relevant subtopics: Publications, exhibitions and educational services. The lively debate, in particular over whether the main obligation of archives was to the public or to the client services assigned to them, left no doubt as to where their main task lies, especially in the view of colleagues from the younger countries. In this connection the citizen's right to information was set against the archives' obligation to provide information.(4) This desideratum, or obligation even, was clearly underlined in the background paper of the conference, whose authors argue on the basis that many people in many parts of the world have just no idea of the numerous sources of information available to them as potential users, sources lying dormant in the form of documentation, libraries and archives, and that society as a whole suffers from this lack of knowledge. It is therefore necessary to stimulate the awareness of the citizen as a future user, and in particular make him aware of his right to information. At every step in the educational system, the Unesco paper insists, pupils and students ought to be shown the way to the information sources. In the first place this concerns the universities. Conversely, the training of documentalists, librarians and archivists should be geared more towards their basic obligation to provide information.(5)

Archives are thus very important stores of information. In addition to the traditional task of collecting information, storing It and making it available. there is now that of offering this information to interested parties. Many archivists go even further and include in this task also the obligation to make the treasures of the archive 'palatable', i.e. assimilable for the intellectual level of the user group concerned and, where necessary, to equip the 'customer' for profitable use of the archive, for example through reading courses on the Dutch model.(6) Here the advocates of a 'market-oriented' supply of information not infrequently tacitly assume that archives actually do succeed in awakening a general and specific interest in archive information - somewhat on the lines of the subliminal advertising techniques derived from the findings of depth psychology. They try to convince the citizen that the treasure-house of empirical knowledge stored in the archives can help him not only to solve his everyday problems but also to profitably use his leisure time, for example in research into the family and home.

Let us summarize: Whatever the reason may be, archivists harm themselves through neglecting to cultivate their image. As first rank custodians and providers of information, archives have to open up to modern society. This willingness to provide a service for every citizen - the central idea behind the discussion at the latest Round Table in Ottawa may be rendered thus presupposes increased concern for contact with the public. Without doubt this new task, or rather this newly perceived and interpreted task, provides a chance for archivists to create a positive public image, especially if the archive management understands how to develop this service to the public into a real partnership of give and take through co-operation with the media: press, radio and television. The Ottawa meeting and the media-oriented exhibition of the local state archive happily allowed a glimpse of some fruitful approaches.

We are well aware that we have described the ideal situation here. Everyday reality falls far short of this, not least because the archives suffer from the above-mentioned twofold discrepancy between staffing levels and space availability and the expectations of modern society. This 'deficiency disease' can be remedied only if the necessary financial basis can be created in the archive service. This presupposes, however, that the responsible authorities, parliaments and town councils are convinced of the importance of archives in the context of modern society and for the state and local authorities themselves. But if we take an honest look around us, this conviction Is to a large extent lacking. The fault is to be found in the first place with the archivists themselves, because out of quite understandable self-interest they concern themselves too little or not at all with fulfilling their information obligation and concentrate on their obligations to the official authorities or responsible ministry. Thus the vicious circle is completed.

The archives can break out of this vicious circle only if they examine themselves critically, draw up a realistic balance of the actual and target situations and can produce convincing arguments to justify their demands and objectives. This brings us right to the heart of our subject: archive planning. Two examples will show just how seriously our observations are to be taken. In order to stress the importance and future role of archives, Unesco and the International Council on Archives, 'in a historical role', are proposing an 'International Archive Year'.(7) In a draft law on archives of June 1972, proposed by the French Ministry for Cultural Affairs, it is considered a characteristic of archives that they should be open to the public (Article 22). The importance attached to public archives by the French Government is emphasized by the fact that it intends to attach the archives 'directly to the highest authority in the state' (Article 2).(8) Lastly, we could easily cite a number of conclusive examples of how it was possible to win over the mayors and local councils of a number of medium-sized Bavarian towns to an ambitious and forward-looking solution to the archive problem through using the procedures recommended here and illustrated below in the fields of staff and infrastructure planning.

Staff planning

Even at the risk of uttering what will be truisms for many colleagues we would like to pass on from the knowledge and experience gained in everyday archive practice some observations that serve the objective of better archive staffing and infrastructures. The methodology for determining requirements involves both inductive and deductive procedures. Both methods can run in parallel, but they also overlap. The basis for the investigation should be a well thought out organization and function plan. It may be limited to a single archive, but should cover the whole field of all the establishments in a single archive administration district. Here the preliminary investigation will reveal already that a standardized outline plan certainly includes all archives, but on the other hand a number of functions of an interregional nature have to be performed by only one archive, but benefit all the archives in the network. This already leads to the first conclusions regarding staffing needs and professional qualifications. After this preliminary investigation, which can at the same time be oriented towards and checked against existing and already well-organized typical archives or one of the many available models,(9) a systematic stock-taking of the present situation is called for, taking into account all factors such as volume of documents to be looked after, interests and social stratification of user groups. The sum total of all these observations constitutes the foundation on which all further work, right up to the final item in the drafting of the budget, will be built. An overall plan, well thought out and at the same time based on experience, should proceed in three stages and its methodology should be based on four preconditions. For the three stages, short, medium and long-term planning, Delmas proposes three, five and ten to 15 years.(10) The four pre-conditions can be fulfilled through:

(a) a comprehensive, sound and critically compiled stock-taking(11) based on carefully compiled annual reports;

(b) the exchange of draft plans and budget proposals between the individual archive administrations;

(c) a thorough study of all available annual reports, building reports and already developed model plans;

(d) a critical examination and final comparison of all documents.(12)

An examination on this basis of the staffing levels in individual archives and over the whole archive area will generally reveal a more or less substantial gap between actual and target numbers.(13) What is more, it will become clear that the planning field has expanded at an above-average rate, with the inflow of archive material doubling in ever decreasing periods of time. The initial provisional stock-taking results in two major Implications for budget planning: catching up and rates of increase. The budget experts almost invariably respond to this request by asking how this budget proposal can be justified. The more thoroughly the staffing and later infrastructure proposals can be backed up by facts, comparative analyses and compelling conclusions. the greater the chances of achieving the objective.

Is there a general standard of fixed scales and classifications and universally applicable yardsticks? We think there is. Research over many years, in particular that carried out by Dr C. Haase, Head of the Lower Saxony archive administration, (14) has, like our own series of tests, demonstrated that there is a certain relationship between the number of employees in an archive and the size of the archive stock and the variety and specific characteristics of the area of responsibility. With all the reservations called for in the case of straight comparisons, undifferentiated for example with regard to the relative weightings to be attributed to different categories of records, it is possible to determine certain figures for the relationship between the total linear metres of archives and total staff and also the individual categories of staff. Thus, disregarding cleaning staff, there is one staff post for every 500 m of records, and for every 2.5 km there is one senior post, two professional and four intermediate.(15) The ratio between the three grades of the archive service is thus 1: 2: 4. At least this provides a useful indicator for present and future staffing requirements. Obviously we have given only a rule of thumb that can be further refined and thus be given a higher degree of credibility, especially if the key figures calculated are confirmed by those of other comparable branches of the administration.(16) It should be pointed out straight away that the planning figures thus determined have to be constantly checked and extrapolated. This means taking account of shifts in emphasis that may take place on various levels, for example In the field of educational services, the extension of the contemporary history department, or the introduction of new technical procedures. In the libraries in particular it has turned out that any step to reduce staff through the introduction of computers as a rule at first involves additional budget expenditure on personnel, often to the displeasure of the higher authorities, before any noticeable staff savings are achieved. Though we would not wish to swear by Parkinson's Law, the truth is that since 1945, staffing requirements have risen rather than fallen virtually everywhere in the field of archives too. Manpower requirements necessarily have to increase when an archive is built or extended, especially where the greater part of the new capacity is in the storage area. In parallel to this increase in storage space - here we are disregarding whether and to what extent the range of tasks and hence the manpower requirements of an archive can grow in other ways - the additional staffing requirement, in particular for the storage block, has to be calculated on the basis of the above criteria and included in the budget proposals at the appropriate time. In this connection it is also necessary to examine to what extent the location and facilities of a new building and modern technical installations, such as air-conditioning, security devices, transport equipment, vehicle maintenance facilities, and surveillance create additional manpower needs.(17) Surveillance of the new complex at the Bavarian State Archive exclusively by an outside security company has proved excessively costly and not always effective, so that a cost comparison between surveillance by own or outside staff or solely by means of technical 'spies' (alarm systems, television cameras) is called for. This analysis will often turn out In favour of directly employing security staff, whose posts must therefore be included in the budget, as is the case with the Bavarian State Library (Munich).(18)

The need for storage space will be determined by 'supply', the constant increase in archive material. Thus the question of the increase in the inflow of documents to the archive also becomes the key to calculating the increase in staff. This brings us back to the problem mentioned above in Point 2, the discrepancy between storage space and the growing volume of documents.

Infrastructure planning

We have indicated that forecasting archives' requirements for staff, actually one of the few groups of civil servants whose occupation Is to keep, manage and issue documents, depends essentially on the present and future 'document situation'. At the same time we could easily demonstrate that archivists have nowhere been so mistaken in their planning - simply because they were overwhelmed by the force of events - as in calculating the future growth rate of the document inflow.

Two recent examples are representative of the general situation. At the suggestion of the Basel State Archive, the cantonal government carried out a survey of all the relevant departments, to find out:

(a) the volume of documents at present stored;
(b) additional file storage space requirements; and
(c) the volume of files to be transferred to the State Archive during the next ten years'.

Our Basel colleagues rightly worked on the basis that, not least because of new tasks being entrusted to the State, 'the administration's production of documents has had to increase by leaps and bounds since 1940, so that in the next few decades an avalanche of thousands of linear metres of files, mainly personal files, will flow into the archives'. The findings of the survey, the responses to which had not been completely analysed when the annual report went to press, were that:

'Our worst fears have been confirmed: the volume of files at present stored in the various branches of the Basel city administration amounts to no less than 14,063 linear metres, i.e. about twice the total held by the State Archive. Within the next ten years, the administration will hand over 2,700 linear metres of files to the Archive'.(19)

A second example:

'The State Archive is full to overflowing. Not even for 20 years have the two giant storage blocks of the Lower Saxony State Archive at Wolfenb built in 1955, managed to cope with the inflow of valuable documents from yesterday and today that must be kept for the future. An acute shortage of space is forcing the Lower Saxony archive administration to build a third storage block, as was planned from the beginning'.(20)

The conclusion is that the increase in the volume of archivable documents doubles in an ever shorter time. In East and West,, in all regional and international meetings, the complaints over the flood of files and discussions about stricter selection guidelines and practical yardsticks just will not stop. The fact remains that we will have to continue to live with and cope with the document mountain in the future. To this extent Delmas' recommendation that in archive construction storage space for the next ten years only should be planned completely disregards the harsh reality.(21) All our colleagues probably know of similar examples of misplanning in their own fields.

As shown by these few examples, planning for storage blocks is not as a rule done on a sufficiently long-term basis. In the calculation of present and future space requirements in storage blocks and, using the same logic, in the library and associated areas, we should not be satisfied with half-measures, which are more expensive in the longer term than a more ambitious solution. We consider it to be a half-measure when new, modern archive buildings - we shall refrain from naming the 'guilty' archives here - will reach the limit of their capacity within 10 to 15 years and, what is even worse, are not capable of further extension. It is embarrassing for archivists as well as architects, if - and here again recent examples could be named - the storage space could in principle be extended, either through building upwards from two to four stories, or through replacing fixed shelving by compact systems, but this possibility is excluded because it was not taken into account at the structural design stage. This would have been a way of creating a potential reserve capacity relatively easily and at a justifiable extra cost, which in fact given the present price surge can be paid off in a few years, if not completely amortized. There is only one sensible conclusion to be drawn from these verifiable failures: in planning a new archive, and similarly in extension projects, the objective must be to provide for the greatest possible reserve storage. In this respect the calculation of future space requirements becomes the key issue. The reserve space should amount to 100 per cent, however, i.e. on moving into the new storage block, there should be a ratio of 1:1 between occupied and spare shelf space. This ratio is neither Utopian, nor does it lead to runaway costs. On the contrary, It helps to cut costs. Here we are assuming that the entire building is constructed immediately, i.e. as the home for the future reserve space. In this way the costs of construction equipment, scaffolding, etc., are incurred only once. The installation of shelving can then be spread over several budget years, according to requirements and budget situation, if the financing for the internal installations is not Immediately available. In order to be able to take advantage later of all possibilities of the available space - including the subsequent replacement of fixed shelving by a space-saving compact system - two preconditions need to be met at the initial construction stage: (1) The load-bearing capacity of the floors must be calculated for compact systems, even where at first fixed shelving is to be installed. Depending on the height of the storey this means a bearing capacity of 1,000 to 1,250 kg/m², according to experience in German archives. On the other hand Duchein, working on the basis of metal racking with five tiers of 50-60 kg recommends a capacity of 1,500 to 2,000 kg/m². (2) At relatively little expenditure of time, work and money, the rails for a possible future compact system should be installed at the same time as the floor surface. An example here is the new Upper Austrian Land archive at Linz. We recommend this procedure all the more because for a few years now the technical possibility has existed of transferring from fixed shelving to shelving mounted on rollers. This thus provides the possibility of an extra reserve, and if the rails are installed at the right time this avoids the danger of dust and dirt problems as experienced by our colleagues of the Aarau cantonal archive, where they were laid afterwards.

Shortly before completing this contribution, we received form our much burdened colleague Dr Helfenstein of Zurich the 'Decision of the cantonal government on the approval of credits for the building of a State Archive in Zurich', of 18 September 1984. This fully confirms the argument outlined above.

Seldom has the planning of an archive building been so much in the crossfire of public criticism as in Zurich, where urban planners, environmentalists and conservationists all stirred up opinion. It is all the more satisfying to note that in this struggle on several fronts, the archive storage space programme 'examined and approved by the commission' never came under fire from this criticism for a moment, so far as we are aware. At the same time, our colleagues in Zurich have striven for the highest objectives, such as a 100 per cent reserve space, 50 places in the reading room instead of the former 30. They clearly built a sound case, convincingly presented, on the basis of the arguments outlined by us. The space programme of the new State Archive provides for an annual average increase of 150 linear metres of documents, and 'at the time of coming into service, the documents at present spread over three storage blocks can be brought together and it will be possible to about double this volume of material. According to the experience of recent years, this will provide for at least the next 50 years'. With regard to the more distant future, the decision remarks critically, 'If we consider, however, a longer period, and take into account that sooner or later sizeable special archives ... and the older holdings of the district authorities since 1831 will have to be taken over by the State Archive, growth will proceed at a rather faster pace. It should be remembered that of the present material, accumulated over a period of about 1,100 years, only about one-third dates from the first thousand years of this period, while the last hundred years have contributed two-thirds'.(23)

The findings of our Zurich colleagues reproduced here necessarily raise the question of just how the annual increase in archive material can be calculated. As a model, we would like to describe the procedure we used in calculating the space requirements for the new archives in Augsburg and Ravensburg. It basically consists of determining the type of empirical figures that were used by the Zurich archive to justify its storage space programme.

The basis for determining the average figure was file movements over the years 1900 to 1970, i.e. a period of 70 years. The parameters examined were: (1) The rate of increase of archive documents; (2) The number of source departments; (3) Population changes in the administrative divisions of Swabia and the Upper Palatinate; (4) Special circumstances that might increase or decrease the flow of files, such as wars or boundary reforms. The total stock of the Amberg State Archive increased over the period 1900 to 1970 by a factor of about seven (6.48) and from 1930 to 1970 by about four (4.61). The 1900 stock had doubled by 1935, i.e. in 35 years. The next doubling took only 21 years (1936-1957), while after the mass inflow after 1945 the volume of new material settled at a more normal level. Between 1957 and 1970, i.e. in 13 years it increased by a factor of 1.4. If these figures are combined with other parameters, such as the number of source departments, which amounted to 285 in the present example, a sound basis for extrapolation can be laid. In this way the future storage space of the approximately equal sized and in virtually all respects comparable Augsburg and Ravensburg State Archives was planned to be 30 km of shelving. This was calculated from the present space occupied (13 km), a reserve of 100 per cent (13 km) and an additional 4 km to allow for the increase in material between now and moving into the new building.

We are well aware that our suggestions have not touched on all possibilities that may contribute to realistic future planning. However, we believe we have at least given some pointers to the right direction, in the spirit of the leitmotiv of the Unesco Conference, 'We have to plan to prepare the future'.(24)

Notes and references

1. As enshrined in his quatrain:

'Here 'neath a heap of files I sit
You think I'm lonely and at odds
And yet perhaps you won't believe it -
I'm here with the eternal gods.'

2. Thus the XVIth Round Table, held in Kiev in 1975, dealt with the general theme of education and further training for archivists. At the Intergovernmental Conference on the Planning of National Documentation, Library and Archives Infrastructures (Paris, 23-27 September 1974), in which we participated as representatives of the German Federal Archive, one working group was concerned solely with the specific training of archivists and librarians as key figures in the information centres of the future. A few years earlier this subject had already been handled by Frank B. Evans, Modem concepts of archive administration and records management, in Unesco bulletin for libraries Vol. XXIV, No. 5, September-October (Paris 1970) 242 ff and Robert Henri Bautier La mission des archives et les tes des archives in the Proceedings of the XIIth Round Table (Jerusalem 1970). Klaus Laissipien and Ernst Lutterbeck attempt to delineate the tasks of the archivist, librarian and documentalist in Grundlagen der praktischen Information und Dokumentation (M-Pullach 1972) 17. Incidentally, we only have to think of the broad-ranging discussion, constantly enriched by our colleague Herr Goldinger, over whether and to what extent the budding archivist should be introduced to the problems and practice of data processing. In a conversation I was privileged to have with Professor Santifaller in Kastelruth shortly before his death, I was impressed by the commitment and expertise with which Professor Santifaller tackled this question from the Austrian standpoint.

3. This change in the approach to the problem can easily be seen in archive manuals, for example Adolph Brennecke and Wolfgang Leesch Archivkunde (Leipzig 1953) and the French Manuel d'archivistique (Paris 1973) or as reflected in the background papers for the Unesco Conference in Paris by P. Harvard-Williams and E.G. Franz, Planning Information Manpower (Paris 1974) and J.H. d'Olier and B. Delmas, Planning national infrastructures for documentation, libraries and archives (Unesco, Paris 1974). A cross-section of the relevant problems is also to be found in the contributions Archivarausbildung im Wandel in the festschrift Der Archivar 26 (1973) Heft 2 offered to Dr Kurt D Head of the Marburg Archivschule, on his 65th birthday.

4. The working paper was drafted by Christian Gut (Paris). The range of contrasting views is revealed by comparing the analysis of survey responses by Christian Gut and the 'classical' view of the doyen of English archivists, Sir Hilary Jenkinson Roots in Society of Archivists in Journal of the Society of Archivists 2 No. 4 (October 1961) 131-132, who, like Sir Thomas Hardy, saw the main task of the archivist as preserving the archive stock.

5. The purpose and aims of the Unesco Conference were programmed in the form of 15 objectives. Objective 2 was concerned with the citizen's right to information and the obligation of libraries, archives and other information sources to provide information - 'Objective 2 - Stimulation of user awareness - In order to increase user awareness, appropriate bodies, including universities and other educational institutions, should include in their programmes systematic instruction in the use of the information resources available in all the elements of NATIS' (= National Information Systems). The justification sounds rather pathetic: 'In many parts of the world, even though information is available in the collections of documentation, library and archives services, the potential users of these facilities are unaware of their existence and the advantages they offer, or the information remains unused because it does not meet the special needs of specific sectors of the community. The voluntary co-operation and understanding of all members of the community is needed if NATIS is to reach its optimal efficiency. Within the framework of users' education, every citizen should therefore be aware of his right to the information he seeks - and of its importance - whether it be for professional advancement, performance of his social duties, or recreational reading... I in National Information Systems (NATIS) Objectives for national and international action (Unesco, Paris 1984), p. 11.

6. In Ottawa Pirenne (Netherlands) reported on paleographic exercises of this type in Geldern, attracting 80 to 200 participants.

7. See Delmas Planning .... op. cit. p. 233.

8. Ibid 307-309. Article 22 states: 'Documents, according to their nature, shall be open to consultation by the public on the expiry of a variable closure period'; Article 2: 'The responsible archives authority. As the archives have an interministerial mission,, they should be placed under an authority situated at the highest level of the State (president of the republic, offices of the prime minister or secretariat-general ... of the government).'

9. Here we would mention four recent examples of descriptions of functions and staff posts: B.G. Franz Planning Information Manpower (Paris 1974) and Liban. Formation archivistique. Crion d'un centre de formation des archivistes, des bibliothires et des documentalistes (Paris 1974); Delmas, Planning ..., pp. 272 and FF, in particular the chapter: 'Machinery for formulating a national archives plan and procedures for its implementation. An excellent basis for staff and infrastructure planning is provided by Harald Jorgensen Report on the cost of archive service (Copenhagen 1973), based on international comparisons and produced for the XIIIth Round Table in Luxembourg.

10. Delmas Planning.... op. cit. pp. 284 and ff.

11. The accurate findings that should be aimed at cannot as a rule be achieved without a survey and a systematically designed questionnaire; good examples are to be found in the annexes to Jorgensen Report and Delmas Planning. With the help of annual reports prepared in this way the Bavarian archive administration is provided with very accurate data concerning the entire archive stock (at present 130 km) which proves very valuable in infrastructure planning.

12. A comparison of the annual reports of all Bavarian state archives over several years gave very accurate data after about five years on the occupied and free shelf space in the individual archives, as well as about the issue of documents.

13. An examination of the staffing of the Bavarian archive administration carried out in 1955 revealed that staff numbers had not only failed to keep pace with the rapid increase in the volume of documents, but had remained at the 1914 level. The present annual rate of increase in documents in the Bavarian state archives is between 1000 and 1500 linear metres.

14. Carl Haase Kostenfaktoren bei der Entstehung behichen Schriftgutes sowie bei einer archivischen Bearbeitung und Aufbewahrung in Der Archivar 25 (February 1972) Heft 1 col. FF 49.

15. Bavaria recently became the first German Land to introduce an intermediate level career path in the archive service - as already exists in the general administration. See Bernhard Zittel Neue Wege der Archivarausbildung in Bayern in Der Archivar 26 (May 1973) Heft 2 col. 191-198 and Gv. Roden Die Notwendigkeit eines mittleren Archivdienstes ibid 26 (July 1973) Heft 3 col. 471-474.

16. The comparable figures for the Munich district financial administration including the land survey service for the (technical) officers of the senior, professional and intermediate grades 1: 2.4: 4.2. 1 am indebted to my colleagues Oberarchivdirektor Dr Nusser for this data.

17. Using this procedure it was possible to keep the number of posts substantially in line with the increase in space and functions in the extension of the main Bavarian State Archive.

18. The surveillance of the exterior and interior of the first two new sections of the main Bavarian State Archive amounted to a five-figure sum per year and per guard.

19. Jahresbericht des Staatsarchivs Basel-Stadt (1973) 3-4.

20. Wolfenbr Zeitung 20 August 1974

21. All our own experience and what we know of other archives speaks against the recommendation by Delmas La planification 312, who in his 'Standards for the construction of an average national archive store' writes 'It Is recommended to have storage space sufficient to meet the needs of the next 10 years.

22. Michel Duchein Archive Buildings and Equipment (Unesco Paris 1966) 36. The new storage block of the Wg State Archive in Marienberg Castle is able to support a weight of 1800 Kg/m². Unlike Delmas, Duchein recommends as a minimum requirement an area 'enough for the foreseeable transfers of the next 20 years', and furthermore considers 'a (storage) building large enough to meet the needs of the next 50 to 100 years' to be desirable. Ibid 24.

23. It says much for the far-sightedness of the Zurich examining authorities and the expert reasoning of the archivists in the debate, in which the press also frequently Intervened, that the space requirements of the state archive were never disputed.

24. Delmas La planification 239.