Risks and promises of technological innovation. The curators of the documentary patrimony and cooperation between archivists and librarians

Abstract

The conservative function of the documentary heritage has an ambivalent destiny today: on the one hand the exiguity of the budgets of the cultural institutions who deal with it and the lack of interest of the users increasingly more orientated towards a rapid consumption of information have by now transformed this task into a real live mission; on the other information generally and documentary products in particular acquire increasing importance and value – even if for a progressively limited span of time – in both public and private environments in the definition of decisional and work processes, during technical and research activity, as well as for the general scope of access and communication. A central component of this evolution is the widespread use of information and communication technologies which, even if with some ambiguities and uncertainties, maintain the documentary process at the centre of the innovation. This is demonstrated by the recent regulation developed by the Authority for informatics in public administration with regard to administrative documentation (decree of the President of the Republic 445/2000), These technologies also require specialist professional figures able to deal, using suitable tools, with the numerous critical aspects of this long phase of transformation. The new demands and the interest aroused by the computerization projects of the documentation systems make it urgent to investigate in more depth old problems of method and untangle the many knots that still characterize the specific disciplines of the sector, archive-keeping and librarianship, starting from the necessity to give a convincing solution to the requisites of authenticity of the patrimony conserved in the digital dimension. This process has a positive effect on the traditional relationship that exists between the two areas of reference that during these years is undergoing a double and complex evolution: on the one hand a diversification and specialization of each aspect, on the other the progressive growth of fields of mutual or common interest, beginning from methodological and organizational problems relative to the permanent preservation of digital memories.