Category: Uncategorized

Working with Generation Z

To promote the access of Generation Z to primary archival sources means not only to make what we hold available, but to do it in a selective, attractive and practical way for this new public. We are working with the first generation that was born digital, connected, mobile and that has never seen the world without the Internet. A generation that reads and publishes outside the conventional information sources.

Thus, the Archival Literacy Online Course challenged those who work in archives to understand different information needs: the choice of meaningful subjects; the presentation and contextualization of the selected documents to arise the public’s curiosity and interest; the potential to understand the past, to question the present and to build the future of the new generations.

The research of primary sources encourages critical thinking in young people, an essential skill, that can be applied in other areas of knowledge.

The issue of literacy is fundamental: we’re living, for the first time in history, a health pandemic in a digital age with a massive demand for information, caused by fear and anxiety. In addition, a disinformation pandemic occurred disturbing the protection of consumers and the prevention of public health: the European Union announced, last May, the existence of 2,700 fake news a day on Covid 19.

Working with teachers

In order to enhance the use of the Archival Literacy Online Course we contacted 12 teachers who teach from the 9th to the 12th year of schooling in different regions of the country. After receiving the invitation explaining the scope, the objectives and the schedule of the project, eight teachers have enrolled in it.

The teachers contacted have demonstrated a strong interest in the new access possibilities to primary sources and their exploration in the classroom, because the proposed subjects were included in the school curriculum.

Coping with the limitations of their new daily routine of face-to-face or online classes in times of pandemic and almost without the possibility of widening the learning experiences through study visits, the online access to the Digital Treasures course has opened new contact and work possibilities and, in a way, provided an alternative to in-person visits to archives.

Each one of the three themes addressed in the course was accompanied by a Teachers’s Guide, with didactic suggestions to work in the classroom context.

And, last but not least, working with archival documents

The sharing and the knowledge of the themes addressed through documents of seven European archives, helps the participants to build a broadened horizon of a common European history, besides the different national histories and identities.

For instance, in the subject “Pandemics and Epidemics” we present 26 documents of European archives, of highly varied types. In the context of the Covid 19 pandemic, the students will easily be able to question them.

_{Maria Trindade Serralheiro, Senior Technician / Information, Statistics and Quality Systems, General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libaries, Portugal}

_{Ana Isabel Fernandes (trad.), Senior Technician / Communication Office, Torre do Tombo National Archive, General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libaries, Portugal}

We present them in the following video, in which we interview several users over 60 who participated in the 2019 survey of 889 potential users with the aim of identifying pan-European fields of interest and acquire more knowledge about the needs of this specific user community (60+), both in terms of content and digital literacy. Have a look!

Infestations in collections are a common problem in archives. This issue has been monitored throughout the years by the people in charge at the National Archives Torre do Tombo (ANTT).

The ANTT has two anoxic disinfestation chambers that use nitrogen. The first chamber is 1.5 m³ wide and the second has a capacity of approximately 4.5 m³ and 25 linear meters.

The disinfestation process, since it implies moving the documentation to the chambers, allows the hygienization of the spaces that are temporarily empty

However, considering the various infestation foci, the dimensions of the archive (over 100 linear quilometers of documentation), the impossibility of disinfesting the whole collection at once, as well as the legal obligation to incorporate new documentation, it was necessary to rethink the problem and use a new approach to reinforce the disinfestation process.

To work in reducing the insect population in its adult phase, while continuing to use the anoxic desinfestation process throughout the year.

It is known that insects are attracted to light. Therefore, in Spring, we’ve placed electrocuting light traps in the hallways identified as infested, in three rooms of two repositories, that were numbered and maped.

In summary, three of the proposed objectives are presented:

     1) Try to capture / eliminate as many infesting insects as possible, in order to complement the purge work performed by the anoxia chamber;

     2) Through the geographical layout of the traps in each room, try to identify the most infested documentation, in order to guide the next purging work in the anoxia chamber;

     3) Try to understand if in the areas of disinfected documentation vs. areas that have not yet been disinfected, they present a difference in weed occupation.

A month later, the insects captured in each trap were counted to try to identity the worst infested areas in the room, to proceed to the anoxic desinfestation of this documentation.

Conclusions:

It is important to realize that the fact that insects are found in a certain trap does not indicate that they come from an area that is necessarily close. However, this is very likely to happen, always taking into account the layout of the remaining traps in the room.

    1) Floor 4, Room 6: Documentation of Notary Offices where disinfestation work has been carried out in the anoxia chamber since June 2016.

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        863 insects were captured in this room, revealing that the disinfested area has, in most cases, a lower number of insects, although with occasional situations, with an average similar to other areas in the room.

        It was possible to notice that the room has an even high level of infestation and with a certain homogeneity, since in more isolated traps locations an approximate number of insects were captured than in the most concentrated area.

_{Luís de Vasconcellos e Sá, Senior Technician / Conservation and Restoration Office, Ana Isabel Fernandes (trad.), Senior Technician / Communication Office, Torre do Tombo National Archive General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libaries, Portuga}l

The Digital Treasurers literacy course is suitable for everyone. The course is broken down into three modules. The first module is called – Archives, An introduction. The second module is called – The Archives of Anyone, an archive for Anyone. Finally, the third module is called – Teaching with Primary Sources. 

The course is to help make students more aware of archives and what benefit they have to present day life. The different aspects of the course were the length of the course, the style of writing , the activities included in the modules. From a survey conducted there was a positive response regarding the relevance to the classrooms. The modules course has information on useful tips for gaining insights into history and past events. These include pictures, documents, passports and artifacts. Displaying of these can either be on video, museums or websites. An archives can also be a certificate of some sort. E.g a Birth Certificate. This course speaks about who uses archives and the importance of them.

Archives can be used by historians, teachers, scientists and or any person looking to gain insight into the past. Archives are extremely important as they explain a lot of what was culturally acceptable or available at the given time of the artifact. It also helps gives dates of important events. Archives can also be used in legal settings. E.g CCTV or Dash camera footage. 

For further information read here!