FAQ
Archives

ISAD(G) stands for “General International Standard Archival Description,” adopted by the Committee on Descriptive Standards of the International Council on Archives (ICA). This document provides general rules for describing archival records, regardless of their form or physical medium. The primary objective is to create accurate and meaningful representations of records to facilitate access and understanding. The standard defines 26 descriptive elements, organised into seven information fields, which can be combined to form the description of an archival entity.

ISAAR (CPF), which stands for “International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, or Families,” establishes guidelines for creating authority records. These records describe the entities (organisations, individuals, or families) that produced or managed the records. The goal is to provide standardised access to records by controlling the creation and use of access points. ISAAR (CPF) goes beyond bibliographic records by including more detailed information about the context in which the records were produced, which is crucial for their interpretation.

The standards ISAD(G) and ISAAR (CPF) are complementary and designed to be used together in an archival description system. While ISAD(G) focuses on describing the archival records themselves, ISAAR (CPF) provides the framework for describing the “producers” of these records, i.e., the entities that created or received them. Links between the authority records of the producers (ISAAR (CPF)) and the archival descriptions (ISAD(G)) enrich the context of the records and improve retrieval.

A multi-level description is a fundamental approach in archiving, explained in ISAD(G). It consists of describing a set of archives starting with the most general level (the archive collection), then gradually descending to more specific levels such as the sub-collection, the organic series, the file or the item. This principle, which stems from the principle of respect for funds, makes it possible to situate each unit of description in its hierarchical context, to adapt the level of detail of the information and to avoid unnecessary repetitions.

According to ISAD(G), an archival description is structured into seven information zones to organise the data:

• Identification: essential information for recognising the unit (for example, reference, title, dates and producer).
• Context: details on the origin and history of the documents.
• Content and structure: information on the subject of the documents, their evaluation and classification.
• Conditions of access and use: access restrictions, reproduction conditions and languages ​​of documents.
• Additional sources: links to originals, copies or related documents.
• Notes: information that cannot be placed in other areas.
• Description control: details on creating and updating the description.

The principle of respect for funds is a cornerstone of archival science. It stipulates that the archives of a given producer (a person, a family, an organisation) must be kept together, without being mixed with those of other producers, in order to preserve their provenance and original context. This principle guarantees the authenticity and integrity of the documents. The multi-level description of ISAD(G) is a practical application of this principle, because it allows the funds to be described as a whole before detailing their subdivisions, thus reflecting the natural organisation of the documents resulting from their activity.

A sorting table is an essential tool for managing archives, whether physical or digital. It systematically lists all documents produced and received by an institution, indicating for each type of document its minimum retention period (linked to its administrative or legal utility) and its final destination (permanent retention or disposal). Using a sorting table helps reduce the volume of archives retained, optimise costs and storage space, and improve the efficiency of information retrieval. It also ensures compliance with legal retention obligations.

The EAS allows for the implementation of a digital document hosting solution. This allows for the retrieval and indexing of various document flows in a centralized IT tool. Implementing an EAS facilitates, among other things, classification, reduces search time, and eliminates the costs inherent in the physical storage of paper archives.

Long-term preservation of electronic documents is a complex task that requires a proactive strategy. Key elements include the choice of long-lasting file formats (open and widely distributed like PDF/A) to ensure their future readability. It is also crucial to preserve the metadata that describe the document (author, date, context) and to uniquely associate them with the archive. Finally, the conservation support (hard drive, CD) should be chosen based on its stability and technological availability, with regular migrations planned to adapt to changing technologies.

Metadata is data that describes other data. In digital archiving, it is crucial to ensure the long-term accessibility and understanding of documents. It provides information about the creation context, content, structure, and management of the archive. A good set of metadata makes it possible to find documents using specific queries and understand their meaning without having to access the full content. Associating metadata with documents through a unique identifier is essential, even if they are stored separately.

OAIS (Open Archival Information System) or ISO 14721 is the fundamental standard and conceptual reference model for long-term digital archiving. It describes the functions and responsibilities of a digital archiving system, regardless of its technology or implementation. It is a theoretical but essential framework for the design of any electronic archiving system (EAS).

The European regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions (eIDAS) establishes a legal framework for electronic signatures, electronic seals, and qualified electronic archiving services. eIDAS V2 specifically integrates a trust service for qualified archiving, conferring a presumption of integrity and origin to stored documents.

PDF/A, as specified in ISO 19005, is the Portable Document Format for archiving. This is a subset of the PDF format, designed specifically for long-term archiving of electronic documents. It ensures that documents will display exactly the same way in the future, by integrating all necessary information (fonts, images, metadata) and prohibiting features that could harm durability (e.g., scripts, external links).