As a public authority, most documents at NAI must be archived in order to meet demands of the public, for the sake of research in the future, and to secure the institute´s daily work, according to the Archives Act.

Books in the library are not public documents, for instance, but emails with questions to the library are, explains archivist Ida Grönroos who took up her position at the insitute in June. It is also an archivist’s job to cull out documents not important enough to archive, she adds.

“Otherwise archives soon would be unmanageable. The task is to follow Swedish legislation and at the same time store information so that it is easy for us to find, as well as for our users”, Grönroos notes.

Previously, NAI contracted out bought external archiving services, but from now on everything will be in-house. As a new position at the Institute, archiving work routines need to be developed. For example, how staff should deal with digital information, where to save it and in what format.

“Archiving is easier if we do it right from the beginning. It is important to remember that NAI is a government authority and almost all information the Institute produces must be available to the public. That is why a good archive is a requirement and a necessity”, Grönroos concludes.

TEXT: Nadège Ininahazwe