Archives Day is celebrated in Sweden on the second Saturday of November every year since 1998. The aim of this study is to examine how and why Archives Day is celebrated at five archives in the Stockholm region. My empirical material consists mainly of semi-structured interviews with archivists at five archival institutions in the Stockholm region. I have chosen to only interview archivists and not any visitors due to the time con-straints and the scope of the thesis. I have also examined how the goals stated in a government report are carried out in the work with Archives Day. The theoretical framework of the investigation is gathered from educational theory as well as archival theo-ry. For the educational approach I have used John Dewey’s theory of what makes an experience educational to examine whether Archives Day is an educational experience or not. The aspects of archival theory I have chosen concerns the change of the role archives play in a postmodern society. My conclusion is thus twofold. First, I argue that a visit to Archives Day, the way it is celebrated at the ar-chival institutions I have examined, does not constitute an educating experience according to Dewey’s theory. It does, however, have the potential of being an educating experience. Second, I draw the conclusion that the goals behind Archives Day are in line with the general changes of the role of archives in society. Nevertheless, it is not certain that municipal archives have the resources to accomplish these goals. For Archives Day to be a truly successful public awareness campaign for archives, the central organization for Archives Day needs to be bigger and offer more help to the archival institutions. I also argue for further user based research in connection with outreach initiatives in the archival sector. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.

La présente thèse se propose de mettre en valeur le développement d’une archivistique chinoise moderne et de l’usage social des archives depuis le milieu du XXe siècle, à la lumière de l’évolution de l’État et de la société. La thèse comporte cinq chapitres. Le premier est un rappel de l’histoire politique de la Chine et de son impact socioculturel sur les archives et le métier d’archiviste. Le deuxième présente l’évolution de l’archivistique chinoise, afin d’expliquer le contexte dans lequel s'établissent la communication et la valorisation des archives. Le troisième traite des origines et de la formation de la législation archivistique en Chine à l'époque contemporaine : législation archivistique générale et spécifique, se rapportant à la communication. Il s’agit d’une base essentielle dans le domaine de la communication des archives. Le quatrième chapitre présente une étude des politiques de communication des archives en Chine et donne des éléments de comparaison avec la situation en France, allant jusqu’au fonctionnement des salles de lecture – lieux où les archivistes et leurs « clients » se rencontrent et où s’appliquent les textes législatifs et réglementaires. Le dernier chapitre aborde le problème des relations entre les archivistes et le public, qui s’établissent et se développent notamment dans le cadre d'activités culturelles, principaux moyens de valorisation des archives conservées : publications, expositions, sur site et en ligne. / This thesis proposes to develop a modern Chinese archival science and the social use of archives since the mid-twentieth century in the light of the evolution of the state and society value. It is composed of five parts: First of all, we are going to take a historical review with its impact on the archives and the profession of archives in a socio-cultural aspect. Second of all, we’ll look back into the evolution of the archives in China so as to make clearer the context in which the communication and the valorization of the archives have been established. In the third part are explained the origin and the development of the archival legislation in China, from the Qing dynasty till nowadays. Here we’ll consider the legislation of archives in general and the one who concerns more specifically the communication of archives. It’s the basis that is essential to the communication of archives. The forth part presents a comparative study of Chinese politic about the archives communication comparing with that of France, as well as the organization of the lecture rooms— locations where the archivists and their “customers” get in touch with each other directly, are also where confront usually some contradictions. In the last part, we’ll examine the relations between the archivists and its public, which are generally recognized, particularly when it comes to cultural activities, as important means to promote the archives conserved, including the publication, the on-site and virtual exhibitions.

Public programming initiatives are considered as an integral part of archival operations because they support greater use of archival records. This study investigated public programming practises in the ESARBICA region. The findings of the study were determined after applying methodological triangulation, within a quantitative research context. This included the use of self-administered questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and the analysis of documents and websites. Participants in this study were ESARBICA board members, Directors of the National Archives and archivists from the ESARBICA region. Nine (69.2%) national directors representing different member states completed the questionnaire and eight archivists from the same region were interviewed. Furthermore, three ESARBICA board members were also interviwed. Legislation and country reports from ESARBICA member states were reviewed, together with websites of institutions within the ESARBICA region that offered archival education and training. Findings of the study indicated that public programming initiatives were not a priority. Reasons for this included lack of public programming policies, budgetary constraints, shortage of staff and lack of transport. Furthermore, the national archives were reluctant to rope in technology to promote their archives. Collaboration efforts with regard to promoting archives were shallow. Moreover, the investigation of user needs was restricted to existing users of the archives. In addition to all this, the archivists felt that they needed to improve their public programming skills. The study therefore suggests that the national archives of ESARBICA should focus on: legislation, public programming policies, advocacy, users, partnerships and skills. Taking these factors into consideration, an inclusive and integrated public programming framework was developed and proposed as a possible measure for improving public programming efforts in the ESARBICA region. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)

Public programming initiatives are considered as an integral part of archival operations because they support greater use of archival records. This study investigated public programming practises in the ESARBICA region. The findings of the study were determined after applying methodological triangulation, within a quantitative research context. This included the use of self-administered questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and the analysis of documents and websites. Participants in this study were ESARBICA board members, Directors of the National Archives and archivists from the ESARBICA region. Nine (69.2%) national directors representing different member states completed the questionnaire and eight archivists from the same region were interviewed. Furthermore, three ESARBICA board members were also interviwed. Legislation and country reports from ESARBICA member states were reviewed, together with websites of institutions within the ESARBICA region that offered archival education and training. Findings of the study indicated that public programming initiatives were not a priority. Reasons for this included lack of public programming policies, budgetary constraints, shortage of staff and lack of transport. Furthermore, the national archives were reluctant to rope in technology to promote their archives. Collaboration efforts with regard to promoting archives were shallow. Moreover, the investigation of user needs was restricted to existing users of the archives. In addition to all this, the archivists felt that they needed to improve their public programming skills. The study therefore suggests that the national archives of ESARBICA should focus on: legislation, public programming policies, advocacy, users, partnerships and skills. Taking these factors into consideration, an inclusive and integrated public programming framework was developed and proposed as a possible measure for improving public programming efforts in the ESARBICA region. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Science)