Memory and amnesia in the archival practices of national library and information associations

Abstract

National library and information associations are in essence meta-memory organizations. Yet the efforts of associations to secure their own history and protect their corporate memory for the future, especially in terms of safeguarding their internal archives, appear patchy. The ideas of the French historian Pierre Nora are examined, particularly his concept of lieux de mémoire (“sites of memory”), alongside associated concepts of invented tradition and heritage, which can be seen to intersect with the memorializing proclivities of national associations. Evidence is presented from a modest 2008 study of the archival policies of national library and information associations worldwide, reported by IFLA’s Library History Section. It is important to revisit this study because little publicity was given to it at the time; also, it provides a context for a recent case study undertaken by the author of the archival practices of the UK’s Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals.