Archivistico

Archivistico refers to archives, archival science, and the professional and organizational activities connected with them. In Italian usage, archivistico describes methods, practices, and institutions involved in the creation, management, preservation, description, and access of archival records of enduring value.

Scope: The field covers the records life cycle from creation to disposition. Key tasks include appraisal to determine retention, accessioning, arrangement according to provenance and the principle of respect des fonds, and description through finding aids and metadata. Standardization uses international frameworks such as ISAD(G) for description, ISAAR(CRF) for corporate and creator authority records, and EAD for encoding finding aids; cataloging in MARC or other library metadata systems.

Preservation and access: Archivistica addresses physical and digital preservation, environmental control, disaster planning, and long-term access. In the digital realm, maintaining authenticity and usability of electronic records relies on metadata, standards like OAIS, and preservation metadata schemes such as PREMIS.

Profession and education: The practical work is carried out by archivists (archivisti) and allied professionals in archives, libraries, and institutions. Education typically involves university degrees in archival science or related fields, and professional associations such as the Associazione Nazionale Archivistica Italiana (ANAI) and the International Council on Archives (ICA).

Importance: Archivistica supports cultural heritage, public accountability, research and memory institutions by organizing and safeguarding sources for current and future generations.