Importance of Educating Archival Personnel: Experiences of the Archive of Tuzla Canton

Abstract

The basic presumption of establishing a valid system of protection and management of documents at registry offices and archives is professional and trained archival staff. This assumption is particularly important in Bosnian archives, since they all operate with significantly reduced personnel capacities. On the other hand, Bosnian archival service is, compared to countries in the region, most affected by the transition process, in which the archival service should act urgently, professionally and responsibly, in order to fulfil the basic function of protection of archives. In such circumstances, only trained personnel can be a guarantee of timely and adequate professional work on the challenges facing the archival service of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In this paper, the author attempts through the experience of the Archives of Tuzla Canton to point out the importance of professional, educated staff in order to achieve the higher quality and better results in all fields of archives: of professional archival work to scientific research, publishing, cultural and educational activities.