Report of ICA SBL Meetings in Stavanger (Norway), 16-18 June 2008 by Becky Haglund Tousey

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The Bureau (steering committee) of the ICA Section of Business and Labour Archives meet in Stavanger, Norway in June 2008. A new SBL Bureau roster was approved for the upcoming 4-year term 2008-2012. The roster is as follows in alphabetical order:

• Eilzabeth W. Adkins, Ford Motor Company (USA)
• Spyridoula (Pipi) Arathymou (Greece)
• Didier Bondue, Saint-Gobain Group (France)
• Thomas Connors, George Washington University (USA)
• H. Larry Eiring, Littler Mendelson P.C. (USA)
• Karl-Peter Ellerbrock, Foundation for Business Archives in Westphalia (Germany)
• Christian R. Jansen, The Danish National Business Archives (Denmark)
• Ashok Kapoor, Reserve Bank of India (India)
• Matti Lakio, Central Archives of Finnish Business Records (Finland)
• Wang Lan, The Central Archives and State Archives Administration (China)
• Alessandro Lombardo, Ansaldo Foundation (Italy)
• Yuko Matsuzaki, Resource Center for the History of Entrepreneurship (Japan) *
• Henning Morgen, A.P. Moller-Maersk (Denmark)
• Hans Eyvind Näss, National Archives, Stavanger (Norway)
• Jane E. Nokes, Scotiabank Group (Canada)
• Francesca Pino, Intesa Sanpaolo (Italy)
• Lesley Richmond, Glasgow University (Scotland)
• Bruce Smith, Archive Research Consultancy (Australia)
• Anna Svenson, Malmö City Archives (Sweden)
• Alison Turton The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (Scotland)

* Added shortly after the Stavanger meeting

SBL officer holders were also elected for the next 4-year term. Hans Eyvind Näss will serve as chair from 2008 to 2010 and then will become vice-chair for the period of 2010 to 2012. Didier Bondue will serve as vice-chair from 2008 to 2010 and then will become chair for the period of 2010 to 2012. Becky Haglund Tousey will serve her second and final term as secretary for the period of 2008 to 2012. The Bureau also discussed activities and goals for the next 4 years. The discussions resulted in a proposed SBL Action Plan which will be refined and submitted to SBL membership for comment.

“CORPORATE RETENTION POLICY AND PRACTISE – RETENTION GUIDELINES, TRANSPARENCY AND POTENTIAL FOR STANDARDIZATION”

Following the SBL Bureau meeting, there was an open SBL membership meeting and program attended by archivists from Norway, US and several European countries. The aim of the program was to hear presentations and discuss the topic of corporate retention policies and practice. On the first day there were two introductory speakers: Ineke Deserno, Ph.D., spoke on “The Challenge of Transparency in Corporations.” This presentation outlined the results of Ineke’s recent academic research. She defined the term “transparency” and explained its limits and benefits from a corporate perspective. She discussed her findings related to corporate social responsibility as it relates to corporate reporting, not in the area of financial reporting, but rather in the areas of environmental, human rights, health, safety and security.
This was followed with a presentation by Deborah Skaggs. Deborah is an archives/records management consultant with Iron Mountain Consulting, Inc. in the USA. Her presentation was titled “Preservation Policy and Retention Practices in American Corporations.” She gave an overview of the origins of modern records management practice by corporations in the US and the approach of most US corporations regarding the disposition of their records.

The second day there were presentations from representatives of several US and European corporations:

• Didier Bondue, Saint-Gobain, France – “Corporate Retention Policy and Practice: the Saint-Gobain Case"
• Francesca Pino, IntesaSanpaolo, Italy – “A Work in Progress: Retention Schedules for Intesa Sanpaolo’s Archives”
• Andrea Hohmeyer, Evonik Services, Germany – “ Evonik’s Corporate Archives: Its Structure and Activities”
• Becky Haglund Tousey, Kraft Foods Inc., USA – “Kraft Foods Archives: Retention Policy and Practice”
• Pekka Anttonen, Helsingin Sanomat, Finland – “The Historical Archives of Sanoma Corporation”
• Henning Morgen, Mærsk, Denmark – “Records and Information Management – A Business and Cultural Benefit”
• Per Skarung, ExxonMobil Norway, Norway – “ExxonMobil: Records Retention Schedule”
• Torunn Loftsgård, StatoilHydro, Norway – “The Retention Policy of StatoiHydro”

The presentations were followed by discussion and questions from the audience. Many topics were raised that warrant further discussion and collaboration.