The Role of Archives in the Global World of Tomorrow – Some Reflections

Purpose: The aim of the article is to offer some reflections on the role of archives in a global world, with a focus on specific areas (particularly making archives accessible, digitization, the use of artificial intelligence, and the education and competencies of archivists).Method/approach: The method used in the paper is a description and an explication.Results: The article presents various reflections on issues facing the archival profession, with a view to its future development.Conclusions/findings: Even in the global world of tomorrow, archives should retain their fundamental tasks regarding the preservation, registration, processing, and making accessible of archival materials. On the one hand, archives should not become „information vaults“ accessible only to a select few; on the other, it will be necessary to ensure the protection of vulnerable materials and information against unauthorized use or even misuse, with ethical, security, and cybersecurity issues playing a significant role. Significant attention will need to be devoted to the preservation of digitized and, above all, born-digital archival materials – a task that will entail considerable challenges, not only technical but also economic and even environmental. Various questions also arise in connection with the use of artificial intelligence. Fulfilling all these tasks will require archive staff to possess adequate professional expertise and training; alongside competencies related to the development of digital archiving, it is also essential not to overlook the skills needed for the management (and processing) of analog documents created in previous centuries.