ICA Section on University and Research Institution Archives:
Committees

Terms of Reference, August 2007

I. SCOPE

1. The term "science" covers all sciences including social sciences and humanities
2. Records and data of science are created during the entire research activity. This includes: administrative records related to the scientific process, primary (raw) and analysed data, research results, as well as private papers and other material regarding the research activity.

II. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of the Committee is to support records management, preservation and use of scientific and research material by cooperation, seminars, guidelines and joint projects.

OBJECTIVES:

1.      The Committee will encourage exchange of information about long term preservation and curation of scientific and research material among universities and other research institutes responsible for acquisition, keeping and preservation of the records and data.

2.      The Committee should cooperate with other organisations and bodies dealing with scientific and research material, e.g. CODATA and CASE, and also other sections within the ICA that are interested in preservation and access.

3. The Committee will encourage cooperative projects with researchers and information technology practitioners.
4. The Committee will issue recommendations for reliable archival practices and procedures.

5.      The Committee will survey different rules and practices for obtaining, appraising and keeping of scientific and research material in different countries.

6. The Committee will encourage and introduce initiatives on digital preservation international.
7. The Committee will support initiatives on institutional repositories.
8. The Committee will support development and implementation of international standards for metadata, archival description and format.
9. The Committee will survey the various laws and legislation on privacy and confidentiality issues concerning scientific and research material. It will share that information and might initiate proposals for how to deal with these issues regarding collaborative international research projects.

Members:

Documents from the CSRD Predecessor: The SUV Science Sub-Committee:

2001 Conference Statement: Exploring Electronic Records: Sharing Problems and Solutions Across the Archival and Scientific Worlds (PDF)

Science Archives Survey (PDF)

Survey Report: Archives of Science: An International Perspective and Comparison on Best Practices for Handling of Scientific Records (PDF)

Survey Report: Archives of Science: An International Perspective and Comparison on Best Practices for Handling of Scientific Records (Power Point)

Membership Committee