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Information Management – Archive
Brief History
The first Services Offered
Although the “Archive” Service was formally implemented in July 2001, the first steps towards its constitution date back to 1996. The commitment shown by the Rectorate team and the archival processing project submitted by the Faculty of Arts of the University of Porto to the National Board for Scientific Research (ex JNICT), nowadays Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia [Foundation for Science and Technology], secured the necessary resources to start the works.
Disorganized Information and precarious Facilities
Since 1976, the Rectorate of the University of Porto occupied part of the former headquarters located at Rua de D. Manuel II. Gradually, the documents saved from the April 1974 fire in the headquarters of the University, in Praça Gomes Teixeira, joined those that had been produced and collected by the Rectorate central services from that year on. An enormous volume of documents, consisting of folders, boxes and files, side by side with books, drawings - installation projects of U.PORTO property - and a large number of sundry papers, piled up in poor conditions of hygiene and safety on the ground floor of the main building. The information generated over the decades was at risk of disappearing due to the state of degradation of many media.
Furthermore, the disorganization of the collections did not allow access to any information intended to be recovered. The chances of bringing research to fruition were virtually non-existent. Documents produced in different circumstances, by different sectors of activity, in different periods in the history of the University piled up in an arbitrary and indiscriminate way. The internal organization was lost in most cases.
There remained, therefore, no doubt that it was urgent to invest in the physical recovery of the documents and in the replacement of its internal logic. The space intended for the collection of these documents was inevitably totally filled up, which meant an added risk of accidental deletions, not based on objective evaluation and selection criteria, but on the forces of circumstances.
Identification of Compiled Information
After a first screening, efforts focused on the installation of documents that had already been sorted and identified. The clearing of a room with about 120sq.m allowed the use of fire-proof metal shelving, with a book storage capacity of 500 linear metres. However, once the documents produced by the Academic Services of the University had been placed on the shelves, not one metre more of space was available.
First Instruments to Access Information
While these activities were in progress, investments were made in a different level, which meant the design of instruments for research and access to information recently filed. Among the various databases developed at that time, we must refer to the one created for the registration and description of academic works submitted to the University of Porto. Available to the public through the official site of the institution, from a certain point on it included the abstracts of theses and dissertations submitted by their authors.
In the meantime, other databases were designed to collect, systematize and disseminate information which is relevant and useful. With the database "Legis", we were able to provide comprehensive and updated information on legislation that since 1911 governed the activity and operation of the management bodies of the University of Porto, the central administrative services and the related education establishments.
Shortly after, a database with bibliographical references on the University of Porto was likewise made available on the Internet.
Electronic record of Correspondence – The implementation of an idea
In June 1999, a project developed in partnership with the Computing Services was implemented, which consisted of implementing an automated system for the registration of correspondence exchanged in/out of the University. This record was then done by all Rectorate departments, and included not only the incoming documents but the outgoing ones too. In fact, there was more to this than simply abandoning outdated practices: above all, it was an opportunity to discipline and standardize procedures early in the information chain.
Evaluation and Selection of Information – A cross-level project in the U.Porto
During 1999, the adoption of a research project submitted to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) in partnership with the Faculty of Arts widened the scope and nature of the work done so far. For two consecutive years, we characterized the organisational and functional structure of the University of Porto whilst a systemic universes formed by several information sub-systems. From the moment we were able to contextualize the information produced and compiled in the course of the organizational activities, we were also able to assess their relevance from factors such as relevance to the objectives of the producer institution and the density of information contents. This methodology, to be approved by the National Archives/Torre do Tombo as the coordinating body national archival policy, enabled the University to have the legal grounds to decide on the final destination of the documents, without having to rely on the traditional and outdated "primary" and "secondary" value of the information.
File Storage – Renewal of Equipment
In the meantime, there was still a shortage of space to continue to file documents in good storage conditions and guarantee of access. Documents with scarce utility, but not yet evaluated, cluttered the areas near the services that produced a lot of material. Or, when it was not possible to keep them around, they were transferred to inappropriate and difficult to access sites. We needed to find a solution to the dispersion, discontinuity and lack of safety conditions of these spaces.
The situation improved substantially in late 2001 when the fixed shelves were replaced by a compact and sliding system. With a capacity of 1,700 linear metres of documents, the new system allowed us to almost quadruple the space available.
More or less at the same time, we installed a fire detection system and generalized the use of devices to reduce the relative humidity and air filtration. The areas adjacent to the deposit of the Archive began to be used solely to receive and check documents, to replace packing materials, to perform minor restoration interventions, and to support the consultation and research processes.
Early Rules and Regulations
More or less at the same time, we defined rules for the consultation, retrieval, reprography and loan of documents, for both internal users and users from outside the Rectorate. We also regulated the transfer of documents to the Archive. In June 2002, the first Internal Archive Regulation came into force. At the end of the year, 700 metres of shelves were already taken up with books and documents.
Optimization of Computing Resources
From 2003 on, the investment in the reorganization of the computing resources has been notable, in particular on the subject of the optimization of the existing databases. It was also from the beginning of this year that we intensified collaboration work and formalized the partnership with the working group formed by the members of the consortium set up to develop the G.I.S.A. (acronym for Gestão Integrada de Sistemas de Arquivo - Integrated File System) computer application, of which the Porto City Hall and other City Halls within the metropolitan area of Porto are a part of.
The Digitalization of Contents
In September 2004, responding to the challenge issued by the Ministry of Culture, we showed our interest in applying for a FEDER pre-fund. The situation favoured a stake in ICTs for the dissemination of stored information:
On the one hand, we were able to acquire some expertise in the transfer of support with the digital reproduction of some 5,000 drawings for construction works which had taken place shortly before;
On the other hand, the level of development achieved GISA software offered the guarantees needed for the import of thousands of descriptions of building projects and installation projects.
Release of Information on the Web – The story of a Project
In March 2005, the application presented to the Operational Culture Programme for the project entitled "The University and the City: The buildings of the University of Porto throughout history – a project of archival processing and digitalization" was decisive for the development in subsequent years. This was a project based on sound concepts, acquired from previous experience, and from specialized technical and archival know-how. Once the application had been approved on the grounds of its cultural merit, in July 2005, funding was obtained for 75% of the eligible amount.
The main goal to achieve would be to provide the broadest access possible to the information contents and installation projects of the University of Porto, from its Information System. Thus it would be possible to overcome the limitations imposed by geographical distance, the difficulties inherent to the handling of large format drawings, and also the restrictions as consequence of the state of preservation of the documents worn by time and use.
Our target public includes the relevant experts - architects, designers, engineers and project developers, alongside researchers of all branches or field of knowledge, but with particular emphasis on specialists in the history of architecture and urbanism -, as well as the majority of citizens, provided that they are willing to consult and search information available on the Web from a remote site.
This comprehensive set of documents, consisting of thousands of construction and renovation projects is, without a doubt, the most extensive currently kept in the Archive. It is also the one that shows a greater variety of formats and types of media. In addition to texts, such as the construction project briefs, there are numerous graphic documents, such as plans, sections and elevations of buildings.
The completion of the project involved carrying out two parallel and converging actions: on the one hand, continue to scan the documents - now not just drawings -, but also the actual projects, in full; on the other hand, continue the archival processing of the installation projects, thus ensuring the existence of the proper instruments to search and access the stored information.
The construction of a digital repository seemed to be the only solution capable of guaranteeing, with success, the online access to the information contents intended for disclosure. For this reason, the transfer of media and all activities related to digitalization were one of the major components in terms of investments.
The results of the actions described above converged to create a vast digital repository where the images reproduced are associated to the elements that describe them. The software used for the representation of documents was the GISA, while the SIGARRA system of the University of Porto was the computing platform used for the interface.
From 1 January 2008, the Archive functional area became part of the Information Management Unit, which, in addition to services such as consultation, reproduction, loan and transfer of information, also provides services to external and internal users under the Rectorate SIGARRA system and the U.Porto SIGARRA system.