Photo: Archival display at the Publications-Documentation-Archives kiosk at the 91st General Session, May 2024 – ©WOAH/M. Tric

Several years ago, we embarked on a process to preserve WOAH’s precious archives, and the Organisation is now taking advantage of its centenary celebrations to promote its heritage to both internal and external audiences.

Going through the carriage entrance of WOAH’s private mansion at 12 rue de Prony in the 17th district of Paris, France brings us to realise that it houses 100 years of scientific and technical data relating to animal health and welfare.

In WOAH’s entrance hall, a display features the Organisation’s pivotal moments. Yet, further riches can be found in the Documentation Centre, where these nuggets of information are catalogued. Here, shelves line the walls, laden with highly specialised technical works and veterinary studies. A few boxes contain discoveries awaiting their final place. Drawers conceal period photographs, bearing witness to the Organisation’s activities across 100 years.

For over two years now, the Documentation Cell has been working on archiving the Organisation’s documents. Aline Rousier, Head of the Documentation Cell, explains,

Historically, the documentalist was responsible for collecting all the official publications and final reports produced by the Organisation’s governing bodies and indexing them on the Documentary Portal.

The COVID-19 crisis changed the situation and shook-up practices, forcing the Organisation to make a digital transition. Servers were moved to the Cloud, the Microsoft environment with its SharePoint was adopted, the intranet was abandoned, the website redesigned, and more. These changes disrupted the traditional automatic data collection processes and led to the dissemination of documents.

The Organisation called on Serda Conseil from September 2022 to September 2023 to carry out a documentary audit, as well as to run awareness-raising workshops among those departments producing documents. With the recruitment of archivist Laetitia Recour, the work of refining typologies, management tables and procedures continues. She is also in charge of the electronic archiving project, with the help of Tom Barthélémy, a Master 2 student at Enssib.

All this work will feed into the celebrations marking WOAH’s 100th anniversary. ‘This anniversary is an opportunity to showcase our archives,’ explains Laetitia Recour, ‘We have produced a selection of archival objects, such as the first documents produced by WOAH, and archive photos, which, as well as being on display at Headquarters, will be exhibited at the General Session, on the Publications-Documentation-Archives kiosk’.

As part of the drive to enhance preservation, the Documentation Cell has organised events around the archives:

The aim of this centenary is to bring the archives to life, so that they are more widely circulated as well as being preserved. It’s also a way of raising the profile of the department and demonstrating the added value of archive conservation.

The Documentation Cell continues to push at the highest level for the implementation of an information governance policy. Electronic archiving, and the creation of a framework conducive to long-term document governance continue to be major challenges.

Article translated and adapted from ‘L’OMSA célèbre ses 100 ans en archives’ by Sivagami Casimir, Archimag n°374, May 2024, pp. 24-25. https://www.archimag.com/archives-patrimoine/2024/05/14/organisation-mondiale-sante-animale-celebre-100-ans-archives

 More information

• WOAH Documentary Portal: https://doc.woah.org
• WOAH 100th anniversary website: https://www.woah.org/en/woah-turns-100-a-century-of-improving-animal-health-and-welfare/
• Link to the article published in Archimag: https://www.archimag.com/archives-patrimoine/2024/05/14/organisation-mondiale-sante-animale-celebre-100-ans-archives
• Link to Archimag Magazine: https://www.archimag.com/le-kiosque/mensuel-archimag/PDF/mag-374-numerisation-conformite-innovation-reussir-service

Contact: WOAH Documentation Centre, Aline Rousier (a.rousier@woah.org) or Laetitia Recour (l.recour@woah.org).