KIT archive at three-country conference in Prague

The three-country conference of university and science archives took place in Prague from March 16 to 18, 2026. The conference brought together specialist representatives from Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic to discuss current developments and challenges in the archives sector. This year's focus was on standards and legal frameworks, indexing and digital long-term archiving.

Dr. Klaus Nippert, Head of the KIT Archive, addressed the topic in his lecture entitled "The Silent Landslide. Are Archives Losing Conceptual Control to Digital Transformation?", Dr. Klaus Nippert addressed the far-reaching changes in the archiving sector. He described a "silent landslide" in which complex ingest processes for digital archive material and the increasing use of artificial intelligence are shifting priorities. New digital sources such as websites and databases are gaining in importance, while at the same time losses - for example in the archiving of emails - are being caused by technical and organizational hurdles.

Cataloging practices are also changing: structures are being reorganized under the influence of the digital transformation. Nippert advocates actively and consciously managing these developments in order to ensure long-term professional control in archives.

The three-country conference is part of the work of Section 8 of the Association of German Archivists, which was founded in 1978. The specialist group represents the interests of archivists at universities and scientific institutions. In addition to regular meetings in spring and fall, the three-country conference, which takes place every four years, serves in particular to promote international exchange and the joint processing of current archiving challenges.