Archiving by design can be defined as the measures taken during the design or adjustment of information systems to ensure that the information created or handled by the system becomes, and stays, sustainably accessible. The information is sustainable accessible if it is findable, available, readable, interpretable, reliable and future proof. There is not one only way to apply archiving by design, but different methodologies can be used for this purpose.

This Github repository for Archiving by design is a space made for sharing and working on documentation on the Archiving by design approach and the ways of implementation.

Note: These documents are drafts that have been shared with The European Archives Group, not (yet) approved policy documents. They are available in the form they were shared.

• Link to folder - a discussion paper presented to the EAG meeting, June 2021
• White paper: Archiving by design - document prepared for the EAG meeting, November 2022
• Guideline: Using the archiving by design scan - shared with the EAG, November 2022

• Presentation from the Tallinn meeting, October 2021

This repository is owned and maintained by The European Archives Group (in short, EAG), which is an official European Commission expert group that was established at the beginning of 2006. It is composed of representatives from national archives in EU member countries.

The EAG meeting in Helsinki, Finland in September 2019 decided to establish a subgroup for developing Archiving by Design. The subgroup was tasked with addressing a common challenge for European countries - to handle digital born data to ensure that data persists with availability and authenticity over time. The subgroup has developed a white paper and guidelines to elaborate and explore the possibilities of "Archiving by design" (in short, “AbD”) and its relation to information systems, record capture, and submission to the archives. Going forward the subgroup intends to perform pilot studies in several national environments in cooperation with national agencies testing the ideas and requirements. Combining pilots with a theoretical framework can lead to practical methods for working with Archiving by design on a European level, in compliance to a diversity of regulations on a national level.

If there's something you want to ask us or discuss with us, please see if it fits within an existing issue. If not, please post it as a new issue. If you want to contribute to the documents (coming soon) in this area, pull requests are welcome.

Note: The group isn't staffed to handle your comments immediately, but we will see them and respond. Thank you for your patience.