Outsourcing projects

In Italy, we can find successful practices of outsourcing activities. Worth mentioning examples safeguard the archive’s core business weaknesses and are used in stages related to safekeeping and conservation as an instrument aimed to exploit advanced technical skills and latest technology. In the article, we introduce those archives, which get concrete results on conservation and documentation management by taking advantage of outsourcing activities with the application of massive information technologies for the resource description and the development of robotic archives. This system aims to provide the client with a reliable solution and safe preservation methods. Mechanical forklifts, moving on elevated tracks, driven by an external software, in the aisles of shelves, are used to place and extract documents. The mechanical identification of archival units, preserved in fireproof boxes, is possible using a barcode system. Therefore, the physical collocation becomes less important since it is based on random mode. Moreover, this automatic system guarantees a controlled environment with nitrogen, which prevents infestation development. The human presence, is not necessary as well as electrical energy, is not necessary and consequently it reduces the risk of tampering, theft and fire. These are just some examples of a successful outsourcing applied in the archives.