ISTA Archives
Contact
Opening times: by appointment
Institutional Archivist: Chiara Ziletti
Contacts: archives@ista.ac.at
Mission
The mission the Archives at ISTA is to actively identify, collect, preserve, and make accessible the historical records of ISTA. Thereby, the ISTA Archives plays an integral role in the management of ISTA’s records by supporting and enabling the efficient operation of its administration, and serving as the the official memory of the Institute.
Collecting Scope
In general, the ISTA Archives will collect:
- All records created by administrative and academic offices at ISTA, as well as those members of the faculty who, by virtue of administrative responsibilities either of a continuing or occasional nature, possess records relating to their official duties;
- Records related to or created by Partner Institutions of ISTA, if there is a clear connection to ISTA;
- Anything ISTA related created before 2009;
- Donated records that are ISTA related.
Access and Restrictions
The ISTA Archives is committed to providing open access to its collections, as far as possible within the limits of privacy and confidentiality; however, some records held by the Archives may be subject to restricted access, and as such, may not be accessible to the public yet.
The Bundesarchivgesetz establishes a 30-year protection period (i.e., records are closed for 30 years from the last change). Exceptions, as determined in the Bundesarchivgesetz, will apply. The protection period will not apply to archival records that were already intended for publication, or already accessible to the public at the time of their creation.
In order to balance access and confidentiality, access to donated records might be determined according to the terms of the gift agreement governing the donation of the records. When negotiating these agreements, the ISTA Archives seeks to secure the greatest access possible.
History and Current State
The concept for the ISTA Archives was approved in 2021, and work on the ISTA Archives started in 2022. The ISTA Archives Policy was signed by the ISTA Managing Director in December 2025. The acquisition of records follows the criteria outlined in the “Collecting Scope” section above, and it is continuous. Likewise, Archival processing of ISTA records already transferred to the Archives is ongoing.
