Archimedia was the first and the only Archives and Records Management journal in Türkiye. It was published from July 1993 to March 1998 and was distributed free of charge to all subscribers. It was financed totally by the Publisher's and the Editors'own sources, except for a few issues where companies, whose products of some use to the Archivists and Records Managers in Türkiye were promoted in the Journal, volunteered to pay for the costs.
Archimedia arose from the need for a platform of communication among Archivists and Records Managers, which we like to refer to as the "Archimedeses of the archival world"--hence the Archimedes cartoon--within the country. Because of the lack of a professional organization, the only feasible means was seen as a little journal to be distributed to all interested parties within the profession. To be able to reach as many people as possible, it was decided to make it free so as to evade any possible problems of finance on the subscribers' side.
This would, inevitably, put too great a burden on the Publisher, so it started of as a bi-monthly newsletter consisting of eight A5 size pages duplicated by photocopiers and distributed by post. This format, size and the period proved to be very feasible in time, for the purposes defined at the outset. So, it was kept all through the Journal's publication life.
Archimedia was published almost without interruption, except for three cases: The first two of these were when the Publisher was doing his military service; when he had some health problems. The missing issues were published in combination to the next issues to follow and one of them was covered with a supplement, of the same size, carrying a discussion on the differences between library science and archives & records management.
The third and longest interruption was from March 1998 onwards: In the spring of 1998 several developments came into life. The most important one of these was some serious efforts to start an association of Turkish archivists, which was finalized in June 1998. The publisher thought this was just about time, because 1998 was also the tenth anniversary of the Archives Department at Marmara University and the fifth anniversary of Archimedia. So, having enough archivists around and an association to bring them together and serve as a communication platform, Archimedia had served its mission and its reason for being no longer existed. Taking these into consideration and the fact that the readers now demanded a full academic journal, which went beyond the publisher's capacity, he decided to give an end to the newsletter's life and pass the flag onto others to satisfy the readers' demands.
However, life proved to the contrary: The so called Society of Archivists turned out to be the "Society to defend the rights of staff at the Ottoman Archives" and the academic journal was not in sight till summer 1999. So, a new editorial team took over the task and decided to carry on publishing Archimedia in March 1999. However, because the publisher lost all interest by this time, the idea did not turn into reality.
With each change of Editors the content was revised, bringing in new tastes. In late 1997, Archimedia turned into a miniature journal, publishing short articles on archives & records management, as well as its newsletter content.
Archimedia's readers consisted of about 300 subscribers: Professionals, University Departments, ex-graduates and archival institutions all around the country, and a few abroad. Students of archives & records management schools are asked to read Archimedia at their Department libraries and Bulletin Boards till the time they graduate, after which they are added to the address list.
If you are interested in the content of Archimedia please have a look at the Back Issues first.
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