In his letter Archives and records management (TMID, 19 September), the CEO of the Malta Broadcasting Authority, Kevin Aquilina, gave information about the first call for applications for the post of information and records officer issued by the Authority in November 2007. I must state that our non-government organisation was not consulted or made aware of the dealings that went on between the Broadcasting Authority and the respective candidates identified during the first call. One of our main aims as an organisation is to promote archiving and thus make it easier for those who are taking the challenge of this new area of studies to have the opportunity to progress in their profession.

We do acknowledge that there is a dearth of professional archivists and records managers in Malta and that it is quite a task to find suitably qualified candidates in this area of specialisation. However, we do not agree that entities limit the possibility of candidates on the assumption that there are no qualified persons locally. This will also mean a limit on persons who might have graduated during the last year from universities other than that of Malta. Suffice to note that following Malta’s accession to the European Union, hundreds of Maltese have opted to study or specialise at overseas universities.

With this in mind we note with satisfaction that Dr Aquilina recognises that it makes sense to open up this call for all potential candidates and not eliminate those with the Diploma in Archives and Records Management or the Bachelor’s degree in library, archives and information studies. We also praise the Malta Broadcasting Authority for being the first government entity to take heed of the obligations under the Archives Act and work on the appointment of its records officer. All this is written with good intent.

Steve Borg

Secretary – Friends of the National Archives