Yesterday the second meeting of international experts to save Iraq's museums and cultural property was held in London at the initiative of the British Museum and UNESCO. The aim of the London summit was to decide what could be done by the international community to restore Iraq's devastated heritage. Donny George, the director of research at Baghdad Museum, showed slides of the archives of his museum in various states of disarray and emphasised how crucial archives were to museums. According to Mr George, Iraq's borders are "wide open", although Jordanian authorities have seized boxes of antiquities and assorted government documents, which foreign journalists had attempted to smuggle out. The Minister of State Tessa Jowell stated that action would be taken with regards to supporting museums and libraries in Iraq but no mention was made of archives. The International Council on Archives (ICA) and the Society of Archivists, including the Society's International Affairs Sub Committee, have issued statements about this issue which I hope you will have read, both in the daily papers and on list-servs. I would hope that the approach taken with regard to the situation in Iraq would be a collaborative cross-sectoral one. I would like to know of any action which is being taken with regard to this. It seems unclear how our profession (i.e. archivist and conservator) is being involved in supporting all endeavours to assist our colleagues in Iraq in the reconstruction of Iraq's information infrastructure and conserve the precious documentary heritage which still survives. Yours, Patricia Sleeman Secretary of the International Affairs Sub-Committee, Society of Archivists. Please reply off-list. ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).