The International Institute of Archival Sciences originated as an international centre for technical and professional problems in the archival sector founded in Maribor in the 1980s. The conferences organized from the outset on a regular yearly basis also provide an opportunity for meeting and the exchange of views. The conference proceedings are published in the magazine Atlanti by the International Institute of Archival Sciences, the name assumed by the centre in 1991. The Institute became part of Maribor University in 2001. The central position of Trieste in the present-day European Union, the city’s greater prestige, the success obtained in 2000, when the conference was held exceptionally in Trieste, and awareness that a body like the Institute requires the support of an archives rather than a university were all factors prompting the transfer of its headquarters to the Trieste State Archives.

A special agreement was signed to this effect between the Department of Archives and Libraries of the Italian Ministry for Cultural Heritage, the Trieste State Archives, Maribor University, and the Institute, now renamed the International Institute of Archival Sciences of Trieste and Maribor. Antonio Dentoni Litta was elected president.

The Institute enjoys great international prestige and its members include Italy (currently represented by Grazia Tatò), Spain, France, Germany, Austria, the USA, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia Montenegro, Israel, the UK, Ukraine and Poland.

The international conference was held last year on 21 October and addressed the question of training for archivists.