Range and content of the database

In order to be able to use the ODIS database efficiently, users must be aware of its purposes and limits.

The database offers access to records of organisations, individuals, publications and archives. The data series are mutually linked. The ODIS database is a dynamic working tool. This means that the data are not fixed but are continually being corrected, updated and supplemented. Only the records that may be generally considered as ready for publication are available for the general public.

The ODIS database aims to make available in a relational model basic encyclopaedic and documentary data on the subject of civil society in Flanders. Intermediary structures have been defined as private organisational forms that fulfill an intermediary function between the individual and governmental authorities, thereby maintaining a certain continuity between the two.

• ODIS aims above all to focus on intermediary structures in the period from 1750 to the present.
• ODIS emphasises the Flemish perspective, but of course also situates these structures in their historical and geographical context. International organisations are included only if Flemish or Belgian intermediary structures played an active role in them, or if their headquarters were in Flanders or in Belgium.
• In the first phase ODIS will focus on intermediary structures on a national and regional level. However, autonomous local organisations whose significance goes beyond the merely local level may also be included in the database.
• In collating the data, priority will be given to those organisations whose aims and operation are clearly more than solely recreational or commercial.

A number of important older existing files were entered into ODIS, following a careful examination and well-prepared conversion. The most important of these are the collections of biographies and periodicals of KADOC, K.U. Leuven, the bio-bibliographical catalogue of the Liberal Archives, the overview of the archives of the ADVN, the Amsab Institute for Social History and KADOC, K.U. Leuven. The Centre for Flemish Architectual Archives (CVAa) has a special focus in ODIS on architectural heritage and its archive creators. The Dibikav Project of the Forum for Religious Archives – Flanders (Fokav) brings to ODIS an emphasis on the heritage of Flemish parishes and religious institutions. This is complemented by extensive biographical and organisational data-input, corresponding to the data series being assembled at KADOC. Finally, through ODIS the Archives and Museum for Flemish Life in Brussels (AMVB) has assembled an overview of its archives and a collection of its periodicals. The updating of the related data series was a major focus for the ODIS team.

The input of data by the partner institutions is coordinated and controlled by local administrators. A significant portion of the input has been carried out by volunteers and staff of the public-oriented organisations, often in addition to their regular functions. For the contextual databases, archivists and librarians process the data, complementing and linking to the primary finding aids (catalogue, inventory...). The research staff of the partner institutions also use the database for storing their research data.

Election results

ODIS also offers an instrument for the contextual disclosure of historical election results. The partners have not as yet had the resources to start to broaden the collection of data. To date, the election results of the Antwerp Provincial Council have been collated, as part of the research project entitled Political Personnel in the Province of Antwerp (Politiek Personeel Provincie Antwerpen - PPA).

The website www.ppant.be offers an overview of the election results, including general data, the participating lists or political parties, and the candidates that were elected. The records are structured in steps, with information on the level of the province, the arrondissement (from 1921), the canton (before 1921) or the district (from 1921).

Comments on the content of the database, suggestions for additions and corrections are always welcome at the helpdesk info@odis.be.