In 2007, Dr. Anne Gilliland was chair of the UCLA Department of Information Studies and directing the archival studies program on campus. Years earlier, the University of Zadar in Croatia had approached UCLA to assist in the opening of a new library and information science program at their school. The UCLA department worked to create a partnership with the University of Zadar, but Dr. Gilliland took responsibility as chair to make this alliance a reality through the establishment of a memorandum of understanding (MOU). Over the course of the next few years, Dr. Gilliland worked on-site at the University of Zadar to help curate an archival studies curriculum and teach classes. She worked with students to broaden their horizons and present them with opportunities to apply their knowledge in the United States. Several of Dr. Gilliland’s students now hold positions of influence in archival studies in various countries around the world.

While at the University of Zadar, Dr. Gilliland began applying her archival studies background to a research project studying recordkeeping in former Yugoslavia. Specifically, how recordkeeping was affecting the daily lives of those living in this post-conflict space. Her later work in Bosnia explored how archives manifest as metaphors in society. Findings from her research have had a great impact on archival studies in the region. Her activity in Croatia and Bosnia — including two sabbatical periods — worked to increase communication in this academic field across former Yugoslavian parties with turbulent relationships. Dr. Gilliland is currently involved in a European Union project directed out of Croatia that looks at archives in diaspora.