Archiving 2009

Archival Silences demonstrates emphatically that archival absences exist all over the globe. The book questions whether benign ‘silence’ is an appropriate label for the variety of destructions, concealment and absences that can be identified within archival collections. Including contributions from archivists and scholars working around the world, this truly international collection examines archives in Australia, Brazil, Denmark, England, India, Iceland, Jamaica, Malawi, The Philippines, Scotland, Turkey and the United States. Making a clear link between autocratic regimes and the failure to record often horrendous crimes against humanity, the volume demonstrates that the failure of governments to create records, or to allow access to records, appears to be universal. Arguing that this helps to establish a hegemonic narrative that excludes the ‘other’, this book showcases the actions historians and archivists have taken to ensure that gaps in archives are filled. Yet the book also claims that silences in archives are inevitable and argues not only that recordkeeping should be mandated by international courts and bodies, but that we need to develop other ways of reading archives broadly conceived to compensate for absences. Archival Silences addresses fundamental issues of access to the written record around the world. It is directed at those with a concern for social justice, particularly scholars and students of archival studies, history, sociology, international relations, international law, business administration and information science.

Collaging Information: The Artist, the Librarian, the Artist/Librarian Several years after becoming a professional librarian in 1972, I became involved in Mail Art. This international network of cooperating artists has expanded my vision of both the world and the profession. Over the years, I have taken it upon myself to document various aspects of Mail Art, which would have remained unexamined without the involvement of someone both actively participating in the medium and in possession of professional research skills. In so doing, I have been able to integrate two important facets of my life.

Today, governmental archivists and manuscript collectors--both private collectors and collecting repositories--are in conflict and competition for government documents that come out of private hands and onto the market. This book presents both sides of the issue and examines them dispassionately. It includes a historical review of institutional and state-sponsored collecting of documents, an evaluation of state and federal statutes on public documents in private hands, a careful look at the perspectives of the various parties involved in the conflict, and tales of theft and neglect as well as helpful case studies.

Description: Innovative Practices for Archives and Special Collections explores how archives of different sizes and types can enhance the accessibility of their holdings. The book uses eleven case studies to demonstrate innovative ideas that could be transferred into many other settings. Case studies cover Crowdsourcing the Description of Collections Early Experiences with Implementing EAC-CPF Conducting a Comprehensive Survey to Reveal a Hidden Repository Getting a Diverse Backlog of Legacy Finding Aids Online A Collaborative Standards-Based Approach to Creating Item-Level Metadata for Digitized Archival Materials Creating Policies and Procedures for Mandatory Arrangement and Description by Records Creators Collaboration in Cataloging: Sourcing Knowledge from Near and Far for a Challenging Collection Using LibGuides to Rescue Paper Ephemera from the Bibliographic Underbrush Describing Records, People, Organizations and Functions: The Empowering the User Project’s Flexible Archival Catalogue Integrating Born-Digital Materials into Regular Workflows Describing Single Items for Discovery and Access These successful and innovative practices will help archivists and special collections librarians better describe their collections so that they can be successfully accessed and users can locate the right materials. Readers can use these as models, sources of inspiration, or starting points for new discussions. The volume will be useful to those working in archives and special collections as well as other cultural heritage organizations, and provides ideas ranging from those that require long-term planning and coordination to ones that could be immediately implemented. It also provides students and educators in archives, library, and public history graduate programs a resource for understanding the variety of ways materials are being described in the field today and the kinds of strategies archivists are using to ensure collections can be found by the people who want to use them.

This data guide takes readers through the cycle of social science research, from applying for a research grant, through conducting the data collection phase, and ultimately to preparing the data for deposit in archives or data repositories. An adaptation of the fourth edition of the Guide to Social Science Data Preparation and Archiving of 2009 by the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan, this publication will help researchers to manage, document, and archive their data and to think broadly about which types of digital content should be deposited in such an archive.

This volume is devoted to the broad topic of distributed digital preservation, a still-emerging field of practice for the cultural memory arena. Replication and distribution hold out the promise of indefinite preservation of materials without degradation, but establishing effective organizational and technical processes to enable this form of digital preservation is daunting. Institutions need practical examples of how this task can be accomplished in manageable, low-cost ways. This guide is written with a broad audience in mind that includes librarians, archivists, scholars, curators, technologists, lawyers, and administrators. Readers may use this guide to gain both a philosophical and practical understanding of the emerging field of distributed digital preservation, including how to establish or join a network.

How do archives and other cultural institutions such as museums determine the boundaries of a particular community, and of their own institutional reach, in constructing effective strategies and methodologies for selecting and maintaining appropriate material evidence? This book offers guidance for archivists, record managers and museums professionals faced with such issues in their daily work. This edited collection explores the relationships between communities and the records they create at both practical and scholarly levels. It focuses on the ways in which records reflect community identity and collective memory, and the implications of capturing, appraising and documenting these core societal elements - with particular focus on the ways in which recent advances in technology can overcome traditional obstacles, as well as how technologies themselves offer possibilities of creating new virtual communities. It is divided into five themes: a community archives model communities and non-traditional record keeping records loss, destruction and recovery online communities: how technology brings communities and their records together building a community archive. Readership: This book will appeal to practitioners, researchers, and academics in the archives and records community as well as to historians and other scholars concerned with community building and social issues.

Archival Arrangement and Description: Analog to Digital teaches the core functions of arrangement and description. A historical summary grounds new archivists to assess proposed changes for digital files. After presenting the basics of arrangement and description (processing) for analog materials, the text segues to digital materials incorporating the OAIS preservation model into a detailed, sample workflow. Although accessioning and technical appraisal precede processing, they are discussed because they are performed differently for digital materials and create a different starting point for processing digital files. Description is external to the OAIS model but linked to it. Recent advances in description and its delivery are presented along with concerns for the ability of smaller archives to participate in envisioned future developments that are technology reliant. New specialties like digital curation and data curation show the continued relevance of archival expertise for the digital future. Rich with extras, the text includes and points to many readily web accessible additional resources.

Much of world's documentary heritage rests in vulnerable, little-known and often inaccessible archives. Many of these archives preserve information that may cast new light on historical phenomena and lead to their reinterpretation. But these rich collections are often at risk of being lost before the history they capture is recorded. This volume celebrates the tenth anniversary of the Endangered Archives Programme at the British Library, established to document and publish online neglected and formerly inaccessible archives from across the globe. From Dust to Digital showcases the historical significance of the collections identified, catalogued and digitised through the Programme, bringing together articles on 19 of the 244 projects supported since its inception. These contributions demonstrate the range of materials documented - including rock inscriptions, manuscripts, archival records, newspapers, photographs and sound archives - and the wide geographical scope of the Programme. Many of the documents are published here for the first time, illustrating the potential these collections have to further our understanding of history.