Local Government Records An Introduction To Their Management Preservation And Use

Here is a comprehensive, authoritative introduction to the elements of day-to-day operations of local government archives, with special emphasis on best practices and practical solutions and strategies for establishing and improving such things as storage, environmental control, staffing, and intellectual control. It includes a chapter on general consideration for preservation of electronic archival records. Local government records are the records that most directly touch the lives of U. S. residents: deeds and property records, marriage licenses, school transcripts, law suits, and more, yet these records are often the most neglected records in the country. This guide is designed to appeal both to trained archivists as well as to those without formal training but find they are dealing with the administration of an archives program in a municipality, county, parish, township or borough, or a quasi-governmental entity such as a water district or a regional transportation authority. Managing Local Government Archives describes and prescribes the essential elements and best practices of a local government archives program. It is intended to be both a text for classroom instruction and a self-help tool for both professional and paraprofessional archivists. It is also intended to be helpful to local governments considering the planning and implementation of a formal archives program. Coverage encompasses the various domains of archival enterprise as practiced in a local government setting: acquisition, appraisal, arrangement and description, preservation, access, relationship to the records management profession, and other topics.

"This step-by-step guidebook tells you what records management is, why it is important, and how you can make it work to get control and keep control of the records in your courthouse or city hall. Anyone who creates., uses, studies, or relies upon the information in the records of local government needs this manual" -- Back cover.

The importance of records in modern society is explored by re-examining some of the historical antecedents for critical functions in the modern records professions. The motivation for writing this book comes from a conviction of the importance of records and records professionals in organizations and society, as well as the need to possess a stronger sense of the events, trends, people, debates, and controversies producing the modern records professions. Archivists and records managers have tended to discount the importance of their historical antecedents, ignoring the fact that many of the current debates and issues before the profession are not new but embedded in the historical evolution of the records professions. Re-examining some of the historical origins helps records professionals to re-examine their mission to manage records for the benefit of organizations and of all of society. Such re-evaluation also helps to remind records professionals and others that the concerns generated by new electronic recordkeeping technologies are not new at all but built deep within the fabric of traditional records creation and administration.

This informative volume focuses on the effective management of library archives, presenting perspectives and firsthand accounts from experienced and successful administrators in the field. The contributors examine the differences and similarities in the management of archives and other library/information centers, providing valuable insights into various managment styles, decisions, and planning techniques.