Introduction To Archival Organization And Description

An archival collection is a unique body of information, created at a particular time by a particular organization or individual as a result of a particular activity. If the cultural record contained in an archive is to be accessible, the archivist must examine, organize, and describe each collection individually. Introduction to Archival Organization and Description guides the novice to an understanding of the nature of archival information and documentation. Chapters cover topics such as the characteristics of archival materials, the gathering and analysis of information for archival description, and the implementation of descriptive tools in information systems. The Introduction to series acquaints professionals and students with the complex issues and technologies in the production, management, and dissemination of cultural heritage information resources.

This book serves as an introduction to the common organizational and descriptive practices that have developed in response to the particular requirements of archival collections. It serves as an orientation to fundamental archival principles for beginning and novice archivists, and includes such topics as the characteristics of archival materials and how these shape practices, the gathering and analyses of information that goes into descriptions, types of finding aids, and the deployment of information systems.

A comprehensive guide to the theory and practice of listing archives held in any format, from letters, photographs and maps to electronic multimedia. This third edition is revised to take account of the developments in national and international descriptive practice. New features of this edition include: additional information on national and international standards which have appeared since the last edition, including data elements mapped to the General International Standard Archival Description - ISAD(G) - which appears as an appendix; coverage of developments in archives administration theory and new access delivery initiatives; updating of sections covering audio-visual material; a rewritten chapter on electronic archives; an updated glossary in line with the 1999 ICA definitions; and additional examples of listing practice.

Many of our nation’s historical records reside in small historical societies, libraries, cultural organizations, houses of worship, and museums. The hard work of non-professional archivists is to thank for preserving much of our documentary heritage. Organizing Archival Records equips non-professional archivists with the skills to tackle one of the most challenging tasks of archiving: arranging and describing archival materials. Carmicheal offers step-by-step guidance to understanding the purpose of organization and the essentials of how to do it. He covers the basic terms and theory of organization, and how to avoid some common pitfalls. Carmichael brings this third edition into the 21st century with extended discussions about computerizing the process, making descriptions available on the web, and organizing electronic records. With real-world examples, exercises, and step-by-step directions, anyone can organize archival materials in a professional manner. Organizing Archival Records is an excellent resource for both computerized and manual organization and recordkeeping.

Music libraries often contain much more than books, scores, and recordings; they are also home to a wealth of archival music materials. Despite having archival holdings, many music librarians struggle to provide adequate storage, description, and access to these materials. Remaining cognizant of the wide variety of funding and staffing available to music libraries across North America, this basic manual provides an entry point into the archival profession for music librarians without formal archival training. At the same time the manual also serves as a ready-reference book for those already familiar with basic archival practices. This manual discusses archival theory alongside archival principles and practices, explaining key concepts and developments in acquisition, appraisal, arrangement, description, preservation, digitization, and funding. These fundamentals are demonstrated throughout the manual by numerous examples and hypothetical situations a music librarian is likely to encounter while managing archival music collections.

This third edition of Taylor's modern classic continues to articulate the theory, principles, standards, and tools behind information organization. As with previous editions, it begins with strong justification for the continued importance of organizing principles and practice. Following a broad overview of the concept and its role in human endeavors, Taylor and Joudrey provide a detailed and insightful discussion of such basic retrieval tools as inventories, bibliographies, catalogs, indexes, finding aids, registers, databases, major bibliographic utilities, and other organizing entities; and subsequently trace the development of the organization of recorded information in Western civilization from 2000 B.C.E. to the present. Standards of codification (MARC, SGML, and various DTDs), controlled vocabularies and ontologies, and Web 2.0 technologies are but a sample of its extensive topical coverage. The Organization of Information remains the title of choice for students and professionals eager to embrace the heritage, immediacy, and future of this fascinating field of study.

This new and extensively revised second edition offers an international perspective on archives management, providing authoritative guidance relevant to collections-based repositories and to organizations responsible for managing their own institutional archives. Written in clear language with lively examples, Archives: Principles and practices introduces core archival concepts, explains best-practice approaches and discusses the central activities that archivists need to know to ensure the documentary materials in their charge are cared for as effectively as possible. Topics addressed include: core archival principles and conceptsarchival history and the evolution of archival theoriesthe nature and diversity of archival materials and institutionsthe responsibilities and duties of the archivistissues in the management of archival institutionsthe challenges of balancing access and privacy in archival servicebest practice principles and strategic approaches to central archival tasks such as acquisition, preservation, reference and accessdetailed comparison of custodial, fonds-oriented approaches and post-custodial, functional approaches to arrangement and description. Discussion of digital archives is woven throughout the book, including consideration of the changing role of the archivist in the digital age. In recasting her book to address the impact of digital technologies on records and archives, Millar offers us an archival manual for the twenty-first century. This book will be essential reading for archival practitioners, archival studies students and professors, librarians, museum curators, local authorities, small governments, public libraries, community museums, corporations, associations and other agencies with archival responsibility.

Groundbreaking ideas in archival description and control Archival authority control is an often ambiguous label that embraces a potentially wide scope. In this active and quickly-evolving field, new methods of clarification are essential for successful archive management. The articles in Respect for Authority: Authority Control, Context Control, and Archival Description offer an innovative approach by marking and exploring a clear distinction between conventional archival authority files and the broader concept of context control. Intended to not only answer important questions but raise worthy new ones as well, Respect for Authority: Authority Control, Context Control, and Archival Description reveals striking new perspectives in managing archival description more effectively. The engaging essays in this collection tackle key issues of archive authority control and offer sound proposals for advancing a new course. Comprehensive in its approach, this text takes an in-depth look at both the International Standard for Archival Authority Records (ISAAR) and the American standard, Describing Archives: a Content Standard (DACS) and considers the place of authority control in these two standards for archival description. In addition, contributors offer practical answers to the thorny issue of identifying the boundaries of a records-creating entity and present criteria for determining when a new entity is established. International in scope, this book presents groundbreaking case studies by archive professionals from Canada, the United States, Italy, and Australia that document the successes of different institutional applications that describe the records-creator first and then link this description to that of the records themselves. Respect for Authority: Authority Control, Context Control, and Archival Description also includes expert discussions of: the role of standards the nature of archives and their relationships with their creators resources necessary to fully document contextualized content the power of provenance possibilities available through a trinity of descriptive entities—records, agents, and functions the potential of “provenance rediscovery” in American repositories postmodern archive theory, multiple provenance, and the reconceptualization of archive context using ISAAR to document records-creating environments challenges inherent in implementing series-based systems of arrangement and description the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Archival Resource Catalog (ARC) digitizing and publishing registers and the development of the Online Heritage Resource Manager (OHRM) and many more! Ideal for archive professionals, manuscript librarians, students, and researchers of archival administration, Respect for Authority: Authority Control, Context Control, and Archival Description not only resolves important questions revealed by these new trends but opens new discussions of a major shift in descriptive practice.