UA&SC | Collections Care: Essential Knowledge

This book draws on the contributions of a range of international experts to consider the current archival landscape and imagine the archive of the future. Firmly rooted in current professional debate and scholarship, Archival Futures offers thought provoking and accessible chapters that aim to challenge and inspire archivists globally and to encourage debate about their futures. It is widely acknowledged that the archive profession/discipline is facing a time of change. The digital world has presented changes in how records are created, used, stored and communicated. At the same time, there is increased public debate over issues such as ownership of and access to information and its authenticity and reliability in a networked and interconnected world. On a practical level archivists are being asked to do more, to have a greater range of skills, often with increasingly restricted resources while competing with others to maintain their role as experts in ever changing environments. Exploring the potential impact of these changes is timely. Such reflections will provide the opportunity to consider the archivists' purpose and role, discuss the practical impact of change on skills and functions and to articulate what can be contributed to a mid 21 century world. The contributors, Kate Theimer, Luciana Duranti, Victoria Lemieux, Geoffrey Yeo, Jenny Bunn, Sonia Ranade, Barbara Reed, Gillian Oliver, Frank Upward, Joanne Evans, Michael Moss, David Thomas and Craig Gauld cover: the role of archives in relation to individuals, organisations, communities and society how appraisal, arrangement, description and access might be affected in the future the impact of changing societal expectations in terms of access to information, how information is exchanged, and how things are recorded and remembered the place of traditional archives and what 'the archive' is or might become competition or opportunity offered by other information, cultural or IT related professions and the future role of the archive profession truth and post-truth: archives as authentic and reliable evidence This book will appeal to an international audience of students, academics and practitioners in archival science, records management, and library and information science.

Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS) facilitates consistent, appropriate, and self-explanatory description of archival materials and creators of archival materials. This new edition reflects the growing convergence among archival, museum, and library standards; aligns DACS with the descriptive standards developed and supported by the International Council on Archives; and provides guidance on the creation of archival authority records.

Here is the first-ever comprehensive guide to archival concepts, principles, and practices. Encyclopedia of Archival Science features 154 entries, which address every aspect of archival professional knowledge. These entries range from traditional ideas (like appraisal and provenance) to today's challenges (digitization and digital preservation). They present the thoughts of leading luminaries like Ernst Posner, Margaret Cross-Norton, and Philip Brooks as well as those of contemporary authors and rising scholars. Historical and ethical components of practice are infused throughout the work. Edited by Luciana Duranti from the University of British Columbia and Patricia C. Franks from San José State University, this landmark work was overseen by an editorial board comprised of leading archivists and archival educators from every continent: Adrian Cunningham (Queensland State Archives, Australia), Fiorella Foscarini (University of Toronto and University of Amsterdam), Pat Galloway (University of Texas at Austin), Shadrack Katuu (International Atomic Energy Agency), Giovanni Michetti (University of Rome La Sapienza), Ken Thibodeau (National Archives and Records Administration, US), and Geoffrey Yeo (University College London, UK).

Cultural heritage professionals - museum curators, museum professionals, archivists and librarians - work with their specialized knowledge to prioritize the needs of their collections. Preservation managers draw on experts in climate control, fire safety, pest management and more in developing the large overview of a collection and its needs. And all the special materials within the collections have their experts too. Here, in one volume, is a wide range of topic-specific expertise that comprises both an enduring text for preservation students as well as an essential one-stop reference for cultural heritage professionals--particularly those in small- to medium sized organizations where resources are limited and professional help is not always at hand. The editors introduce the reader to the essential tools and principles of a preservation management program in the twenty-first century, addressing the realities of diverse collections and materials, and embracing the challenges of working with both analog and digital collections. The sections on planning and managing a preservation program contain the basic starting point for any kind of collection, regardless of size and content. Written with the small collection in mind, the principles are nevertheless scalable and widely applicable.