Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives


Book Description

Newly revised and updated to more thoroughly address our increasingly digital world, including integration of digital records and audiovisual records into each chapter, it remains the clearest and most comprehensive guide to the discipline.




Putting Descriptive Standards to Work


Book Description

This open-ended series by the Society of American Archivists features brief, authoritative treatments - written and edited by top-level professionals - that fill significant gaps in archival literature. The goal of this modular approach is to build agile, user-centered resources. Modules treat discrete topics relating to the practical management of archives and manuscript collections in the digital age. Select modules are clustered together by topic (as they are here) and are available in print or electronic format. Each module is also available individually in electronic format so that readers can mix and match modules that best satisfy their needs and interests. Stay on trend with Trends in Archives Practice! -- from back cover.




The Handbook of Archival Practice


Book Description

To meet the demands of archivists increasingly tasked with the responsibility for hybrid collections, this indispensable guide covers contemporary archival practice for managing analog and digital materials in a single publication. Terms describing activities central to the archival process—such as appraisal, acquisition, arrangement, description, storage, access, and preservation—are included. In addition, responsibilities traditionally considered outside the purview of the archivist but currently impacting professional activities—such as cybersecurity, digital forensics, digital curation, distributed systems (e.g., cloud computing), and distributed trust systems (e.g., blockchain)—are also covered. The Handbook is divided into ten sections: current environment; records creation and recordkeeping systems; appraisal and acquisition; arrangement and description; storage and preservation; digital preservation; user services; community outreach and advocacy; risk management, security and privacy; and management and leadership. Some terms touch on more than one category, which made sorting a challenge. Readers are encouraged to consult both the table of contents and the index, as a topic may be addressed in more than one entry. A total of 111 entries by 105 authors are defined and described in The Handbook. The majority (79) of the contributors were from the US, 12 from Canada, 7 from the United Kingdom, 3 from Australia, 1 each from Germany, Jamaica, New Zealand, and the Russian Federation. Because archival practice differs among practitioners in different countries, this work represents an amalgamation. The Handbook was written primarily for archival practitioners who wish to access desired information at the point of need. However, can also serve as a valuable resource for students pursuing careers in the archival profession and information professionals engaged in related fields.




Digital Preservation: Putting It to Work


Book Description

This book addresses the process of maintaining digital objects through time to ensure continued access, an aspect that has become a crucial issue in recent years. It offers a concise yet comprehensive discussion of key concepts and requirements for long-term digital preservation, and presents a pioneering framework for digital repositories that enables the long-term archiving and metadata management for large volumes of digital resources based on a system that has already been completely designed and launched. In the framework, the reliability of information readouts is ensured by the repository with two-level data recording replication and monitoring mechanisms in the repository management system (RMS) and the file systems, and by the RMS’s distributed nature. The advanced RMS allows operations on the archival storage to be scheduled, while also taking into account low energy consumption requirements. After presenting the framework in detail, the book assesses and demonstrates the approach’s viability in terms of delivering accessibility, authenticity and usability. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for information technology (IT) researchers and practitioners, as well as archivists and librarians.




Putting the Information Infrastructure to Work


Book Description

An interconnection of computer networks, telecommunications services, and applications, the National Information Infrastructure (NII) can open up new vistas and profoundly change much of American life. This report explores some of the opportunities and obstacles to the use of the NII by people and organizations. The goal is to express how improvements in the technical foundation upon which all modern communications rests can benefit all Americans by focusing on the uses of the NII and the benefits to be derived by applications of advanced computing and communications technologies. This document describes how the evolving NII can: enhance the competitiveness of our manufacturing base; increase speed and efficiency of electronic commerce; improve health care delivery and control costs; promote development and accessibility of quality education and lifelong learning; improve effectiveness of environmental monitoring and assessing human impacts upon the earth; sustain the role of libraries as agents of democratic and equal access to information; and provide government services to the public faster, more responsively, and more efficiently. In addition to articulating a national vision that can serve as a framework for discussion and dialogue, a second goal is to improve public policy-making, to identify critical barriers, enablers, and the tools of government action most effective in each of these areas. In this way, the benefits of government activities in support of the NII can be maximized, while minimizing unintended or undesirable consequences. Several themes emerge: equity of access; pursuit of demonstrations and pilot projects; standards setting process; privacy and communications security; training and support; identification of long-term research and development priorities; and performance measurements to assess both public and private investments and experiments. It is hoped that careful consideration of the policy questions raised here will both facilitate the development of the NII and guide its evolution so that it best meets public purposes. (MAS)










Introduction to Archival Organization and Description


Book 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.




Description


Book Description

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.




Understanding by Design


Book Description

What is understanding and how does it differ from knowledge? How can we determine the big ideas worth understanding? Why is understanding an important teaching goal, and how do we know when students have attained it? How can we create a rigorous and engaging curriculum that focuses on understanding and leads to improved student performance in today's high-stakes, standards-based environment? Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum. Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, this new edition of Understanding by Design offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.