Managing Archives. Foundations, Principles and Practice

255 Pages·2006·2.98 MB·English

by  Caroline Williams (Auth.)

Managing Archives
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Managing Archives
Foundations, Principles
and Practice
C W
AROLINE ILLIAMS
Chandos Publishing
Oxford · England
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First published in Great Britain in 2006
ISBN:
1 84334 112 3 (paperback)
1 84334 113 1 (hardback)
© C.Williams,2006
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To Jonathan and James
List of figures
2.1 A record 8
2.2 The life-cycle 11
3.1 Accession entry using DS Calm proprietary software 67
4.1 Examples of arrangement: organisation by provenance 82
4.2 Examples of arrangement: organisation by function 83
4.3 ISAD(G) Contents page: seven information areas and
26 elements of description 92–3
4.4 Application of mandatory and some non-mandatory
elements of ISAD(G) at group, subgroup, series and item
level of part of the archives of Crewe Mechanics Institute 95–7
4.5 Application of mandatory and some non-mandatory
elements of ISAD(G) at group/collection level 97–8
4.6 Application of mandatory and some non-mandatory
elements of ISAD(G) at series level 98–9
4.7 Catalogue entry displayed in DS Calm 105
4.8 Catalogue entry displayed in DServe public access catalogue 106
4.9 Part of fonds-level description displayed in EAD 106
4.10 Cataloguing data sets 108
4.11 UKAT Thesaurus 115
5.1 LEADERS project: digitised image with transcript 135
5.2 The National Archives Home Page, 11 August 2005 139
5.3 The National Archives catalogue entry for ‘other ranks’
of the Royal Flying Corps 140
5.4 Search for William Wordsworth on A2A 140
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Managing Archives: Foundations,Principles and Practice
5.5 Intercollegiate athletics subject guide at the University
Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa 152
5.6 UK Government Web Archive: 10 Downing Street website
the day before the General Election of 7 June 2001 154
5.7 Sainsbury’s Virtual Museum 156
5.8 HSBC’s History Wall 157
6.1 UK Government Web Archive 196
7.1 Sample of performance indicators from the UK National
Council on Archives: Public Sector Quality Group
Performance Indicators: Towards generic and universal
PIs for archives, August 2003 228
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List of tables
2.1 Life cycle processes 12
2.2 The information spectrum: from knowledge to archives 15
2.3 The ‘knowledge’ disciplines 16
2.4 Remit and role of publicly and privately funded archives 28
2.5 Acquisition models 29
3.1 Examples of series of records within functional categories 56
3.2 Methods of sampling 62
3.3 Particulars for inclusion in deposit/loan agreements 65
4.1 ISAD(G) levels of arrangement 80–1
4.2 Correspondence: file-level description 101
4.3 Deeds: item-level description 102
4.4 Deeds and papers: file-level description 102
4.5 Mapping ISAD(G) elements with EAD tags 105
5.1 PSQG audit of access objectives 160
6.1 Some preservation standards 174
6.2 Benchmarks for preservation practice 176
6.3 Attributes of digital media 192
6.4 Types of metadata 194
7.1 Achieving short-, medium- and long-term objectives 206
7.2 Why projects fail 208
7.3 Archives service budget 220
7.4 Accommodation options 222
7.5 SWOT analysis 225
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Acknowledgements
There are many people to thank for their contribution to this
publication, not least current and former students and colleagues both at
home and abroad who have in different ways influenced my thoughts
and informed my understanding. In particular, I am indebted to
Margaret Procter and Michael Cook of LUCAS for reading and
commenting extensively on the text and for their ongoing advice and
support. Thanks are due also to Carl Newton and Jonathan Pepler for
their useful and constructive comments and to Christopher Williams for
creating the index.
For permission to reproduce screen shots I gratefully acknowledge:
The National Archives (Figures 4.10, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6, 6.1); DS Ltd
(Figures 3.1, 4.7, 4.8); The University Archives, The University of Iowa
Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa (Figure 5.5); the School of Library, Archive
and Information Studies, University College London, and the George
Orwell Estate (Figure 5.1); University of London Computer Centre
(Figure 4.11); The Sainsbury Archive, now The Sainsbury Archive at the
Museum in Docklands (Figure 5.7); HSBC Group Archives (Figure 5.8).
Many of the examples used throughout the text are drawn from sources
held at the Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies. I am
indebted to the County Archivist Jonathan Pepler for his permission to
use them.
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About the author
Caroline Williams worked in archives and records management in local
government before joining the University of Liverpool in 1996. She was
instrumental in the establishment of the Liverpool University Centre for
Archives Studies (LUCAS) in the same year: LUCAS is the university’s
centre for research, education, and training in archives and records
management and its Executive Committee comprises academics,
practitioners and users of archives. She became director of the Master’s
programme in Archives and Records Management in 1997. She has been
Chair of FARMER, the Forum for Archives and Records Management
Education and Research in the UK since 2003 and a member of the
International Council on Archives Section on Education and Training
since 2001. Current areas of research interest and publication include the
history and diplomatic analysis of the record, and the interface between
theory and practice.
The author may be contacted by:
E-mail: [email protected]
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