Week 1 Flash Cards

Covers Domains General, 1, and 6

Record

Information created or received as evidence of business activity or legal obligation, maintained for its informational or evidential value.

Provenance

The principle of maintaining records according to their original creator to preserve context and authenticity.

Archival Administration

Oversight of archival functions including appraisal, acquisition, arrangement, description, access, and preservation.

Life Cycle of Records

The stages records pass through: creation, active use, inactive use, and final disposition (destruction or transfer to archives).

Value of Archives

Archives support accountability, institutional memory, research, and legal rights.

Arrangement

The organization of archival materials to reflect original order or to facilitate use.

Description

Creating metadata or finding aids to make collections understandable and accessible.

Levels of Arrangement

Includes repository > record group > series > file > item.

Original Order

The arrangement established by the creator, preserved when it reflects record-keeping activities.

Respect des fonds

A principle requiring records from a single creator to be kept together and not mixed with those from others.

Primary Source Literacy

A set of competencies enabling individuals to find, interpret, evaluate, and use primary source materials effectively.

Ethical Responsibilities (Archivists)

Archivists must preserve access, protect rights, respect donors and users, and avoid conflicts of interest.

Stewardship

The duty to care for archival materials responsibly and ethically over time.

Core Values of Archivists

Accountability, access, advocacy, diversity, ethics, history, preservation, professionalism, responsible custody, service, and social responsibility.

Access vs. Restrictions

Archivists must balance open access with legal, donor, and privacy restrictions.

provenance

the origin or source of something

information regarding the origins, custody, and ownership of an item or collection

record

n.

information or data stored on a medium and used as an extension of human memory or to support accountability

information or data created or received by an organization in the course of its activities; organizational record

Audiovisual Records a phonodisc

Computing a collection of related data elements treated as a unit, such as the fields in a row in a database table; a data record

an entry describing a work in a catalog; a catalog record

v.

to preserve information and its continuing accuracy by setting down data in a format expected to persist for at least as long as the data will need to be accessed

archival standards

Established guidelines and best practices for the description, preservation, and management of archival materials, such as ISAD(G) and DACS.

records management

n. The systematic and administrative control of records throughout their life cycle to ensure efficiency and economy in their creation, use, handling, control, maintenance, and disposition.

life cycle of records

n. The distinct phases of a record's existence, from creation to final disposition.

value of archives

n.

the ongoing usefulness or significance of records, based on the administrative, legal, fiscal, evidential, or historical information they contain, justifying their continued preservation.

archival administration

(also archives management), n.

The general oversight of a program to appraise, acquire, arrange and describe, preserve, authenticate, and provide access to permanently valuable records.

functions of archives

Core functions include acquisition, appraisal, arrangement and description, preservation, and access provision of archival materials.

records management vs archives

The records manager controls vast quantities of institutional records, most of which are needed in the short term and will eventually be destroyed.

The archivist is concerned with relatively small quantities of records deemed important enough to be retained for an extended period.

appraisal

n.

the process of identifying materials offered to an archives that have sufficient value to be accessioned

the process of determining the length of time records should be retained, based on legal requirements and on their current and potential usefulness

the process of determining the market value of an item

macroappraisal

n.

an analysis of the functions of an organization to determine the relative importance of those activities and set priorities for documentation

functional analysis

n.

a technique for appraising and processing materials based on the relative importance of the activities performed within an organization

acquisition

n.

materials physically and officially transferred to a repository as a unit at a single time

the process of seeking and receiving materials from any source by transfer, donation, or purchase

selection

n.

the process of identifying which records to retain because of their enduring value

deaccessioning

n.

the process by which an archives, museum, or library permanently removes accessioned materials from its holdings

v. to remove archival resources from intellectual and physical custody

accessioning

n.

the materials physically and officially transferred to a repository as a unit at a single time

an acquisition

v. to take intellectual and physical custody of materials, often under legal or policy authority(View Citations)

documentation strategy

n.

a methodology that guides selection and assures retention of adequate information about a specific geographic area, a community, a topic, a process, or an event that has been dispersed throughout society

collecting policy

n.

guidelines outlining the scope and selection of materials that support a repository’s mission

enduring value

n.

the usefulness or significance of records based on the information they contain that justifies their permanent or ongoing preservation

retention schedule

n.

a document that identifies and describes an organization’s records, usually at the series level, and provides instructions for the disposition of records throughout their life cycle

archival records

items created in the conduct of affairs and preserved because of their enduring value (also referred to as materials)

What are the two closely related principles that are the bases for archival arrangement?

provenance and original order

What is another term for provenance?

respect des fonds

According to the principle of provenance, archives must not do what?

intermingle the records of one creator with those of another

What does original “original order” mean?

records should be maintained in the order in which they were placed by the organization, individual, or family that created them

Why do archivists respect original order?

it is the only way for small archival staffs to gain control over large, modern collections, which create records far faster than archivists can rearrange them

records management survey

covers a well-defined body of records—those for which the surveyor has administrative responsibility and authority; intended to identify ALL the records of an organization or institution, usually the parent institution of the archives

What types of records does a records management survey

active records and inactive records

What document is usually created as a result of a records management survey?

records retention schedule

What is an “archival records survey?”

a survey to quickly separate archival from non-archival records

life cycle theory

• recordkeeping has clearly definable stages

• records serve organizational memory early in their life and collective memory later

  • different professionals (record managers and archivists) are responsible for different stages of the life cycle

continuum theory

a theoretical framework suggesting that records management and archival activities should be viewed as interconnected and continuous processes rather than discrete stages.

continuum theory

• recordkeeping has no clearly definable stages

• records are both current and historical from the moment of creation

• there is no separation of responsibility among recordkeeping professional

types of archival value

evidential value and informational value

archival value

the determination that records are worthy of permanent preservation in an archival repository based on their significance to research, history, or the community.

synonyms for “archival value”

historical, continuing, research, or enduring value

evidential value

meaning the necessity of records to document the organization and functioning of the institution or department; in this instance, the archivist would preserve records documenting:

• the origin of each entity

• the substantive programs of each entity

informational value

considers the extent to which the records shed light on:

• persons (both individuals and corporate bodies)

• things (places, buildings, an other objects)

  • events (the interactions between persons and things)

three “tests” of informational value

• uniqueness

• form

• importance

five values of records

• operating

• administrative

• fiscal

• legal

• historical

macro-appraisal

a strategic approach based on analysis of the archival value of the government’s business rather than the archival value of its records to determine which records should be retained permanently.

appraisal

a process of selecting materials with sufficient value to justify the cost of storage, arrangement, description, preservation, and reference and determining their long-term retention or destruction.

acquisition

covers such areas as donor relations and policies for collecting records and papers

accessioning

the act or procedures involved in a transfer of legal title and taking records or papers into the physical custody of an archival agency

What is another word for destruction of archival materials?

disposition

value

refers to the underlying reasons for retaining a record series

intrinsic value

as part of the appraisal decision, archivists must address the question of whether records should be preserved in their original form even if they have sufficient value to justify retention

What three types of control over a collection does “accessioning” seek to establish?

legal, physical, and intellectual

What are six transfer instruments that can be used during the “accessioning” process to document the transfer of physical and intellectual control?

• oral agreement

• purchase agreement

• letter

• will

• deposit agreement

• deed of gift

acquisition policiy

a written statement prepared by a specific repository to define the scope of its collection and to specify the subjects and formats of materials to be collected

What are four factors to consider when planning a new space?

• size of the collection

• number of staff member

• number of tasks for which the archives is responsible

• number of researchers and other clients who are served

What are the three methods of acquisition?

• purchase

• donation

• transfer

What is another term for “authorizing policy statement?”

mission statement

mission statement

the foundation for all actions undertaken by the archivist; it should be approved the by the highest governing body of the organization

What benefits does planning offer to archivists and archival repositories?

• defined program goals

• a clear way to justify the program to nonarchivists

• enables managers to achieve and maintain direction and control

• enables program to respond to more than just day-to-day crises

• furnishes a framework of accountability

What is the goal of archival description?

to provide access to archival collections by documenting their context, structure, and content

How is description used to authenticate records?

by documenting their chain of custody, their arrangement, and the circumstances of their creation and use

When should a collection be described online?

even before extensive processing

archival description standards

the guidelines, rules, and specifications that lay down methods of producing uniform and consistent results for use in providing access to primary source materials

Which data structure convention codifies element sets for catalog records?

Machine Readable Cataloging (MARC21)

Which data structure convention codifies element sets for finding aids?

Encoded Archival Description (EAD)

Which data structure convention codifies element sets for digital resources?

Dublin Core

Which data structure convention codifies element sets for identification of a work or image in the collection?

Visual Resources Association Core 4

What is MARC?

a numeric data structure for bibliographic description, authority, classification, and holdings data that is used for describing bibliographic materials

Which descriptive standard is used to facilitate cooperative cataloging and data exchange between integrated library systems?

MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging)

What is EAD (Encoded Archival Description)?

an encoding standard for online finding aids

What is Dublin Core?

an internationally recognized metadata standard that includes fifteen basic elements employed to describe a wide variety of digital items

What three record types are Core 4 built around?

work, image, and collection

Core 4 is an extension schema for which standards?

Metadata Encoding and Transmission Standards (METS), digital objects that contain images of cultural heritage resources

What is the purpose of a processing procedures manual?

to apply uniform practices to the processing of all types of collections

Do policies and procedures serve to train and guide present staff or future staff?

Both! They serve as a training tool and reference source for present and future staff, student workers, volunteers, and interns

Is ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description a truly international standard?

No! Is has not been fully accepted internationally.

What are the descriptive standards for the U.S., Canada, and the UK?

• The U.S. uses different standards such as DACS for archival description

• Canada uses the Rules for Archival Description (RAD)

• The UK uses the British Manual of Archival Description (MAD)

records management vs archives

Records management focuses on the systematic control of records throughout their lifecycle, while archives preserve and provide access to historical records and documents.