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