This groundbreaking text demystifies archival and recordkeeping theory and its role in modern day practice. The book's great strength is in articulating some of the core principles and issues that shape the discipline and the impact and relevance they have for the 21st century professional. Using an accessible approach, it outlines and explores key literature and concepts and the role they can play in practice. Leading international thinkers and practitioners from the archives and records management world, Jeannette Bastian, Alan Bell, Anne Gilliland, Rachel Hardiman, Eric Ketelaar, Jennifer Meehan and Caroline Williams, consider the concepts and ideas behind the practicalities of archives and records management to draw out their importance and relevance. Key topics covered include: - Records and archives: concepts, roles and definitions - Archival appraisal: practising on shifting sand - Arrangement and description: between theory and practice - Ethics for archivists and records managers - Archives, memories and identities - Under the influence: the impact of philosophy on archives and records management - Participation vs principle: does technological change marginalize recordkeeping theory? This is essential reading for students and educators in archives and recordkeeping and invaluable as a guide for practitioners who want to better understand and inform their day-to-day work. It is also a useful guide across related disciplines in the information sciences and humanities. More information: http://www.facetpublishing.co.uk/title.php?id=8255

1. Archives and
Recordkeeping
Theory into Practice

2. What is it?
A groundbreaking new
textbook from Facet that
demystifies archives and
recordkeeping theory and its
role in modern practice.

4. Who is it for?
Students and educators in
archives and recordkeeping and
practitioners who want to
better understand and inform
their day-to-day work.

5. Key topics covered
1) Concepts, roles & definitions
2) Archival appraisal
3) Arrangement & description
4) Ethics
5) Archives, memories &
identities

6. Key topics covered
6) The impact of philosophy on
archives & records
management
7) Does technological change
marginalize recordkeeping
theory?

7. Who is it by?
The book is edited by Caroline
Brown, Deputy Archivist and
Programme Leader on the
Archives and Records
Management Programmes at
the University of Dundee.

8. Who else is in it?
The following also contributed chapters:
Jeannette A. Bastian Simmons College
Alan R. Bell University of Dundee
Anne J. Gilliland UCLA
Rachel Hardiman University of Amsterdam
Eric Ketelaar University of Amsterdam
Jennifer Meehan Emory University
Caroline Williams University of Liverpool

9. WHAT TO
EXPECT
chapter by chapter

10. Introduction Caroline Brown
The introduction examines the debate
about the role of archives and
recordkeeping theory from the 1970s on.

11. 1. Records and archives: concepts,
roles and definitions Caroline Williams
This chapter considers some of the
supporting concepts of records &
archive management & the degree to
which they can be applied in practice. It
looks at both the roles of archives &
records & their influence upon
individuals, organizations & society; &
at discussions about the nature &
definitions of records & archives.

12. THIS CHAPTER
IS AVAILABLE
FOR FREE
click here to download a
PDF

13. 2. Archival appraisal: practising on
shifting sands Anne J. Gillard
This aims to provide practising archivists
with a broad overview of what they need
to know in terms of background, and
what they they need to reflect upon
regarding appraisal in the constantly
shifting sands of modern recordkeeping
and information technology.

14. 3. Arrangement & description: between
theory & practice Jennifer Meehan
In discussing the theory and practice of
arrangement and description in the
context of archival processing, this
chapter focusses on the intellectual work
of arrangement and description (as
opposed to the tasks of physical
preservation and organization), as well as
programmatic and conceptual
approaches to processing.

15. 4. Ethics for archivists and records
managers Jeannette A. Bastian
In this chapter, Jeannette A. Bastian
examines professionals’ relationships
with ethics both collectively and
individually, through a discussion of the
ethical perspective in general and the
impact of these broader conceptual
approaches on codes of ethics and reallife ethical dilemmas.

16. 5. Archives, memories and identities
Eric Ketelaar
This chapter reviews the literature &
research on memory, identity & the role
of archives in the formation of memory
& identity. The chapter then provides
examples of & suggestions for archival
policies & practices which would
enhance the role of archives & archivists
in the construction of individual &
collective memories & identities.

17. 6. The impact of philosophy on archives
& records management Rachel Hardiman
This chapter outlines the ways in which
philosophies & theories from beyond the
bounds of recordkeeping have influenced
recordkeeping discourses & practices. It
considers the lineage of ideas that have
had an impact on archives &
recordkeeping thinking in the context of
the broader streams of Western thought
from which they have been adopted.

18. 7. Participation vs principle
Alan R. Bell
The final chapter considers: the evolving
tension between technological change
and recordkeeping, and the nature of
recordkeeping and the record in the
context provided by conceptual and
theoretical debate within the profession.
It concludes with thoughts and
suggestions on the relevance of
recordkeeping in changing times.

19. IF YOU
WANT TO
ORDER THE
BOOK...

20. THE BOOK IS OUT NOW!
Click here to order the book from the
Facet Publishing website
Customers in the US & Canada can
click here to order from the ALA
Remember, you can browse a free
sample chapter by clicking here