Archive Management: Principles and Techniques
Archives provide a tangible link to the lives and activities of individuals in the past; they enable us to hold governments and organisations accountable for their actions through the evidence they provide; and they form an indispensable part of a community’s heritage.
Records are the basic tools of business or administrative transactions. They are used to justify official actions, to record proceedings, to explain and record policy decisions, and to establish and maintain rights under law for citizens, corporations, and governments. Similarly, individuals generate records and documents every day, for example, when we send and receive emails or letters or when we write diaries. When actively retained for permanent preservation, these records and documents become archives, and they act as the memory of institutions, businesses, governments, and individuals, and they represent an essential research source for historians.
This course provides an overview of the value and nature of archives, the development and mission of archive services, and the practical aspects of caring for archival collections and making them accessible to users. It will be of particular interest to anyone with responsibility for archival material in their collections.