Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Managing archives”
Things to consider when scanning archival documents First off let’s distinguish the difference between digital and digitised. Digital refers to the object being “born” digital in the first instance. For example a photograph taken on a digital camera, a document created in a word processing system. A digital object is a product …
I have previously completed a post entitled ‘When disaster strikes – Disaster Recovery Planning’ which you can find here. The purpose of the article was to walk you through a live event that I had experienced. Well, I hate to say it, but here is another to peruse. This time …
Preparation Recently I was away for a conference and “that” call came. Disaster has struck. A contractor had an unfortunate accident with water while doing some work in the archive facility. A number of cabinets filled with paper and trace paper of design plans, survey plans were covered in a …
Another interesting and experience filled excursion to the International Council of Archives conference completed. This year it was held in Seoul, South Korea. It is an opportunity to visit a country I had never ventured to before, but more importantly, it is a rare opportunity for Archivists to gather in …
You have put a large amount of work into collecting, appraising, accessioning, arranging and describing your archives. Now it is time to ensure that going forward the records remain in the best condition they can for the future. Preservation and conservation are quite different. We are looking to preserve our …
I have to be honest. This article has taken me the longest to write so far. Purely I think due to the layers of archival discipline that can be applied to this art and therefore be complex to easily describe. Ironic? The art of description can be difficult to master …
A good climatic environment (see environment article) to store your archives is easier to maintain if you start with a suitable building or storage room. Whether a whole building, a shared property or just a room there are a few things that should be considered to ensure some building and …
Inadequate storage conditions can undo all your hard work quickly through environmental, building and security issues. Given all the effort that you have put in to getting your archival collection in order ensuring that your archives are protected is imperative. Some of the greatest risks to your archives will come …
Once you have given an accession number to a collection that you are taking into the archive it is time to start processing it. It is around this time that it becomes clear as to how an archive and a library differ significantly in the art of arrangement. If we …
Now that you have selected the material in an intake (deposit) to bring into the archive it is now a good time to provide an accession number. In practice, as I often have not had a chance to appraise the material prior the decision to bring it in to the …