Managing Archival & Manuscript Repositories Book Review

• Kurtz, Michael J. Managing Archival & Manuscript Repositories, Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2004.

The more I read the second edition of the SAA's Archival Fundamentals Series, the more I like it. The volumes of the second series that I have read so far really seem to outshine the older volumes I have seen. The same can be said of Kurtz's work, Managing Archival & Manuscript Repositories. This is a phenomenal monograph that reflects some of the recent shifts that have occurred in management and leadership theories. Not only that, but it's readable, much like Frank Boles's Selecting and Appraising Archives and Manuscripts.

Kurtz begins the work by noting that management should be balanced. Having either too much or too little management in any organization is a bad thing. He also notes that management is largely an American idea. Much management theory is based upon the work of Fayol, who believed that management consisted of planning, organizing, budgeting, directing, and controlling. Kurtz says that management is much more complex now, because of the ways in which relationships work within organizations now. At earlier times, a top down management scheme was often used. Modern organizations often have a less heirarchical structure, and relationships are now more democratic. However, management largely consists of the same basic ideas in any organization or management position. Kurtz points out that management can be difficult for archivists because they are trained to be archivists. He contends that there are several tools that should be in place to effectively manage an archives: a good file system, a follow up system, and a good time management system.

Kurtz believes that leadership is needed even in small archive. Good leadership involves vision, that is, anticipating possible results well ahead of their occurring. Also, leadership involves selling others on the vision of the archives. Good leaders should understand their own tendencies, strengths and weaknesses, and they should use various assesment tools, such as the Myers-Briggs test, to point those out. They should also mentor others as they have opportunity.

Kurtz discusses the tendencies of modern organizations to be complex. As stated above, organizations now are less hierarchical and more democratic. This situation means that archivists usually have different relationships to their subordinates now. The archivist should be a coach, mentor, and builder. Some of his main tasks are to interact, connect, and cooperate with others in order to achieve the goals of the archives.

Not only do archivists help foster relationships with other individuals inside and outside their organization, they also seek to understand the organizational context in which they work in order to foster relationships that will help spawn effective results. They should seek to develop and obtain approval for a policy statement that accurately reflects their goals and responsibilities. Their mandate should be from the highest authority possible within the organization within which they work. They should adopt a collaborative team model for their deparmental work, and they should cooperate with other departments at an institutional level.

Kurtz addresses planning by noting that this is often considered tedious work, but that it is necessary. He says that good planning takes the larger institution into mind. The archivist considers not only the goal of the archives, but also the goals of the parent institution. Careful planning should be charted in an organizational planning structure that accounts for the number of worker hours available and reasonable estimates about what should be done during those available times. He also notes that performance should be measured on departmental, individual, and overall levels to see howeffective the planning program is.

A new addition to this edition of the book is the chapter on project management. Kurtz says that any project should have some leader, even if the leadership model is not top down. The leader or manager chosen for the project should probably have some stake in the project. This person will spend time gathering information to share with the others about the project. Those working on projects should be competent, and communication within the group is a must. Projects have a life cycle that consists of four stages: conception, definitions, acquisition, and operation. This particular chapter provides several helpful workflows for taking up projects. Kurtz notes that successful projects depend on five factors being in place: a mandate, support and resources, team leadership and facilitation, communication, and clear goals.

Kurtz offers chapters that specifically address how one should manage information technologies, human resources, communication, facilities, finances, fund raising, and public relations. In each of these chapters, he supplies detailed information about how to make good decisions regarding these areas. Although each of these chapters has its own merits, I found the chapter on facilities to be extremely helpful. Kurtz supplies various tools that aid in development. For example, he supplies a chart that helps one determine how much space should be added when an archives is undergoing reconstruction. These types of practical information make me want to keep this book at arms reach. In fact, I wish I had acquired it about a year ago.

Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts Book Review

• Pugh, Mary Jo. Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts, Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005.

Mary Jo Pugh's Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts is a major revision of her 1992 work by the same title. Pugh begins this work by noting that archives and reference services in archives are changing at a substantial rate because of communications changes that are occurring in the world. Electronic formats, the expectation for instant information, and increased computing power all raise the bar for archivists. Pugh notes that all of these things necessitate the reworking of her earlier book.

Pugh notes that a shift in the archival profession has taken place in which archivists are now active promoters of archives rather than just passive collectors. She points out that providing access has three elements: intellectual, physical, and legal. Likewise, reference services involve intellectual, human, and administrative elements that include research, personal relations, promotion of materials, and ethics.

Pugh describes Schellenberg's distinctions in primary and secondary uses and evidential, informational, and intrinsic value, noting that Schellenberg overstated the distinction between records and archives by overemphasizing the exhaustion of primary values that he believed characterized archives. She says that archivists should strive to understand the various types of users of archival materials in order to help them find what they need. She suggests that besides just contemplating the needs of their various types of users, archivists should also try to understand how exactly most users seek to obtain information. In short, today, many researchers look for the simplest way they can find the information they need. Now, more than ever, the reference role of the archivist comes into play.

The reference role of the archivist comes into play through the archivist providing intellectual access to collections through the use of finding aids and careful processing. Being careful to do these well provides a context for understanding records. Pugh's discussion of provenance and the levels of arrangement are probably some the clearest that I have seen. The reference role of the archivist also comes into play through the reference interview process. Archivists need to become proficient in ferreting out the types of informations that their patrons need through using a careful interview process. They must also become more proficient in using the various types of electronic communication to provide reference services that will meet the needs of remote patrons. Additionally, they should develop guidelines for how archivists deal with patrons of all types.

Archivists strive to provide access to materials, but doing so is not attended without difficulties. Archivists have to balance issues of privacy, confidentiality, right to know, and equality of access on a daily basis. Archival policies should be developed that seek to create as much access as possible in as even and equal a manner as possible while abiding by the law. Pugh not only discusses access policies, but she also discusses how exactly to offer physical access to the materials. She discusses issues such as preservation, security, and administration of a research room. Likewise, she provides information about copyright, microfilm, loaning materials, and setting policies for photocopying. Finally, Pugh discusses the different models of reference services available to archives, noting that they can be arranged as a curatorial organization (processing and specialized reference), a rotating organization (everyone does reference), or a functional organization (reference is separate from processing). She then describes how archivists can measure the perfomance of reference services within their organizations. Pugh concludes the work with a detailed bibliographic essay that touches on nearly every of archival science.

“In Secret Kept, In Silence Sealed,” Review

• Hodson, Sara. "In Secret Kept, In Silence Sealed: Privacy in the Papers of Authors and Celebrities," American Archivist 67 (2004): 194-211.

Keeping the private papers of living individuals can often be a difficult task because much of the content of their correspondence may be extremely private and sensitive. When keeping these types of papers, archivists run the risk of compromising the individual's privacy rights through allowing patrons to intrude into the person's private affairs or expose embarrassing facts about the person. However, the situation does not necessarily go away at the creator's death. Other individuals are often mentioned in private papers, or there are letters in the collection that they have written. In this article, Hodson recounts the difficulties that attend archivists who are trying to balance privacy rights and access for the papers that belonged to various types of celebrities.

Hodson notes four reasons why handling these types of papers are more difficult than handling traditional historical collections. First, they are by nature high profile, because their creators were high profile. Second, because they are private papers, they deal with individuals instead of events. Third, copyright issues often come to the fore when dealing with these papers. Fourth, because of the nature of competition for these types of unique papers, archivists are forced to try to obtain the papers while the creators are still living. Hodson notes that there are no good answers for how to deal with the situations. She recommends being familiar with privacy issues and setting guidelines within which an archives can try, as much as possible, to protect a creator's privacy. I just wish Howard Gottlieb had given us the answer before he passed away.

“The Archivist as Detective” Review

• Stark, Bruce. "The Archivist as Detective; Or, The Case of Ledyard v. William Morgan," American Archivist 67 (2004): 269-92.

In this account, Bruce Stark describes a security situation that occurred at the Conneticut State Library in Hartford between 2000 and 2002. In short, the staff of the library discovered that certain records which they believed had been in their custody were found in the Archives of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. Complicating matters was the fact that the staff of the research center believed that they had obtained the records legitimately from a dealer. The staff of the state library believed the records were stolen. The missing records created a firestorm of controversy that launched the state library into media attention for well over two years.

Stark describes the research or detective methodology the staff of the state library used to determine their legitimate ownership of the records. Eventually, the records were returned, and the explanation for the crime was that the records had been stolen and sold by a man who stole large numbers of records from the library twenty years earlier. The man had been caught and imprisoned shortly after he stole the records, but the staff of the library was unaware that these records had been stolen. From this account, Stark draws several conclusions about the value of records, security, and keeping good records about collections.

“Organizing Archival Records: A Practical Method of Arrangement and Description for Small Archives,” Book Review

• Carmicheal, David W. Organizing Archival Records: A Practical Method of Arrangement and Description for Small Archives, 2nd ed. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2004. 

David Carmicheal's Organizing Archival Records is one of the best guides available for aiding archivists of small institutions in processing their collections. The book is simple, short, and practical. Carmichael not only describes the process for arranging and describing collections in this work, he also provides practical helps such as case studies and exercises that flesh out exactly what he is describing. Additionally, the book contains a CD-ROM that includes a database system that a small archives can use to manage its collections. This book provides a solid basis for training new workers in archives on how to process collections, and because of its brevity and lack of technical jargon, even a new worker should be able to read it within the span of an afternoon. If a new archivist of a small collection consumes this book and Yakel's Starting an Archives, he or she will be well prepared to set up and run their archives in an acceptable fashion.

Carmichael divides the book into three sections that deal with the purpose of organization, the levels of organization, and the steps of organization. In short, Carmichael says that the purpose of organizing collections within an archives is to help researchers find the answers to their questions. He notes that archival materials cannot be arranged and described in the same way as books because they were not created like books, they need more security than books, they are generally more complex in subject matter than books. Thus, organization for archives is much more different than it is for books, although the purpose for organizing both types of materials is similar.

Carmichael divides the levels of arrangement into four categories: record group, series, file unit, and item. He adequately describes each category, and he offers fairly detailed instructions for how to determine the boundaries of series within a collection. He notes that archivists typically discover series within a collection rather than creating them. He stresses the need for distinguishing between archives and manuscript collections. For him, the main distinction between the two lies in who created the materials. If an institution produced the records, then they are archives. If they were papers created or accumulated by an individual, they are manuscripts. While this distinction is a bit simplistic, Carmicheal's point works extremely well in the type of small archives one might find at a church or a historical society. He also briefly explains the basic steps of accessioning materials.

Carmichael divides archival processing into twelve basic steps that one could adjust to fit almost any small archival institution. The steps are well thought out, and provide a thorough workflow for processing. The processing workflow begins with assigning a number to the collection. After this, the archivist researchers the collection and complementary materials to discover such things as who created the collection, when it was created, and what types of materials it contains, and what subjects it addresses. The archivist uses this information to name the collection and to produce initial paperwork that describes the collection in a basic manner. The archivist progressively works through the collection to a greater and greated degree, determining what series are in the collection and how the files are organized. At the end of the process Carmichael describes, the archivist has fully processed the collection, created a brief usable finding aid, labeled and shelved the collection, and created a catalog entry.

More theme jumping…

Call me the Fletch of weblogs, but I changed again. I enjoy seeing a different look on my blog on a regular basis. Of course, I'm also the type that likes visiting MIT's site just to see what is up on a given day. I think they change it almost every day. So, bear with me. I know that my habitual changing doesn't really help usability, but I probably look at this thing more often than anyone else, so, if I get tired of the scenery, it's gonna change.

BTW, never use the above writing instrument in my archives.

“Encoded Archival Description: Are Finding Aids Boundary Spanners or Barriers for Users?” Review

• Yakel, Elizabeth. "Encoded Archival Description: Are Finding Aids Boundary Spanners or Barriers for Users?" Journal of Archival Organization 2 (2004): 63-77.

This article addresses the usability of the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) standard for archival finding aids. Yakel points out that most of the attention on EAD has been on its development as a standard. While EAD is a good format for storing information about collections, Yakel asks whether it makes collections somewhat transparent to users. More specifically, she asks if EAD acts as a barrier or boundary spanner for patrons using archival collections. To determine the usability of EAD for patrons, Yakel set up a usability test using six subjects who were asked to find certain types of information within the finding aids of the Historic Pittsburgh Finding Aids at the University of Pittsburgh. The subjects used in this test were graduate students in information science, although not in archival science, so they would probably be more informed about the general concepts of information retrieval than average patrons.

In essence, the results of the findability test were not good. The subjects tested had several problems in using EAD finding aids to find specific information. Many of the tasks that the subjects found difficult would probably have been less difficult had the site used some commonly accepted principles of web usability. Unfamiliar archival terms and unsophisticated search habits also complicated finding the required information. However, the subjects were able to find some of the information they needed. Ultimately, Yakel found that EAD finding aids ultimately act as both barriers and boundary spanners.

“Public Memory Meets Archival Memory”

• Cox, Richard J. "Public Memory Meets Archival Memory: The Interpretation of Williamsburg's Secretary's Office," American Archivist 68 (2005): 279-296.

This article discusses the Secretary's Office in Williamsburg, Virginia, which was the first public records office in the United States. The structure was completed in 1748, so it predates both the revolution and the establishment of the republic. Cox notes that it is "the only original Colonial central government building extant." However, most people, including historians and archivists, seem to know and care very little about the history behind the Secretary's Office. This is true in spite of the fact that the building exists in Williamsburg, which is a type of mecca for American history buffs.

Cox examines the history of the interpretation of the office, pointing out that very little emphasis has been placed upon the office as a records office. It has been used for exhibitions and public speeches, but because, in all likelihood, many consider records to be boring, this original intent of its use has not been highlighted very well. Cox concludes that this lack of emphasis on records keeping and archives as a function of the building needs to be corrected. Indeed, it is ironic that a town that so often relies on archival sources would fail to emphasize archival science. He hopes that this will be corrected by the 400th anniversary of Virginia in 2007, and he suggests a possible layout for an exhibit about archives and records keeping in the Secretary's Office.

Preserving Archives and Manuscripts Book Review

• Ritzenthaler, Mary Lynn. Preserving Archives and Manuscripts, Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1993.

Preserving Archives and Manuscripts details how preservation should take place in an archives or manuscript repeository. The term preservation generally denotes the "activities and functions designed to provide a suitable and safe environment that enhances the usable life of colletions." In order for an institution to implement a preservation program, it generally needs to recognize that preservation needs to take place. The institution should then set initial goals and a program policy for the program. Surveys of the repository must take place on the institutional and collection levels. These surveys allow for the archives to set its priorities and make decisions about how it can most effectively do its work. A budget for preservation should represent at least ten percent of total archives expenses in a year.

The materials stored in archives come in a wide variety of formats. An archivist needs to have a general understanding of how to preserve various types of paper, inks, skins, textiles, and photographic materials. Likewise, archivists must understand the types of adhesives used on these materials, including the ways in which they can be used and the damage they can cause to collections. Ritzenthaler addresses all of these issues in her third chapter. In particular, her discussions of papers and adhesives were especially detailed and helpful.

Ritzenthaler notes that the main causes of deterioration for records are usually temperature, relative humidity, light, biological agents, abuse, and disasters. The best way to prevent damage from these causes is to monitor and evaluate the conditions within the archives, and to have a good HVAC system. She points out that a ten degree reduction in temperature can double the life span of paper, while a ten degree increase will cut its life in half. Likewise, relative humidity should be well regulated.

She notes that the best conditions would be 40-65 degrees Farenheit, but condtions of 70 degrees and a relative humidity of 45%, plus or minus 2 degrees and 2 percentage points, are acceptable for an archives. She suggests that an archives have at a minimum a thermometer and a hygrometer. However, she recommends that archives purchase a hygrothermograph and a psychometer to track conditions over long periods of time. To protect materials from light, archives should have shades or UV filters over all windows and flourescent lights. Lights should be cut off when they are not needed. An acceptable level of light in reading room areas ranges from 30 to 60 footcandles.

Concerning handling, Ritzenthaler basically urges using common sense. She recommends the use of gloves, fully supporting all types of materials that are being handled, using trucks and multiple people to transfer materials, avoiding materials like tape, and handling photographic and magnetic media by their edges.

Ritzenthaler offers advice on storing and handling materials. She stresses that handling and storage decisions should be based upon what best preserves materials in light of their format and condition. She describes the various types of shelving and furniture that is available for use in archives. She also describes the methods and products one should use to store various tupes of record formats. Her chapter on preservation and administration supplies a brief guide for administering records throughout the entirety of their lifespan. She notes various threats to preservation that occur during this time. She also discusses preservation solutions like photocopying and microfilm, and points out best practices for using both.

In my opinion, the most useful chapter in the book is the final chapter, which addresses conservation. Here, Ritzenthaler discusses in great detail the various conservation options, such as deacidification and paper strengthening, that archivists have at their disposal. Equally helpful, though, are her discussions about making conservation decisions. She supplies information about determining when conservation treatment is needed, and she provides a philosophy for making informed decisions about good conservation practices. 

Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts Book Review

• Miller, Fredric M. Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts, Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1990.

Fredric Miller's Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts is a manual for explaining archival processing. Miller intended the manual to describe processing rather than prescribe policies and practices for individual repositories. He intended it to be useful for novices. He begins the manual by noting that archives are not libraries, and that the two types of institutions differ in several ways. The physical makeup of archives generally consists of records rather than books. Records are created gradually, in a rather unintentional manner (compared to books), and have no common classification scheme. Although there are parallels between an archivist's tools of arrangement and description and a librarian's tools of arrangement and description, the two differ fundamentally. Archivists arrange records according to provenance (external order according to creator) and strive to maintain the original order (internal order) of the records.

In processing, archivists must determine the origins and structure of records. They must understand what types of activities the records document, determine the types of informational content they contain, assess their physical characteristics, and explain their relationship to other records in the repositiory.

Although this manual covers both archives and manuscripts, one must understand that there are fundamental differences between these two. Records generally come from one source, while manuscripts come from many sources. A manuscript collection contains artificial collections and individual documents. Archives are generally described on a collection level, while manuscripts are not. Archives are generally larger in volume than manuscript collections. Archives are usually self indexing according to provenance, whereas many manuscript collections are not. There are similarities, however. Both types of repositories contain some records, have common types of usage, and need integrated systems.

Miller contends that four principles govern processing: provenance, original order, collection description, and levels of control. Miller provides a helpful timeline of the creation of these principles and their application to archives and manuscripts. He notes that the concept of levels of control is an American contribution to archival science. When Miller speaks of levels of control, he is referring to the concept, popularized by Oliver Wendell Holmes, that records can be devided into several levels for description. Generally, the levels are called record group, series, files, and folders. He also points out that the concept of provenance is generally identified with the record creator. This concept is helpful because it discourages archivists from using arbitrary subject arrangements, and it makes organization of records easier.

Miller discusses accessioning by pointing out that it often begins by correctly identifying the provenance of records. The archivist should be involved in the boxing and labeling of records prior to their being transported to an archives. The archivist is responsible for ensuring the integrity of records in their travel. He or she should use transfer forms and accession forms to document this process. The archvist should prepare a general description of contents and list any separated materials on a separation sheet. The archivist should also examine the contents for record groups and series, weeding, restrictions, and odd or difficult to preserve formats. A preliminary listing, which often consists of a box listing, should be prepared. This step is often more difficult for manuscripts than archives.

Miller urges that in establishing priorities for how to proceed in arranging and describing collections, the archivist should consider the "mission, resources, and clientele of the repository." The archivist should also assess the facilities to make sure that they are adequate for processing collections. Additionally, he or she should take the lead in administering processing by setting forth a plan for the processing of set of records or manuscripts that the staff processes. Miller discusses the various levels of control one uses in arranging records within a repository. He notes that there are very real differences between arrangement by provenance and by filing structure. The former should represent the intellectual arrangement of records, while the latter often represents the physical arrangement of records. He notes that repositories often have physical divisions of records into such categories as archives and manuscripts. Withing each of these categories, the archivist intellectually arranges the records according to provenance, physically arranges the records according to the filing structure (often developing lists of functional records series to assist in this task), and arranges the physical file units in accordance with original order.

Miller concludes his work by discussing the various types of information, tools, and standards that are used to create properly describe archival collections. These sections are probably the most dated sections of the book, because the advent of standards such as DACS and EAD has somewhat supplanted discussions of APPM and USMARC AMC. This is probably the reason that the SAA replaced Miller's book, as good as it is, with Kathleen Roe's work of the same title.