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5856 results in Facet Publishing

Page 230 of 293

  • 1 - Digitization in the context of collection management

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 1-16

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Digitization projects take place within the context of a global market and institutional goals. The dramatic growth in digitization since the late 1990s is a direct response to the rapid development of the internet and corresponding changes in user expectations. This is part of an overall shift within the heritage sector as a whole and has had an inevitable impact on the way that collections are managed, and the role of the conservator.

    The impact of new technologies

    The internet has become the principle source of information on many aspects of life for millions of people of all generations. This digital revolution has fundamentally changed the way that we live and work. While there are great benefits to the availability of information via the internet, it has put new pressures on libraries, archives and museums. Increasingly, people expect to find and retrieve information online, especially the generation who have grown up with the internet and have often not learned to use and interrogate catalogues. Research using catalogue information typically leads to focused exploration of a subject in a particular context. In contrast, the internet works on a keyword search basis. Search results via keywords on the internet are vast, and the enormity of information thrown up often leads to an assumption that information not available on the internet is nonexistent. The growth of the internet has therefore fostered a new generation of users who not only expect all information to be available online but also expect it to be fully searchable.

    At the same time, new technologies have brought new opportunities for cultural institutions – many libraries and archives have been involved with digitizing their collections for some years now. Digitizing collections has a great number of benefits, many of which go beyond the most obvious of increasing the general accessibility of a collection (Hughes, 2004, 9–16). Making a collection available online will facilitate access to it for a much broader audience. This can result in a shift from traditional users, such as academic researchers coming to use original material within an institution's reading room, to a much broader and more diverse user-base who will discover and subsequently use information that did not previously seem available to them.

  • 8 - Preparation of damaged documents

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 137-158

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Preparing a collection for imaging as described in Chapter 7 ‘Preparation of document formats and fastenings’ will help to ensure effective and efficient image capture. However, if items in a collection are damaged then this will also need to be addressed. Preparing damaged documents for image capture need not be a lengthy and expensive process. However, it will undoubtedly add to the costs of a project because, although it is not full conservation treatment, it should nevertheless be carried out by a qualified conservator. This makes it all the more important that the collection survey quantifies the amount of work needed so that an estimate of costs can be incorporated into the project budget at an early stage (see Chapter 5 ‘Surveying collections’). It is then possible to make informed decisions about whether or not a project conservator is needed and how conservation work might fit in with the imaging operation. This may need careful consideration because the nature of the preparation that is required may have an impact on the overall logistics.

    Is conservation work always needed?

    The short answer to this question is ‘no’ because the spot check and survey may suggest that there are no damaged items. In fact this may be one of the reasons why a particular collection was selected for digitization. However, if a proportion of the collection is found to be in fragile condition then these items can simply be excluded from the image capture, as discussed in Chapter 5 ‘Surveying collections’. If a full collection survey has been carried out then this will indicate which items should be excluded. If a sampled survey was carried out then an assessment stage to weed out unfit items may be needed during the imaging operation. However, if the imaging team are having to repeatedly reject items because they are unfit this is not a good use of their time and also unnecessarily uses resources for document ordering, tracking and delivery only to result in items being returned without being imaged. A full survey is therefore prefereable so that every item has been assessed in advance of the imaging.

  • Introduction

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp xv-xviii

  • Summary

    Digitization is a complex business involving not only image capture, transcription, indexing and delivery but also technical issues around online presentation, digital file management and digital preservation. At the same time, digitization projects are high-risk ventures where successful implementation is critical. While much has been written on the various elements of digitization, the practical aspects have often been neglected. These practical details are significant not only in safeguarding the collection during image capture but also in ensuring that image capture runs smoothly and successfully.

    Preparing Collections for Digitization aims to address this perceived gap in the literature by focusing on the actual image capture operation with particular emphasis on all matters concerning the preservation and preparation of the original documents. It is intended that this book should complement rather than replace existing publications. Wider issues such as metadata capture, delivery systems and project management in general are equally significant but since they are covered amply elsewhere they are not addressed here.

    Since this book focuses on preservation issues it is aimed specifically at the person with responsibility for preservation of the collection, referred to in the text as the collection manager. In larger institutions this may be the head of the conservation department; in smaller institutions it could be a senior archivist or librarian, a curator or registrar. The collection manager is not necessarily a conservator and so professional jargon is avoided, but it is assumed that the reader is acquainted with basic principles of preservation such as the importance of good storage, housing and handling. There are some processes that should only be carried out by a trained conservator and these are clearly indicated in the text. While this book is of primary relevance to the collection manager it is hoped that it would also be of use to those who manage digitization projects as it provides a valuable insight into preservation concerns. Much of the guidance given here would also be useful for those in the information management industry who seek to work with heritage institutions on digitization projects.

  • 5 - Innovation in practice

  • Jennifer Rowley
  • Book:
    Being an Information Innovator
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 141-186

  • Summary

    Learning objectives

    After reading this chapter you should be able to:

  • • Plan an innovation strategy, taking into account the specific stages in an innovation project, including the stages of idea generation and opportunity identification, concept testing and development and implementation.

  • • Consider approaches to capitalizing on the potential of input from customers and users as innovators.

  • • Appreciate the value of, and challenges in, open innovation and collaborative innovation and the role of networks and partnerships.

  • • Discuss and reflect on the relationship between innovation, knowledge and learning and its consequences for the contribution of information organizations to innovation beyond the information organization.

    • Introduction

    This chapter draws together some of the important practicalities of innovation processes in organizations. The first section, on the innovation project, revisits the idea of a stage model of innovation introduced in Chapter 2, and further develops discussion on how specific innovation projects can be facilitated, managed and led. This is followed by two sections that focus on the involvement of customers and users in innovation and on capitalizing on resources from outside the organization, through networks and partnerships. Finally, a discussion of the relationship between innovation and knowledge and learning proposes a wider agenda for the involvement of information organizations in innovation in the public sector and beyond.

    The innovation project

    Innovations that have the potential to make a significant impact on the organization, either in terms of business and organizational processes, or in terms of the products and services that they deliver to the marketplace, require a managed process. Such a process plays an important role in managing the allocation and deployment of resources, in sequencing and timing of activities, and in communication between all stakeholders. Chapter 2 introduced the idea of an n-step model of the innovation process, and offered three different models of the process proposed by three different authors. In practice, there is such a wide variation in types and scales of innovation, as well as in the organizational contexts in which innovation takes place, that the steps in an innovation process need to be tailored to the innovation. It is important, however, that all innovation process models embed decision points between each stage. So, for example, after idea generation, and prior to feasibility analysis, there must be a decision as to which ideas to take forward to feasibility analysis.

  • 3 - The digital image Ross Spencer

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 33-46

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Developing a technical specification for digital images is one of the numerous issues alluded to in Chapter 2 ‘Before you digitize: resources, suppliers and surrogates’. The way in which the images are to be used will determine the specification of the digital files. Usage amongst other things affects decisions about access, storage and image quality. Performance requirements of a delivery mechanism might dictate one file format over another in the short term but planning might want to take into account the alternatives as time moves on and performance becomes less of an issue with more capable and more powerful computer systems.

    Digital images available for widespread use complement academic research; they provide an unprecedented level of access to documents and objects where it might not normally be possible to get access or to view them in such great detail. In some cases, highlighted by Prescott (2008), digital images can reveal details that cannot be seen by the naked eye. Digital images mean that users are better able to study documents that edited manuscripts cannot provide and where handling the original comes at too great a cost to be allowed.

    The best possible image must be available for study, and for preservation purposes it is important that redigitization should be done rarely, if at all. From that point of view the two objectives are mutually inclusive. Indeed, when you are digitizing records where the original paper copy is extremely fragile, physical access might be limited for very good reason and redigitizing might not physically be possible – and thus the best possible image specification and image capture must be outlined and achieved the first time around. This much is paramount.

    Within this chapter we hope to cover the majority of the options available to those embarking on digitization projects including looking at the basic concepts of digital images, their use, the options available after processing and what choices digital curators are likely to have to make to give them a satisfactory result that will last long into the future. Specifics concerning the actual image capturing equipment are discussed in Chapter 6 ‘Equipment for image capture’.

  • 2 - Innovation Co-authored by Anahita Baregheh

  • Jennifer Rowley
  • Book:
    Being an Information Innovator
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 31-62

  • Summary

    Learning objectives

    After reading this chapter you should be able to:

  • • Understand the key attributes of ‘innovation’.

  • • Appreciate the need for innovations with different extents and impacts.

  • • Appreciate the range of different types of innovation, and understand the relationships between them.

  • • Discuss the role of information systems (IS) in innovation.

  • • Understand the relevance of ‘innovation orientation’ for organizations.

  • • Discuss innovation as a managed process.

  • • Understand aspects of the innovation diffusion and adoption process.

    • Introduction

    Chapter 1 offered some preliminary definitions of innovation, and discussed the importance of innovation and change in information organizations. This chapter develops the theme of innovation further by introducing a range of theoretical concepts from the ever expanding literature on innovation. This chapter, together with the chapter that follows on entrepreneurship, is designed to provide a focused overview of concepts and frameworks that can be used by information practitioners to reflect on, articulate and discuss the innovation processes in which they participate, or have responsibility for initiating, planning or promoting.

    This chapter commences with a discussion of what can be described as the attributes of innovation; this section introduces a range of innovation concepts that are discussed further later in the chapter. Next, the nature or degree of novelty of innovation is discussed. This is followed by a section that outlines and discusses the different types of innovation, and the relationship between those types of innovation. The subsequent section briefly explores the relationship between information systems and innovation. This is followed by two sections that introduce different aspects of organizing for innovation, innovation orientation and innovation management. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the important concept of innovation diffusion and adoption.

    What is innovation?

    In Chapter 1 we discussed how many different definitions of innovation have been put forward, created by different authors at different points in time, and most significantly grounded in different disciplinary perspectives, such as business and management, organization studies, and science and technology.

  • 3 - Entrepreneurship Co-authored by Siwan Mitchelmore

  • Jennifer Rowley
  • Book:
    Being an Information Innovator
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 63-100

  • Summary

    Learning objectives

    After reading this chapter you should be able to:

  • • Understand the development of the concept of entrepreneurship.

  • • Discuss what it means to be an entrepreneur and consider your role as an entrepreneur.

  • • Understand the unique characteristics of public entrepreneurship and their implications for information organizations.

  • • Reflect on the relevance of social entrepreneurship to information organizations.

  • • Appreciate the value of entrepreneurial co?mpetencies.

    • Introduction

    The concept of entrepreneurship was introduced in Chapter 1. In this context we emphasized the concept of opportunity-centred entrepreneurship, and the links between innovation and entrepreneurship. The stance taken in this book is that entrepreneurship is the process by which individuals pursue opportunities without regard to the resources they currently control. The essence of entrepreneurial behaviour is identifying opportunities, and converting them into useful outcomes. Such perspectives are important and useful in understanding the relevance of entrepreneurship to a wide range of organizational settings, and offer preliminary insights into entrepreneurial behaviour. This chapter develops the theme of entrepreneurship further by taking an excursion around some of the ideas in the entrepreneurship literature that are likely to be the most helpful to information practitioners or aspiring information entrepreneurs. The objective of the chapter is to provide some concepts and frameworks to support entrepreneurs in developing their aspirations to make a difference into sustained, productive and effective entrepreneurial behaviour.

    This chapter commences with a discussion of the development of the concept of entrepreneurship and, most specifically, its roots in commercial enterprises in which entrepreneurship is associated with the creation of new ventures, and the generation of profit. This is followed by a consideration of what it means to be an entrepreneur, and entrepreneurial characteristics, traits and behaviours. Next, there is an exploration of the contextual nature of entrepreneurship by developing discussion of public sector corporate entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, respectively. These two types of entrepreneurship offer the most useful insights into the practice of entrepreneurship for the information professional. Finally, the focus shifts to a discussion of entrepreneurial competencies, those competencies that are key to successful entrepreneurship.

  • 2 - Before you digitize: resources, suppliers and surrogates

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 17-32

  • Summary

    Introduction

    As seen in Chapter 1 ‘Digitization in the context of collection management’, digitization is much more than simply image capture. Managing digitization projects involves managing numerous technical, legal and logistical issues. The many aspects of project management are beyond the scope of this book, but are covered in detail by Hughes (2004).

    When embarking on digitization there are a number of fundamental issues that need to be considered before individual projects are initiated. Many of these issues concern the preservation of the collection and so the collection manager must ensure that they are included in the decision-making process. The issues discussed here are: the implications for an institution's resources; the pros and cons of outsourcing; and the role of microfilm.

    Impact on the institution

    A digitization programme, like any major new initiative, will have an impact on the resources of an institution. It must be recognized that digitization projects are complex and that they require contributions from a number of different experts. Even if externally funded through grants, commercial or academic partnerships, they will require a library or archive to rethink their priorities in order to dedicate enough internal resources (Bülow, 2009). Staff who might be involved with such projects include:

  • • curators and archivists

  • • copyright experts

  • • procurement staff or legal advisors

  • • conservators

  • • scanning operators or imaging experts

  • • IT support staff

  • • digital preservation experts

  • • public-facing staff who are familiar with the needs of users

  • • marketing and press staff.

    • Inevitably not all institutions will have experts in all of these fields. Where internal experts are not available, a library or archive might need to think of alternative ways of getting advice, which may come at a cost; see Hughes (2004, 104–6) for other sources of expertise. For an institution wishing to implement an extensive digitization programme it is worth investing in existing staff so that they can acquire some of the necessary skills. When staff develop a specialism in digitization the impact is that departmental priorities and work plans might have to be adjusted to allow time for their involvement in digitization projects. The advantage of developing in-house expertise is that this will help to ensure that the digitization programme can remain sustainable in the long term.

  • 5 - Surveying collections

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 63-90

  • Summary

    Introduction

    As explored in Chapter 4 ‘The process of selection’, there are numerous physical aspects of a collection that will have a direct impact on the image capture operation. An initial spot check assessment will go some way towards identifying what some of the issues may be, but a more thorough investigation is needed in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the physical nature of the collection. A collection survey is therefore an essential element of most digitization projects and should not be seen as an optional extra.

    Why do a survey?

    Many of the physical attributes of the documents will affect the choice of imaging equipment and so the sensible approach is to assess the documents before deciding on the most appropriate equipment. An obvious example is the need to ensure that the equipment is large enough to accommodate the documents. If the documents are different sizes then it may be economical to use different scanners for different sized documents – the survey could be used to identify what proportion of documents are larger or smaller, and also to establish the distribution of the different sizes. Chapter 6 ‘Equipment for image capture’ examines what types of equipment are compatible with different document formats.

    Variations within a collection are often a cause for concern for imaging operations. Historic documents can be incredibly diverse and variations mean that image capture can be slow and arduous if the camera operator has to frequently adjust settings to capture different sizes or colours of paper. Handling diverse material is also slower. When handling consistent sheets of the same size and weight, the operator becomes accustomed to the behaviour of the material and gets into a routine – with a result that the process becomes faster. Diverse material may require some decision-making because different documents may need to be processed differently; for example, some may have fastenings that need to be removed, or different documents may need to be handled differently. This will have the effect of slowing down the operation.

    If the image capture is outsourced to a commercial supplier they will need to set competitive image capture rates so that the overall operation is financially viable.

  • 7 - Preparation of document formats and fastenings

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 109-136

  • Summary

    Introduction

    As discussed in Chapter 6 ‘Equipment for image capture’ the physical attributes of a collection will influence the choice of equipment. However, even if the most suitable equipment has been selected many collections will still need to be prepared in some way before digitization. Preparation consists of dealing with any aspects of the document format and condition that will interfere with the image capture. It ensures that items are ready for imaging, can be safely handled and that good quality images are captured. Preparing documents for image capture will add to the timescale and budget of a project but with careful planning and good management it can be incorporated smoothly into the workflow of an operation and will help the project run more efficiently. If preparation is nonexistent, inadequate or poorly planned, this can result in repeated delays at the imaging stage and/or in a poor quality, incomplete digital surrogate.

    This chapter looks at preparing different document formats and fastened documents while Chapter 8 ‘Preparation of damaged documents’ focuses on conservation work to deal with damaged documents. Although formats, fastenings and damaged documents are considered separately, the two chapters should be considered together because there are similar themes running through both, in particular the issue of how to fit document preparation into the workflow. All examples used in these two chapters are based on projects carried out at The National Archives UK.

    Preparing formats and fastenings

    Formats and fastenings often cause difficulties during image capture because they can make documents awkward to handle and may restrict a document so that it will not open easily. The rate of capture can be drastically reduced if an operator is having to deal with complex housings or fastenings, or having to unfold or unroll individual items in order to take an image. With mixed collections of documents a combination of different issues may be encountered. The initial spot check assessment of a collection, as described in Chapter 4 ‘The process of selection’, should indicate if there are potential problems with the documents and also how variable the collection is. The collection survey will then quantify these issues. See Chapter 5 ‘Surveying collections’ for more on collection surveys and what to look for.

  • 1 - Innovation and entrepreneurship in information organizations

  • Jennifer Rowley
  • Book:
    Being an Information Innovator
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 1-30

  • Summary

    Learning objectives

    After reading this chapter you should be able to:

  • • Explain why innovation is important for information organizations, and understand the range of different types of, and approaches to, innovation.

  • • Understand the potential relevance of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial action to information organizations.

  • • Reflect on the notion of creativity and consider its place in information organizations.

  • • Discuss the difference between a perspective based on change management and one based on entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity.

  • • Reflect on the challenges and opportunities for promoting innovation in information organizations.

    • Introduction

    Information organizations of all kinds (such as libraries, publishers, subscription agents, and information and advice services) have changed significantly in recent years. Achieving these changes has involved high levels of innovation. Some of these innovations are driven directly by the opportunities provided by new technology innovations from other organizations, coupled with changes in consumer expectations and behaviours (e.g. access to full text of journals through Google as a search engine). Others are facilitated by information technology, but driven by policy and marketplace change (e.g. self-issue of books, institutional repositories). Other innovations are not particularly affected by technology platforms, but represent, for example, innovations in community involvement, such as new services for disadvantaged groups and the organization of bibliotherapy reading groups.

    Despite there being a hive of activity, and regular reporting on achievements in the popular and professional press (the outcomes of innovation processes), there has been little discussion of innovation and its processes in the information management professional or academic literature. This means that there is limited opportunity to learn from one another's successes and mistakes, and that there is little evidence that information innovators are reflecting sufficiently on their innovation processes, and striving to enhance their own capacity and that of their organizations to innovate. Some commentators suggest that this means that (academic) libraries, for example, are too often making changes for change's sake, without proper evaluation of the impact and value of the change, and specifically without sufficient consideration as to how an innovation (even a small innovation) will help the library to fulfil its mission of supporting learning and research across the university community.

  • 4 - The process of selection

  • Anna E. Bülow, Jess Ahmon
  • Book:
    Preparing Collections for Digitization
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    16 December 2010, pp 47-62

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Having addressed some of the fundamental issues at an institutional and technical level the next question to ask is ‘what should we digitize?’.Astute decisions at the selection stage will build a robust programme of digitization projects that enhance the value of an institute's holdings, broaden audience engagement and make a genuine contribution to the welfare and knowledge of a collection. Implementing a good selection policy also helps to ensure that projects are logistically feasible and adequately resourced, while selection that lacks focus or is ill-informed can result in a rambling succession of projects where the overall costs ultimately outweigh the benefits.

    A strategy for digitization

    For most institutions it is not feasible to digitize their entire collection. Since 2004, commercial partners have invested an estimated £53 million in The National Archives UK's digitization programme, delivering more than 80 million images online, but this only represents 3–5% of the entire collection (Morley, 2009). Even for a collection of thousands rather than millions of items the costs and logistics of digitization can be prohibitive. A process of selection is therefore needed to identify suitable collections.

    Once collections are selected for digitization these need to be prioritized so as to develop a digitization programme. Aims and priorities vary between institutions and the objectives of a digitization programme should be in keeping with institutional goals, be that to preserve national treasures, utilize local history sources for education or develop partnerships with academic bodies. It may be appropriate for a digitization programme to be accompanied by a digitization strategy to explicitly state the aims and objectives of digitization.

    Examples of digitization strategies

    Digitization for access: The National Archives UK

    Project Motorway, the digitization strategy of the National Archives UK, aims to make 90% of the archive's most popular documents available online. this is in response to increased user expectations to find, use and learn from online resources. the National Archives UK achieves its aims with the help of grant funding sources for content that is mainly of specialist interest and through teaming up with commercial partners for content that is more popular, such as documents of interest to the family history market. in addition, the archive funds some smaller projects internally (Ahmon, 2009).

  • 3 - Strangely unfamiliar: ideas of the archive from outside the discipline

  • from Part 1 - Defining archives
  • Edited by Jennie Hill
  • Book:
    The Future of Archives and Recordkeeping
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2010, pp 41-66

  • Summary

    Introduction

    The archive has become contested territory. In an age identified as postepistemological (Cheetham et al., 1998, 2), there has been encroachment in the field of archives from a number of disciplines whose scholars were previously accustomed to viewing the archive as a common resource, but who seem now to have settled within its boundaries and claimed ownership. Perhaps mindful of Derrida's (1996, 90) warning ‘Nothing is less reliable, nothing is less clear today than the word “archive”’, few have attempted definitions but many have claimed the right to identify what is archival, to categorize archival characteristics and alternately to castigate or celebrate the archive's power. In the process, the idea of the archive with which the professional archivist is familiar has become overlaid and blended, even diluted or adulterated, with concepts drawn from the newly engaged disciplines: the text, the oeuvre, the corpus, the canon and the repertoire. In associated literature the archive has also become almost indistinguishable from other types of resource: the library, the museum and the archaeological site. Indeed, as a cultural keyword (Williams, 1976), it has come to stand for all these concepts (Chabin, 1996, 2002 and 2005). The archive thus identified, however, may seem strangely unfamiliar, even threatening, to those who have by tradition acquired, preserved and made archives accessible.

    The aim of this chapter is to explore the understanding of the archive in other disciplines, especially those of history, art and literary studies, from the perspective of the archivist. It will therefore be discussing issues in which this author is neither a participant, nor from which time has provided sufficient distance for critical overview and assessment. It cannot claim to represent the practitioners whose productions are discussed, nor do they all contribute to a single, cohesive project. Every example cited has its counter-example: an alternative and contradictory appraisal could readily be composed. All this chapter aims to do, therefore, is share an understanding of the current situation and identify possible points of contact and potentials for productive dialogue. Although as archivists we may feel estranged by some definitions of ‘the archive’ found in other disciplines, nevertheless it is hoped that readers may also see parallels.

  • 6 - Archons, aliens and angels: power and politics in the archive

  • from Part 3 - Archive 20: archives in society
    • By Verne Harris, is a Programme Manager for the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
  • Edited by Jennie Hill
  • Book:
    The Future of Archives and Recordkeeping
    Published by:
    Facet
    Published online:
    08 June 2018
    Print publication:
    23 November 2010, pp 107-126

  • Summary

    Introduction

    Etymologically the English word ‘archive’ derives from the classical Greek word arkheion, which meant the place, or residence, of the superior magistrates, the archons, those who held and signified political power. The root of this word was arkhé, a word rich in meanings – beginning, origin, command, power. In classical Greece the concept of ‘archive’ was indissociable from the location and the exercise of power. Although the citizenry – a social category excluding women, slaves, foreigners and other ‘aliens’ – could gain access to certain records in the archive, the state generated the archive, kept custody of it, and controlled the use of it. This approach built on a tradition developed over two millennia in societies of the near East (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia), where archives were created by rulers and kept by them to support the exercise of rule. The West had to wait until the French Revolution and its aftermath for the emergence of the interlinked notions that archives had uses beyond those associated with the exercise of rule and that they were for ‘the people’ rather than for a small elite. (Arguably, by then the latter notions had long histories in uncolonized societies outside of the West – societies not restricting their concepts of archive to places of custody and to accumulations of written records [Harris and Hatang, 2000]. Nonetheless, these histories demonstrated in different ways the unavoidable and indelible imprint of power on any archive.) The 19th century saw the establishment in Europe of public archives services and the growth of public rights of access to them. A deepening of Western democracy in the 20th century brought with it public services shaped increasingly by accountability, participation and ‘freedom of information’. Archives influenced by this deepening have spread – through colonialism and neocolonialism – to many parts of the world. In the analysis of Jacques Derrida, such archives can be seen – should be seen – as an expression of democratization:

    Effective democratisation can always be measured by this essential criterion: the participation in and the access to the archive, its constitution, and its interpretation.

    (Derrida, 1996, 4)

    As this chapter will seek to demonstrate, application of this ‘essential criterion’ to archives of different countries, different traditions and different conceptual underpinnings – in both Western and non-Western contexts – finds them wanting in greater or lesser measure.

Page 230 of 293