Enduring Paradigm, New Opportunities: The Value of the Archival Perspective in the Digital Environment

Abstract

this report, digital technology is erasing many of the distinctions between custodians of information and custodians of artifacts---museum curators, librarians, archivists, and information technology specialists. This report provides an overview of the roles that archives and archivists have traditionally played in collecting and managing historical evidence. The author describes how archivists are relying on old theoretical approaches while developing new skills to grapple with the avalanche of electronic records. In clarifying the roles that process and context play in determining the value and integrity of electronic records, she offers to librarians and other information specialists fresh insights into how digital information behaves, carries meaning, and gains (or loses) value for users over time. The differences between archives and libraries will continue to be significant. While archivists deal with only one type of document---a record---libraries deal with many. And while archivists are responsible for information within a controlled environment, librarians routinely handle information that crosses many technological and administrative barriers in the course of its life cycle. Nonetheless, digital technology is creating an information landscape characterized far more by fluid boundaries than fixed landmarks. The old paradigms of information collection and custody demand re-examination, and the archival perspective offers many promising directions for librarians in the digital future.

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