Managing Archives CHANDOS INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL SERIES Series Editor: Ruth Rikowski (email: [email protected]) Chandos’new series of books are aimed at the busy information professional.They have been specially commissioned to provide the reader with an authoritative view of current thinking. They are designed to provide easy-to-read and (most importantly) practical coverage of topics that are of interest to librarians and other information professionals.If you would like a full listing of current and forthcoming titles, please visit our web site www.chandospublishing.com or contact Hannah Grace-Williams on email [email protected] or telephone number +44(0) 1865 884447. New authors:we are always pleased to receive ideas for new titles;if you would like to write a book for Chandos,please contact Dr Glyn Jones on email [email protected] or telephone number +44 (0) 1865 884447. Bulk orders: some organisations buy a number of copies of our books. If you are interested in doing this, we would be pleased to discuss a discount. Please contact Hannah Grace-Williams on email [email protected] or telephone number +44 (0) 1865 884447. Managing Archives Foundations, Principles and Practice C W AROLINE ILLIAMS Chandos Publishing Oxford · England Chandos Publishing (Oxford) Limited Chandos House 5 & 6 Steadys Lane Stanton Harcourt Oxford OX29 5RL UK Tel:+44 (0) 1865 884447 Fax:+44 (0) 1865 884448 Email:[email protected] www.chandospublishing.com First published in Great Britain in 2006 ISBN: 1 84334 112 3 (paperback) 1 84334 113 1 (hardback) © C.Williams,2006 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 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Printed in the UK by 4edge Limited - www.4edge.co.uk To Jonathan and James List of figures 2.1 A record 8 2.2 The life-cycle 11 3.1 Accession entry using DS Calm proprietary software 67 4.1 Examples of arrangement: organisation by provenance 82 4.2 Examples of arrangement: organisation by function 83 4.3 ISAD(G) Contents page: seven information areas and 26 elements of description 92–3 4.4 Application of mandatory and some non-mandatory elements of ISAD(G) at group, subgroup, series and item level of part of the archives of Crewe Mechanics Institute 95–7 4.5 Application of mandatory and some non-mandatory elements of ISAD(G) at group/collection level 97–8 4.6 Application of mandatory and some non-mandatory elements of ISAD(G) at series level 98–9 4.7 Catalogue entry displayed in DS Calm 105 4.8 Catalogue entry displayed in DServe public access catalogue 106 4.9 Part of fonds-level description displayed in EAD 106 4.10 Cataloguing data sets 108 4.11 UKAT Thesaurus 115 5.1 LEADERS project: digitised image with transcript 135 5.2 The National Archives Home Page, 11 August 2005 139 5.3 The National Archives catalogue entry for ‘other ranks’ of the Royal Flying Corps 140 5.4 Search for William Wordsworth on A2A 140 xi Managing Archives: Foundations,Principles and Practice 5.5 Intercollegiate athletics subject guide at the University Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa 152 5.6 UK Government Web Archive: 10 Downing Street website the day before the General Election of 7 June 2001 154 5.7 Sainsbury’s Virtual Museum 156 5.8 HSBC’s History Wall 157 6.1 UK Government Web Archive 196 7.1 Sample of performance indicators from the UK National Council on Archives: Public Sector Quality Group Performance Indicators: Towards generic and universal PIs for archives, August 2003 228 xii List of tables 2.1 Life cycle processes 12 2.2 The information spectrum: from knowledge to archives 15 2.3 The ‘knowledge’ disciplines 16 2.4 Remit and role of publicly and privately funded archives 28 2.5 Acquisition models 29 3.1 Examples of series of records within functional categories 56 3.2 Methods of sampling 62 3.3 Particulars for inclusion in deposit/loan agreements 65 4.1 ISAD(G) levels of arrangement 80–1 4.2 Correspondence: file-level description 101 4.3 Deeds: item-level description 102 4.4 Deeds and papers: file-level description 102 4.5 Mapping ISAD(G) elements with EAD tags 105 5.1 PSQG audit of access objectives 160 6.1 Some preservation standards 174 6.2 Benchmarks for preservation practice 176 6.3 Attributes of digital media 192 6.4 Types of metadata 194 7.1 Achieving short-, medium- and long-term objectives 206 7.2 Why projects fail 208 7.3 Archives service budget 220 7.4 Accommodation options 222 7.5 SWOT analysis 225 xiii Acknowledgements There are many people to thank for their contribution to this publication, not least current and former students and colleagues both at home and abroad who have in different ways influenced my thoughts and informed my understanding. In particular, I am indebted to Margaret Procter and Michael Cook of LUCAS for reading and commenting extensively on the text and for their ongoing advice and support. Thanks are due also to Carl Newton and Jonathan Pepler for their useful and constructive comments and to Christopher Williams for creating the index. For permission to reproduce screen shots I gratefully acknowledge: The National Archives (Figures 4.10, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.6, 6.1); DS Ltd (Figures 3.1, 4.7, 4.8); The University Archives, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa (Figure 5.5); the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, University College London, and the George Orwell Estate (Figure 5.1); University of London Computer Centre (Figure 4.11); The Sainsbury Archive, now The Sainsbury Archive at the Museum in Docklands (Figure 5.7); HSBC Group Archives (Figure 5.8). Many of the examples used throughout the text are drawn from sources held at the Cheshire and Chester Archives and Local Studies. I am indebted to the County Archivist Jonathan Pepler for his permission to use them. xv About the author Caroline Williams worked in archives and records management in local government before joining the University of Liverpool in 1996. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Liverpool University Centre for Archives Studies (LUCAS) in the same year: LUCAS is the university’s centre for research, education, and training in archives and records management and its Executive Committee comprises academics, practitioners and users of archives. She became director of the Master’s programme in Archives and Records Management in 1997. She has been Chair of FARMER, the Forum for Archives and Records Management Education and Research in the UK since 2003 and a member of the International Council on Archives Section on Education and Training since 2001. Current areas of research interest and publication include the history and diplomatic analysis of the record, and the interface between theory and practice. The author may be contacted by: E-mail: [email protected] xvii