LibGuides: LIS 440: Archives Access and Use: Home

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About Archives and Archival Description

Want to learn more about archives and archival description? Below is a selection of resources that can help you to develop a better understanding of both. For more in-depth help, use the links in the table of contents or tabs at the top of the page to explore the resources in this guide.

Archival Arrangement and Description (ELIS)
This entry from the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences notes that "Arrangement and description are processes traditionally associated with the transformation of an individual or corporate archive into a broader archival framework in order for it to function, alongside other such archives, as accessible collective memory."
Archival Description at the Library of Congress
Archival repositories such as the Library of Congress routinely create detailed inventories, registers, indexes, and guides to describe their collections of primary source materials. These finding aids provide a comprehensive overview of a collection's scope and contents. They define the conditions under which a collection may be accessed or copied, explain its provenance, and contain histories of individuals and organizations connected with the collection.
Archives in Web 2.0: New Opportunities
Archives are using Web 2.0 applications in a context that allows for new types of interaction, new opportunities regarding institutional promotion, new ways of providing their services and making their heritage known to the community.
Standards for Archival Description: A Handbook
Standards for Archival Description: A Handbook describes technical standards, conventions, and guidelines used by archivists in describing holdings and repositories. They are applied in a variety of systems and products, including automated information systems, manual and automated catalogs, in-house finding aids, book and serial publications, and filing and storage systems.