Service is at the heart of archival practice, underpinning the archivist’s commitment to facilitating access to primary sources.
Get the right records management consulting services from a qualified consultant. Learn to find and hire the best consultant to help you with your records management needs.
Beyond safeguarding historical records, archivists promote using and understanding invaluable resources.
In my book, Creating Family Archives: A Step-by-Step Guide for Saving Your Memories for Future Generations, I discuss the techniques that archivists use to protect historical materials from the ravages of time. I find that it's also helpful to discuss what can cause damage to your archival items too. Many hazards are obvious, but others may surprise non-professionals.
The definitions and relationships in this thesaurus have been cultivated from my experience as an archivist, as well as reading the articles and publications of professional associations. The Archival Fundamentals Series, published by the Society of American Archivists, has been helpful in introducing core principles in an intelligent, enlightening way.
Staffing needs for digital projects depend on the project’s size and complexity. Training existing staff members to work on digitization projects is a critical component of change management within the institution because digital projects require new skills. The digital age is moving memory institutions into new paradigms of delivering both services and content, and this alteration brings with it a need for training in managing information in a hybrid environment.
A zine (short for magazine or fanzine) is a small-circulation, self-published work. Zines come in a variety of styles: photocopied, printed on cheap paper, or professionally printed. They could and were about any topic imaginable. My favorites were the punk and true crime-related ones. Extreme Noise in Minneapolis had a free zine bin that I happily dig through every time I visited and I'd leave with the most interesting ones. Zines were particularly popular in the mid- to late-1990s, and were later replaced by blogs and social media.
“I wish I'd asked Dad while he was around.”
Far too often, my clients tell me that they regret not interviewing their father about his life story as they create their family archives.
For this Father’s Day, why not conduct an oral history interview of your father? You’ll not only create a memory, but you will capture stories for the next generation
