Topics in the Management of Records--Business Archives

Goal

This course aims to introduce students to archive services within a business environment.

Objectives

Upon completion of this course students will be able to:

·         Understand the origins and development of business archives in North America.

·         Understand the core business functions which a private organisation’s archive supports.

·         Appreciate the unique challenges and ethical problems faced by the business archivist.

·         Present well supported arguments in defence of establishing and maintaining an archives service within a corporate environment.

·         Identify the records most commonly encountered in a business archives environment.

Content

The topics this course will consider:

·         The origins and development of business archives in North America.

·         The role of an archives service within a business environment, including corporate and brand memory, marketing and social responsibility.

·         A survey of North American business archives.

·         Legal and Ethical issues.

·         Users, user expectations and Outreach.

·         Globalising trends and issues particular to the archives of large multi-national corporations.

·         Mergers, downsizing and maintaining relevance during organisational change.

·         Typical records encountered in a business archive.

·         Professional advocacy and resources.