Access Systems for Archival Materials

Examines the interactions of people, content, and technological tools and their relation to access to archival programs and archival materials. The course outlines and critiques assumptions about uses and use, the management of descriptive programs and the practices surrounding the provision of access to and representation of archival materials, the history and theory behind these practices, the tools and technologies that enable access, and a vision for how these basic elements can work together in access systems to better provide information to users.

The course also looks at access tools and representations as part of an entire descriptive program that has economic, political, and cultural ramifications. Students examine and analyze issues of effectiveness, economics, technological implementation, and audiences for different types of surrogates for primary sources including: national and subject guides, calendars, finding aids (in paper form and online), bibliographic records (MARC), hypertext mark-up language (HTML), encoded archival description (SGML/XML/EAD), other automated systems, as well as images of the records themselves. Issues of content and context, appropriate levels of control, selection, and interpretation are studied. Doctoral students also read, critique, and participate in research in this area.

The course deals with the questions of who, what, and how:

• Who are the users of archives?
• What do archivists need to know about users? Needs?
• What are the tools and methods used to provide access to archives different from tools for bibliographic systems and databases?
• What constitutes use? What are the options for access to archival materials?
• What is it about the nature of archival materials (or primary sources, or records, or archives) that is different from other types of information (library books or information databases)?
• What are the unique problems in providing access to them? (Keep in mind that the term "archival materials" is defined broadly and includes archives, manuscripts, photographs, film and video, sound archives, oral histories, electronic documents, and other unpublished materials.)
• How do archivists assess user needs and evaluate services?
• How do archivists use finding aids, cataloging, indexing, and imaging to improve access?
• How do users employ these same tools?
• How are decisions made concerning the level of access, the types of access, and the development of an access system?

The course combines theory with practical applications and there is considerable emphasis on emerging practices and tools. The course also covers research in areas of user and users, access systems, and descriptive practices.