In recent years big data initiatives, not to mention Hollywood, the video game industry and countless other popular media, have reinforced and even glamorized the public image of the archive as the ultimate repository of facts and the hope of future generations for uncovering 'what actually happened'. The reality is, however, that for all sorts of reasons the record may not have been preserved or survived in the archive. In fact, the record may never have even existed - its creation being as imagined as is its contents. And even if it does exist, it may be silent on the salient facts, or it may obfuscate, mislead or flat out lie. The Silence of the Archive is written by three expert and knowledgeable archivists and draws attention to the many limitations of archives and the inevitability of their having parameters. Silences or gaps in archives range from details of individuals' lives to records of state oppression or of intelligence operations. The book brings together ideas from a wide range of fields, including contemporary history, family history research and Shakespearian studies. It describes why these silences exist, what the impact of them is, how researchers have responded to them, and what the silence of the archive means for researchers in the digital age. It will help provide a framework and context to their activities and enable them to better evaluate archives in a post-truth society. This book includes discussion of: enforced silences expectations and when silence means silence digital preservation, authenticity and the future dealing with the silence possible solutions; challenging silence and acceptance the meaning of the silences: are things getting better or worse? user satisfaction and audience development. This book will make compelling reading for professional archivists, records managers and records creators, postgraduate and undergraduate students of history, archives, librarianship and information studies, as well as academics and other users of archives.

AV collections in libraries are disintegrating, and their playback equipment is soon to be obsolete. Digitizing can be the solution to decay and for continued access. Why give up on at-risk treasures of your AV collection when you can easily digitize them in house? This guide walks you through the process of planning and implementing digitization projects for the common formats libraries have collected over the last 30 or 40 years. It guides first-time users in setting up a facility to convert analog tapes and records into a digital form, explaining how to clean up those sources to produce a high-quality output for end-users. The same theories and skills are applied to the visual domain so you can convert VHS, Beta, U-Matic, and laserdiscs into archival visual formats. A unique feature of the book is that it will help you understand the process without having to become a techno-geek. Basic information on computer hardware and software is discussed, including the equipment needed to digitize various formats. Techniques for capturing, editing, storing, and making digitized files available to patrons are also covered. Because budgets are always a concern, the work looks at ways you can leverage current resources and facilities with minimal outlay of capital to start a project, and it offers practical guidance on how to maintain the information long term. Offers easy-to-understand guidance on how to use digitizing to enable your library to recoup its investment in outdated but often-expensive AV collections Discusses use of off-the-shelf and shareware technology Covers creation of metadata for discovery layer access Shows how digitized materials can be made available over the Internet, making them much more accessible than the physical versions Presents information to create a path for future projects and for storage of output information Shares knowledge that is transferable to media other than those discussed in the book

Follow the blueprint in this book to launch a library DIY community history digitization program-one that provides the access and fosters engagement with patrons to sustain the program over time. Internet technologies have enabled anyone to tell their story-and to find out their own unknown story. Libraries are seeing increased interest in community and family history and in genealogy, as well as heightened demand for access to personal and community history materials in digital format. The opportunity exists for libraries to benefit their communities by providing these in-demand, digitized historical materials optimized for researchers at the individual level. Digitizing Your Community's History: The Innovative Librarian's Guide provides you with step-by-step directions for launching a DIY digitization program for personal and community historical materials. It covers the process of setting up a digitization program, training customers to use the equipment, best practices for storing digitized material, and tips for engaging the community in local history, such as ideas for exhibiting materials and programs for genealogy and family history. Just as importantly, the author addresses how to explain the benefits of programs like these to library stakeholders and supplies recommendations on sustaining library community history programs through access and engagement. The book also provides supplemental materials that include templates and programming ideas, lists of recommended software and apps, and recommended specifications for equipment and for file storage. Takes readers through establishing local history digitization projects at the community level from start to finish, providing guidance on how to set up, maintain, and sustain ongoing digitization projects Describes how to train library users for digitization-instructions that are also applicable for including volunteers in digitization projects Explains how creating a DIY history digitization project can provide a community benefit and serve as a form of outreach that also enriches a library's local history collection

Here is everything you need to promote your library as a center for genealogical study by leveraging your collection to help patrons conduct research on ancestors, document family stories, and archive family heirlooms. Websites, social media, and the Internet have made research on family history accessible. Your library can tap into the popularity of the do-it-yourself genealogy movement by promoting your role as both a preserver of local community history as well as a source for helping your patrons archive what's important to their family. This professional guide will teach you how to integrate family history programming into your educational outreach tools and services to the community. The book is divided into three sections: the first introduces methods for creating a program to help your clients trace their roots; the second provides library science instruction in reference and planning for local collections; and the third part focuses on the use of specific types of resources in local collections. Additional information features methods for preserving photographs, letters, diaries, documents, memorabilia, and ephemera. The text also includes bibliographies, appendices, checklists, and links to online aids to further assist with valuating and organizing important family mementos.

Academic and public libraries are continuing to transform as the information landscape changes, expanding their missions into new service roles that call for improved organizational performance and accountability. Since Assessing Service Quality premiered in 1998, receiving the prestigious Highsmith Library Literature Award, scores of library managers and administrators have trusted its guidance for applying a customer-centered approach to service quality and performance evaluation. This extensively revised and updated edition explores even further the ways technology influences both the experiences of library customers and the ways libraries themselves can assess those experiences. With a clear focus on real-world application, the authors: Challenge conventional thinking about the utility of input, output, and performance metrics by suggesting new ways to think about the evaluation and assessment of library services; Explain service quality and customer satisfaction, and demonstrate how they are separate but intertwined; Identify procedures for qualitatively and quantitatively measuring both service quality and satisfaction; Encourage libraries to take action by presenting concrete steps they can take to become more customer-centric; Offer a range of customer-related metrics that provide insights useful for library planning and decision making, such as surveys and focus groups. This book shows how to nurture an environment of continuous improvement through effective service quality assessment.

More than just an easy-to-use blogging platform, WordPress is in fact a flexible, open source content management system. Without spending a dime or writing a line of code, it's possible to build the library website of your dreams. But it's important to understand the basic principles of WordPress so you can plan wisely. In this LITA guide, User Experience (UX) librarian and seasoned WordPress instructor Goodman leads you step-by-step through the basic planning process for a library website that meets your users' needs and fits your available resources for maintaining it. Written with the questions of newbies in mind, this guide shows you How to make an informed decision about whether WordPress is the right platform for your library Options for hosted and self-hosted platforms 21 WordPress sites drawn from a wide range of different libraries and organizations, and the stories behind them How to choose the right theme for your library's content Succinct explanations of every element in the Administrative Dashboard with advice on library use Quick tips on user experience, information architecture, and analytics Effective ways to use images, audio, and video Offering a solid foundation in WordPress, this guide will help you design and launch a library website that effectively serves your library's users.

Library Technology Reports February/March 2013 vol.49 / no.2 Two decades after the advent of electronic journals and databases, librarians are still grappling with ways to best manage these resources in conjunction with their print resources. In addition, economic pressures at many institutions of higher education are resulting in librarians having to justify their spending on collections and resource management. Furthermore, e-books are becoming yet another stream of purchasing and management, with the added complexity of patron-driven acquisitions. All of these issues result in the need to codify the management of electronic resources more than ever. Techniques in Electronic Resource Management (TERMS) is a project to encourage open peer commentary and crowdsourcing of areas of best practice for each of the six stages of the e-resources life cycle: 1. investigation of new content for purchase or addition 2. acquisition of new content 3. implementation 4. ongoing evaluation and access 5. annual review 6. cancellation and replacement review This issue of Library Technology Reports aims to become a reference point for those who are new to e-resource management and for those who may want to implement its recommendations of best practice.

E-book vendors continue to experiment: adjustments to business models, consolidation of content, and mergers with competitors mean constant change. What’s good for innovation can equal confusion when it comes to choosing an e-book platform for your library. Making a sound purchasing decision requires research and close consideration of trade-offs, and Roncevic’s new issue of Library Technology Reports will get you started. Based on surveys of e-book vendors with an established presence in academic, public, and/or K–12 library markets, this report includes Background and business model descriptions for 51 leading e-book vendors Four tables comparing content, technical specifications, functionality, and business models An at-a-glance overview of platforms, including vendor website URLs Bulleted checklists of factors to consider, and questions to ask vendors An examination of the blurring channels of publisher, aggregator, and distributor platforms, with advice to help you avoid content overlap

From his earliest reading memories in wartime Britain through five decades of librarianship, eminent librarian and former ALA President Michael Gorman offers insights from his extraordinary career in this new memoir. Gorman relates his personal and professional journey in prose that is by turns charming, opinionated, and revealing. He mad perhaps his most significant contribution to librarianship as editor of the 1978 Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules, a major development that receives detailed attention here. The debates and arguments that would shape professional practice for years to come are dramatically presented, with a vivid cast of characters including leading librarians from two continents. Broken Pieces, Gorman's account of being on the front lines of many of the most important decisions made in librarianship during his career, is a timely and entertaining read.

International authority Ross Harvey's new How-To-Do It-Manual is the first one-stop resource in digital curation, and guides readers to understand and make the best use of the wide-ranging combinations of strategies, technological approaches, and activities that apply to this rapidly-emerging field. Any information professional who appraises, selects, organizes, or maintains digital resources acts as a digital curator. Whether you are a librarian, archivist, or records manager, you will find useful concepts here for professional setting. Harvey offers an in-depth, start-to-finish explanation of the digital curation process, and clarifies each step in the Digital Curation Centre's (DCC) lifecycle model, including: Create or Receive; Appraise & Select; Ingest; Preservation Action; Store; Access, Use, and Reuse; and Transform. You will learn best practices for improving data access, quality, and protection, and find time-saving tools such as an extensive directory of online resources, tutorials and further references in the area. Book buyers receive exclusive access to a password-protected companion website that offers electronic, customizable versions of planning forms, checklists, and more. This book's essential techniques and expert advice are crucial to ensuring that today's digital resources will be available to and useable by future generations.

The task of moving collections of books and other materials can be overwhelming as library facilities evolve to reflect changing demographics and use patterns. Author and experienced mover Steven Carl Fortriede has everything you need to get the job done quickly and efficiently with step-by-step directions, diagrams, spreadsheets, and photos. Readers will learn how to plan a library move, which method is best for a particular situation, how to recruit and train workers, and what tools and supplies are needed. Everything you need for the move is included - even specifications for boxes, moving carts, sorting trays, and a worksheet to calculate shelving layouts and growth rates. ""Moving Your Library"" is the complete kit for any librarian facing the daunting prospect of moving a library collection.

Disaster response expert Miriam Kahn comes to the rescue with a timely update of the best step-by-step, how-to guide for preparing and responding to all types of library disasters using quick and efficient protocols. The completely revised second edition is the most thorough guide to preventing or responding to problems big and small. With up-to-date information on prevention equipment and materials, this new edition provides the latest information on preparing for technology recovery. One new case study on post-9/11 recovery and one mold scenario give real-life examples of what can happen and what to do. Kahn has packed this book with gear including 44 reproducible checklists and forms and a comprehensive list of resources.

Library Journal and other review journals raved about the first edition of this now-standard guide. This new edition has been completely updated and expanded to include crucial new information on digital records, encoded archival description (EAD), copyright issues, post-9/11 security concerns, and international perspectives on these issues - content that makes this manual essential for archivists of all backgrounds. Setting up archives, appraisal and accessioning, acquisition strategies and policies, arrangement description, reference and access, preservation, and electronic records are just some of the topics covered in both theory and practice in this clear, comprehensive, and practical guide. 'Hunter has provided the profession with a text that is best suited for beginning archivists and graduate students in archival studies or library science programs...I recommend the text to academic librarians who are responsible for developing an archives for their institution, yet are not acquainted with the field of archives and manuscripts' - "Journal of Academic Librarianship".

Protect your digital resources! This book addresses critical issues of preservation, giving you everything you need to effectively protect your resources-from dealing with obsolescence, to responsibilities, methods of preservation, cost, and metadata formats. It also gives examples of numerous national and international institutions that provide frameworks for digital libraries and archives. A long-overdue text for anyone involved in the preservation of digital information, this book is critical in understanding today's methods and practices, intellectual discourse, and preservation guidelines. A must for librarians, archiving professionals, faculty and students of library science, administrators, and corporate leaders!

As libraries strive to maintain collections with limited space, many have turned to high-efficiency, off-site shelving facilities. This work addresses virtually all major issues in planning, building, and operating high-density storage. Using the Harvard Depository model, but applying the issues and activities to other models as well, a host of contributors cover such issues as governance and cost, design and construction, preservation, selection, pre-shelving preparation, systems, access and management, services, and transportation. An essential guide to anyone considering or involved in high efficiency shelving, this book is also a valuable reference.

This is an in-depth case study of a joint operating arrangement (between the "Seattle Times" and the "Seattle Post-Intelligencer") and its impact on the five surrounding daily newspapers in its market. The study examines this impact in the context of ten factors in the market, including suburbanization and direct mail. The author focuses on three major topics - circulation, advertising and staffing - to see how they have changed. The study looks at changes to see if they have an impact on the market and on the traditional role of newspapers, which is to provide information and ideas necessary for civic intelligence.

Data are becoming the proverbial coin of the digital realm: a research commodity that might purchase reputation credit in a disciplinary culture of data sharing, or buy transparency when faced with funding agency mandates or publisher scrutiny. Unlike most monetary systems, however, digital data can flow in all too great an abundance. Not only does this currency actually "grow" on trees, but it comes from animals, books, thoughts, and each of us! And that is what makes data curation so essential. The abundance of digital research data challenges library and information science professionals to harness this flow of information streaming from research discovery and scholarly pursuit and preserve the unique evidence for future use. Volume One of Curating Research Data explores the variety of reasons, motivations, and drivers for why data curation services are needed in the context of academic and disciplinary data repository efforts. Twelve chapters, divided into three parts, take an in-depth look at the complex practice of data curation as it emerges around us. Part I sets the stage for data curation by describing current policies, data sharing cultures, and collaborative efforts currently underway that impact potential services. Part II brings several key issues, such as cost recovery and marketing strategy, into focus for practitioners when considering how to put data curation services in action. Finally, Part III describes the full lifecycle of data by examining the ethical and practical reuse issues that data curation practitioners must consider as we strive to prepare data for the future. Digital data is ubiquitous and rapidly reshaping how scholarship progresses now and into the future. The information expertise of librarians can help ensure the resiliency of digital data, and the information it represents, by addressing how the meaning, integrity, and provenance of digital data generated by researchers today will be captured and conveyed to future researchers.

The rise of digitisation and social media over the past decade has fostered the rise of participatory and DIY digital culture. Likewise, the archival community leveraged these new technologies, aiming to engage users and expand access to collections. This book examines the creation and development of participatory archives, its impact on archival theory, and present case studies of its real world application. Participatory Archives: Theory and practice is divided into four sections with each focused on a particular aspect of participatory archives: social tagging and commenting; transcription; crowdfunding; and outreach & activist communities. Each section includes chapters summarizing the existing literature, a discussion of theoretical challenges and benefits, and a series of case studies. The case studies are written by a range of international practitioners and provide a wide range of examples in practice, whilst the remaining chapters are supplied by leading scholars from Australia, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This book will be useful for students on archival studies programs, scholarly researchers in archival studies who could use the book to frame their own research projects, and practitioners who might be most interested in the case studies to see how participatory archives function in practice. The book may also be of interest to other library and information science students, and similar audiences within the broader cultural heritage institution fields of museums, libraries, and galleries.

How digital networks and services bring the issues of archives out of the realm of institutions and into the lives of everyday users Archives have become a nexus in the wake of the digital turn. Electronic files, search engines, video sites, and media player libraries make the concepts of "archival" and "retrieval" practically synonymous with the experience of interconnected computing. Archives today are the center of much attention but few agendas. Can archives inform the redistribution of power and resources when the concept of the public library as an institution makes knowledge and culture accessible to all members of society regardless of social or economic status? This book sets out to show that archives need our active support and continuing engagement. This volume offers three distinct perspectives on the present status of archives that are at once in disagreement and solidarity with each other, from contributors whose backgrounds cut across the theory-practice divide. Is the increasing digital storage of knowledge pushing us toward a turning point in its democratization? Can archives fulfill their paradoxical potential as utopian sites in which the analog and the digital, the past and future, and remembrance and forgetting commingle? Is there a downside to the present-day impulse toward total preservation?

The Pacific and Regional Archive for Digital Sources in Endangered Cultures (PARADISEC) has been on the cutting edge of digital archiving, building a significant historical collection and community of practice engaged in the preservation and accessibility of research materials. Over the ten years of PARADISEC's operation, the repository has grown to represent over 860 languages from across the world, including cultural materials from the Pacific region and South-East Asia, North America, Africa and Europe. With over 5000 hours of audio, the extent of the archival material, as well as the inclusion of a variety of styles such as songs, narratives and elicitation, has resulted in an invaluable resource for researchers and communities alike.PARADISEC's innovation in archival practice allows communities to access original recordings of their own cultural heritage, and provides fieldworkers with a wealth of primary material. Research, Records and Responsibility explores developments in collaborative archiving practice between archives and the communities they serve and represent, incorporating case studies of historical recordings, visual data and material culture. It brings together the work of Australian and international scholars, commemorating ten years of PARADISEC, and reflects on the development and future directions of research and language archiving.

The enormous task of preserving the world's heritage in the face of war, natural disaster, vandalism, neglect, and technical obsolescence. The monuments-movable, immovable, tangible, and intangible-of the world's shared cultural heritage are at risk. War, terrorism, natural disaster, vandalism, and neglect make the work of preservation a greater challenge than it has been since World War II. In The Monumental Challenge of Preservation Michele Cloonan makes the case that, at this critical juncture, we must consider preservation in the broadest possible contexts. Preservation requires the efforts of an increasing number of stakeholders. In order to explore the cultural, political, technological, economic, and ethical dimensions of preservation, Cloonan examines particular monuments and their preservation dilemmas. The massive Bamiyan Buddhas, blown up by the Taliban in 2001, are still the subject of debates over how, or whether, to preserve what remains, and the U. S. National Park Service has undertaken the complex task of preserving the symbolic and often ephemeral objects that visitors leave at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial-to take just two of the many examples described in the book. Cloonan also considers the ongoing genocide and cultural genocide in Syria; the challenges of preserving our digital heritage; the dynamic between original and copy; efforts to preserve the papers and architectural fragments of the architect Louis Sullivan; and the possibility of sustainable preservation. In the end, Cloonan suggests, we are what we preserve-and don't preserve. Every day we make preservation decisions, individually and collectively, that have longer-term ramifications than we might expect.

Since its original publication, no text has served as a better overview of the field of archives than Hunter’s manual. Newly revised and updated to thoroughly address our increasingly digital world, it remains the most comprehensive guide to the discipline. Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives covers such key topics as: a history of archives, including the roles of historical societies and local history collections in libraries new sections on community archives, diversity, and inclusion conducting a survey and starting an archival program selection, appraisal, acquisition, accessioning and deaccessioning important points of copyright, privacy and ethics arrangement of archival collections, with a discussion of new theories description, including DACS, EAD and tools such as ArchivesSpace access, reference, and outreach, with a look at how recent innovations in finding aids can help researchers preservation, including guidance on how to handle rare books, maps, architectural records and artefacts digital records disaster planning, security, and theft prevention metrics, assessment, establishing employee procedures and policies, working with interns and volunteers and other managerial duties public relations and marketing, from social media and the Web to advocacy and professional guidelines and codes such as the newly developed SAA Statement of Core Values of Archivists. Providing in-depth coverage of both theory and practice, this manual is essential for archivists at all levels of experience and of all backgrounds.

Archival Basics for Historic Record Collections is an introduction to the concepts, policies, infrastructure and tasks needed to collect, preserve and make archival collections available to researchers. The book is based on content presented in workshops by the Council of State Archivists and presented in an on-line course by the American Association of State and Local History since 2003. Arp focuses on the discreet tasks necessary to manage archival collections. This is a practical, how-to book on managing archival collections designed for those who have responsibility for such collections but lack formal archival training. The book begins by defining historic records, archival collections and the differences between archives, libraries and museums while identifying the steps needed to manage archival collections. It then looks at collecting archival items including creating a collections policy, documenting the acquisition of archival items and the steps needed to bring those items into an archives. It discusses arranging, preserving and describing archival collections so researchers can find the information they seek. Next, it goes over what is needed to store, protect, and make archival collections available to researchers. The last chapters contemplates the policies, skills and infrastructure needed to successfully manage digital records and looks at creating digital copies of analog records to promote their use. The book provides templates, questionnaires and examples to enable the reader to create customized archival policies and procedures that accommodate the particular circumstances they find themselves in. The book also contains exercises and quizzes designed to reinforce the retention and understanding of critical concepts. In addition to examples it has lists of additional resources so those who want more detailed information on particular topics can find it. This book is not the only reference book needed by those doing archival work, but it should be the first book they need.