Archival Futures

This book draws on the contributions of a range of international experts to consider the current archival landscape and imagine the archive of the future. Firmly rooted in current professional debate and scholarship, Archival Futures offers thought provoking and accessible chapters that aim to challenge and inspire archivists globally and to encourage debate about their futures.

It is widely acknowledged that the archive profession/discipline is facing a time of change. The digital world has presented changes in how records are created, used, stored and communicated. At the same time, there is increased public debate over issues such as ownership of and access to information and its authenticity and reliability in a networked and interconnected world. On a practical level archivists are being asked to do more, to have a greater range of skills, often with increasingly restricted resources while competing with others to maintain their role as experts in ever changing environments.

Exploring the potential impact of these changes is timely. Such reflections will provide the opportunity to consider the archivists’ purpose and role, discuss the practical impact of change on skills and functions and to articulate what can be contributed to a mid 21 century world.

The contributors, Kate Theimer, Luciana Duranti, Victoria Lemieux, Geoffrey Yeo, Jenny Bunn, Sonia Ranade, Barbara Reed, Gillian Oliver, Frank Upward, Joanne Evans, Michael Moss, David Thomas and Craig Gauld cover:

the role of archives in relation to individuals, organisations, communities and society
how appraisal, arrangement, description and access might be affected in the future
the impact of changing societal expectations in terms of access to information, how information is exchanged, and how things are recorded and remembered
the place of traditional archives and what ‘the archive’ is or might become
competition or opportunity offered by other information, cultural or IT related professions and the future role of the archive profession
truth and post-truth: archives as authentic and reliable evidence
Readership: this book will appeal to an international audience of students, academics and practitioners in archival science, records management, and library and information science.