LIS-S 581 Archives and Records Management
3 credits
- Prerequisite(s): LIS-S 500, LIS-S 507
- Delivery: Online
- Semesters offered: Fall, Spring (Check the schedule to confirm.)
Description
Introduces basic theories, methods, and significant problems in archives and records management. The course also discusses how archivists are responding to the challenge of managing and preserving electronic records.
Program Learning Goals Supported
Instructors map their courses to specific LIS Program Goals. Mapped program goals drive the design of each course and what students can expect to generally learn.
- Connect Core Values and Professional Ethics to Practice
- Facilitate Engagement in the Information Ecosystem
- Curate Collections for Designated Communities
- Lead and Manage Libraries, Archives and Other Information Organizations
- Examine Systemic Inequalities to Improve Library and Information Practices through Equitable and -Socially Just Interventions
Learning Outcomes
Instructors develop learning outcomes for their courses. Students can expect to be able to achieve the learning outcomes for a given course after successfully completing the course.
- Have high-level knowledge of the history and future of archives, the work of archivists, and be prepared to take advanced archival science classes in DLIS (if they wish).
- Be able to discuss what archives do and do not collect, and how they organize and provide access to records to the public.
- Be able to articulate the value of archives and educate on their use to a diverse public.
- Be able to outline and discuss major issues in archives and their potential solutions, including racism, copyright, and precarious labor.
Course Overview
Instruction is in Canvas. Lessons are organized into Modules whose length may vary.
Module 1: Introduction
- orientation to course
- introductions with “archives show & tell”
- test Perusall platform
Module 2: What is an Archives?
- history & nature of archives
- archival paradigms
- archives vs. “the archives”
- structures of archives & harm to historically excluded people & histories
Module 3: Appraisal and Collecting
- evolution of appraisal in archival profession
- ”failure of care” around records of historically excluded communities
- costs of stewardship & responsible collection building
- repatriation
Module 4: Arrangement and Description
- history, context, & significance of arrangement & description
- MPLP
- participatory & inclusive description
Module 5: Reference and Access
- archival intelligence
- archival reference knowledge model
- discoverability of archives
- ethics of digitization & access
Module 6: Preservation
- what is preservation?
- disaster planning
- craft of digital preservation
- archives & the end of humanity
Module 7: Outreach and Public/Donor Relations
- outreach for acquisition
- empowering community archiving
- working with aging and dying donors
Module 8: Records and Information Management
- records lifecycle & records continuum model
- archival appraisal and the information lifecycle
- records information management (RIM) and digital preservation
Module 9: Privacy and Rights
- managing privacy
- ethics of contemporaneous collecting & documentation of trauma
- ethical considerations for archiving social media
Module 10: Copyright in archives
- what is copyright?
- digital surrogacy and copyright
- risk assessment in making collections available online
- copyright reform
Module 11: Accountability and Oppression
- digital historical practice & malpractice
- preserving human rights media
- collecting around conflict (Boston College case study ethical, methodological and political implications)
Module 12: Education
- educational initiatives in public library archives to expand engagement with collections
- integrating archives into college course learning
- outreach to teachers
- teaching with primary sources case studies
Module 13: Labor and Management
- labor equity
- implications of archival labor
- archival labor market
- SAA Code of Ethics
Policies and Procedures
Please be aware of the following linked policies and procedures. Note that in individual courses instructors will have stipulations specific to their course.