Differences Between a Library and an Archive - Literature review Example

Library Science Differences between a library and an archive There exist differences between a library and an archive, even though these two are important sources of information and knowledge. These two can be found in different towns and institutions of learning. However, an archive may have a library as part of its name, or an archive can be a department in a library. The main differences between archives and libraries lie in the types of material they hold, the way people access this material, and their significance. There are differences in the material found in a library and an archive. A library is dominated by books and print and non-print material. On the other hand, archives hold published and unpublished material, including manuscripts, letters, photographs, diaries, artifacts, books, artworks, and their digital forms. The materials in archives are unique and mostly specialized and rare objects. Unlike books in the library that can easily be replaced, most materials in an archive are irreplaceable (Society of American Archivists, 2014). Second, people access materials in libraries and archives differently. In archives, archivists are employed to take care of the unique archival collections and ensure their preservation. Archives also have specific guidelines for use of collections for protection from theft and damage. In a library, librarians are in charge of the materials. People can access materials via the internet, at the library itself, or borrowing them for home use (Society of American Archivists, 2014). Finally, with regard to significance, libraries serve a direct significance, as people gain knowledge from reading the material therein. On the other hand, archives hold a symbolic significance. According to O''Toole (1993) these are a representation of history, culture, nationality, and identities of individuals, communities, nations, and regions. This is because most of the archival collections are drawn from the past, hence symbolise different aspects as they existed in the past. Archival Appraisal Archivists play an important role in archives. Their roles vary from developing acquisition mandate to deciding what to keep in the archives and preservation and conservation of records. With regard to archival collections, archives today cannot keep everything. Even though archives have an acquisition mandate in place, it still remains important for the archivists to evaluate all potential acquisitions. Since archives are ideally going to keep these acquisitions for eternity, it is important that the acquisitions are worth it. In the past, before the mid-twentieth Century, archivists kept everything without selection. However, in order to reduce the accumulation and other problems that arose due to lack of selection, it became necessary starting from the mid-twentieth Century, to introduce selection and destruction of archival collections in order to keep the ones with higher value. An archivist decides on what to put in the archive through the process of archival appraisal. Through this process, archivists determine what they will or will not acquire. Different archives have different guidelines and practices that their archivists should follow in the archival appraisal process. Some guidelines might be based on significance of the record at a given administrative level such as province. Archivists will only select and keep in archives those records that are rare, old, and with high intrinsic value as material artifacts, since all records cannot be kept in the archive (Cook, 2011). Archivists base their appraisal decisions on reasonably complete understanding of the nature of records and the roles they have played. If some of the roles are not taken into consideration, the appraisal will eventually be flawed. Archivists therefore, have to make hard decisions, as according to Cook (2011) they determine which records are destroyed, excluded from the archives, their creators forgotten, and erased from memory. Provenance Archivists are the people that are responsible for managing and taking care of archival collections in an archive. In order to effectively manage or take control of archives, the archivists must adopt various strategies to help them perform their roles effectively. In managing archives therefore, archivists are known to apply two major principles, namely provenance and original order. These principles are the foundation for all the activities that archivists carry out on their archives. It is imperative that archivists understand how and where their archives were created, and how are ordered, before they can take any steps toward improving on how the archives are kept and taken care of (The National Archives, 2008). Specifically, the provenance principle relates to the history of ownership of archives. Provenance according to the National Archives (2008) means the history of ownership related to a group of records or an individual item in a collection. For archives therefore, provenance relates to the creators and any subsequent owners of the records as well as how different records relate to each other. Apart from managing, provenance also helps in the identification of collections or records. When information on the relationships in collections is preserved through provenance, it clearly provides evidence on how the records were created and who created and used the records before they were made part of the archives (Mason, 2014). Provenance provides important contextual information that is of great importance in understanding clearly the content of an archival collection. The history of an archival collection is also another aspect that provenance helps in understanding. More Product, Less Process Greene Mark and Dennis Meissner introduced the More Product, Less Process technique that archivists and librarians can utilise in order to reduce their growing backlog of materials and revamp processing. This is with regard to the amount of backlogged materials in repositories. This approach proposes minimum standards, as opposed to the traditional, heavy descriptions and preservations, in order to get archival institutions back on track. A major advantage of this technique is that, if applied successfully in an archival institution, it can be effective in reducing the number of backlogged items. The use of minimum standards in the More Product, Less Process technique helps to reduce backlogged items and prevent materials adding to the backlogs. In addition, this technique is advantageous, as it makes processing easier and faster. The minimum standards in processing make the process faster. Greene & Meissner (2005, 215) note that there is a wastage of time in the creation of detailed, multi-layered, and descriptive finding aids. Therefore, by saving time, this approach is more efficient, as compared to the traditional approaches. A disadvantage of the More Product, Less Process technique is that this is not a fix-all technique that can be applied to every institution and collection. This is owing to the reason that some institutions require item-level work, more so those institutions that are an accession to an existing collection. This technique is also disadvantageous, as it does not provide for flexibility. Its main focus is applying minimum processing standards to a collection, in order to quicken its accessibility by patrons. Although this might be applicable to most collections, there is still need for flexibility, as different collections might require different interpretations of this approach in order to meet the quality standards and reference of their institutions. Therefore, quality might be compromised if this technique is applied in some cases. The symbolic significance of archives Archives are of great significance to the past, present, and future generations. Archival materials are mostly known to hold great monetary value. However, the archives hold great symbolic significance as well. This is as far as history, culture, and values of society are concerned. Archives hold great value to nations and regions, organizations, communities, and individuals (Hirtle, 2003). These are important, as they provide evidence of different significant activities that occurred in the past. These activities might be of cultural or national significance. Archives tell stories and document people and identity. For this reason, these are important sources of information for research. These are symbolic in that to a great length, they are a representation of cultures, history, and identities. These act as our recorded memory and therefore, form a significant part of our community, cultural, and official and unofficial history. Different archival collections in archives have more symbolic significance, as compared to practical significance, hence considered highly symbolic records (Hirtle, 2003). An example is wills and epitaphs, which are highly symbolic records. Although historically, wills served a direct and practical purpose, they also served a larger purpose. These are legal and religious documents. They therefore, reveal information on the heir, confession of faith, and acknowledgement of sin. Epitaphs on the other hand, as archival collections provide basic information on life and death of the subject. This invites prayer and literal memory of the deceased. Therefore, archives contain collections that bear useful information, and whose meaning is more symbolic than practical. References Cook, T. (2011). We Are What We Keep; We Keep What We Are'': Archival Appraisal Past, Present and Future. Journal of the Society of Archivists, 32(2): 173–189. Retrieved from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00379816.2011.619688 Greene, M. A. & Meissner, D. (2005). More Product, Less Process: Revamping Traditional Archival Processing. American Archivist, 68(2): 208-263. Hirtle, P. (2003). Archives or Assets? American Archivist, 66(2): 235-247. Mason, M. (2014). Archival Arrangement: Ensuring Access to Materials. Retrieved from http://www.moyak.com/papers/archival-provenance.html O''Toole, J. (1993). The Symbolic Significance of Archives. American Archivist, 56(2): 234- 255. Retrieved from http://archivists.metapress.com/content/e481x55xg3x04201/fulltext.pdf Society of American Archivists (2014). What are archives and how do they differ from libraries? Retrieved from http://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/whatarearchives The National Archives (2008). Archive Principles and Practice: An introduction to archives for non-archivists. Retrieved from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/information-management/archive-principles-and-practice-an-introduction-to-archives-for-non-archivists.pdf Read More