Includes bibliographical references (p. 195-228) and index.
Contents:
Recording, keeping, and using information -- The oral world -- The rise and spread of literacy -- Reasons for recording information -- The impulse to save -- The impulse to destroy -- The technology of record making -- Characteristics of recorded information in the modern age -- The usefulness of archives -- The history of archives and the archives profession -- Old world antecedents -- American origins: the two traditions -- Emergence of the archival profession -- The crucial decade: the 1930s -- Diversification and development -- Consolidation of professional identity -- Current issues -- The archivist's perspective: knowledge and values -- Knowledge -- Values -- The archivist's task: responsibilities and duties -- Planning -- Saving and acquiring archival records -- Organizing archival records -- Making archival records available -- Archivists and the challenges of new worlds -- Postmodernism -- Internet time -- Ethics and security -- Symbolism and technology -- Advocacy and the archival mission -- Recordkeeping in the digital era -- Professionalism.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.