Library Sciences Personal Reflection
My thoughts and impressions about archives and archival work have changed substantially since the beginning of the semester. Originally, I thought of it as a job where you sat isolated away from humanity in a closed room, pouring over boxes and boxes of old manuscripts, documenting each one endlessly while the world went on day to day outside. After this course, I have to say my interest in archival work has grown considerably. As Somers (2017) notes, for instance, in a big archive, there is simply not enough man power to go through all the records, piece by piece. A lot of what it stored is not really known in detail but only in a superficial—a manner that allows for records to be categorized but not really known in much depth. (That is why it is important for researchers to go into archives with a critical framework and investigate records so that the truth of history can be made known to the public when the researcher goes back to the world to publish his or her findings). The task of being charged with archiving the texts that society deems relevant, the role of ethics in the decision-making process, and the fact that the archivist is not really pouring over every text—all of that opened my eyes about the actual job.
If libraries are like sources where the public can go for their information and entertainment needs, archives are like the places they go to store, preserve and investigate history. Archivists are like the gatekeepers to history: they decide what goes in, which gives them a great deal of power in terms of preserving documents for posterity. What future generations might wish to research about our age or a previous age will all depend on what they are able to find in archives, where materials are collected. In many cases, there will be boxes of donated items that no researcher will have ever looked into before....
References
Archival Use and Users. (n.d.). Google Docs. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B2b4psBMIvrpdDBHLVpkSXh6bHc
Module #2: Archival Appraisal and Acquisition. (n.d.) Course Material, 1-22.
Module #6: Archival Management and Ethics. (n.d.). Google Docs. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RmIrQ3xnynkcqGOikz8d3PO5kiX3jTNTzFvDClZLA2g/edit
SAA. (n.d.). SAA core values statement and code of ethics. Retrieved from https://www2.archivists.org/statements/saa-core-values-statement-and-code-of-ethics
Society of American Archivists. (2017). What are archives and how do they differ from libraries. Retrieved from https://www2.archivists.org/usingarchives/whatarearchives
Somers, J. (2017). Keepers of the secrets. Retrieved from https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/09/20/keepers-of-the-secrets/
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