Perspectives in archival Science.

• Author: Huelsbergen, Anselm

TITLE: Archives: Recordkeeping in Society

EDITORS: Sue McKernmish, Michael Piggott, Barbara Reed, and Frank Upward

ISBN: 1-876938-84-6

PUBLISHER: Centre for Information

Studies, Charles Sturt University, PUBLICATION DATE: 2005

LENGTH: 348 pages

PRICE: $71.50 (Australian)

SOURCE: www.csu.edu.au/faculty/sciagr/sis/CIS/index.htm

The title of Archives: Recordkeeping in Society promises the reader some combination of historical, philosophical, and theoretical analyses of the role(s) archives occupy in society. The editors confirm this notion in the first sentence of the introduction: "The study of archives involves studying the ways societies shape, hold, and access information about their activities." For the most part, the rest of the text makes good on the title's promise. As might be expected from an entry in the publication series Topics in Australasian Library and Information Studies, the contextual focus of the volume is Australian archival theory and practice. This fact does not, however, restrict the general interest or the relevance of the volume's themes to that country's shores or surroundings.

The book consists of 12 chapters, each written by a different author or group of authors. The contributors, whose backgrounds and affiliations are appropriately detailed at the end of the work, include Hans Hofman, National Archives of the Netherlands; Adrian Cunningham, National Archives of Australia; Chris Hurley, formerly of the National Archives of New Zealand; Ann E. Pederson, formerly at the University of New South Wales; and a number of faculty and researchers from Monash University led by Sue McKemmish, head of its School of Information Technology and director of the school's Records Continuum Research Group. Though style and approach vary from chapter to chapter, a clear interrelationship exists between them as the various contributors refer to points found in other chapters of the book, resulting in a more coherent whole. Each chapter ends with a list of briefly annotated readings that highlight the key themes of the chapter. Together with the chapters' footnotes, the reading lists provide a very useful resource for further reading.

The chapters form three sections, though this is not made explicit except in the book's introduction. The first three chapters set the thematic stage(s) for the subsequent sections. Chapter One, "Traces: Document, records, archive, archives," provides a case study to illustrate the multiple uses (and...