Michelle Caswell and Ricardo L. Punzalan
The purpose of this chapter is to delineate a number of factors unique to archives that problematize commonly accepted rhetoric in library and information studies (LIS).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this chapter is to delineate a number of factors unique to archives that problematize commonly accepted rhetoric in library and information studies (LIS).
Methodology/approach
This study reports on an analysis of several core concepts in archival studies (evidence, access, and power) and delineates how such concepts differ from dominant conceptions in the study of libraries.
Findings
Our research shows how archives call into question three dominant discursive tropes in LIS: the primacy of informational value (as opposed to evidential value in archives); universal access as a professional and ethical obligation; and the assumption that information institutions are universally benevolent. Although such tropes have been increasingly challenged by growing numbers of critical LIS scholars, we argue that they remain dominant discursive formations in LIS and reflect key areas of divergence that differentiate archives from libraries and distinguish the professional ethos of archivists and librarians.
Originality/value
This is the first chapter to delineate how archives differ from libraries in regard to human rights concerns and will spark discussion about such differences between the fields.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of classification structures to efforts at holding perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable using one archival…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the importance of classification structures to efforts at holding perpetrators of human rights abuses accountable using one archival repository in Cambodia as a case study.
Design/methodology/approach
The primary methodology of this paper is a textual analysis of the Documentation Center of Cambodia's classification scheme, as well as a conceptual analysis using the theoretical framework originally posited by Bowker and Star and further developed by Harris and Duff. These analyses were supplemented by interviews with key participants.
Findings
The Documentation Center of Cambodia's classification of Khmer Rouge records by ethnic identity has had a major impact on charging former officials of the regime with genocide in the ongoing human rights tribunal.
Social implications
As this exploration of the DC‐Cam database shows, archival description can be used as a tool to promote accountability in societies coming to terms with difficult histories.
Originality/value
This paper expands and revises Harris and Duff's definition of liberatory description to include Spivak's concept of strategic essentialism, arguing that archivists’ classification choices have important ethical and legal consequences.
Details
Keywords
Aiden M. Bettine and Lindsay Kistler Mattock
This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of community archives, offering a critique of the community archives discourse through a historical…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of community archives, offering a critique of the community archives discourse through a historical case study focused on the origins of the Gerber/Hart LGBTQ library and archives in Chicago.
Design/methodology/approach
This study explores the archival collections of the founders of the Gerber/Hart library and archives and the librarians that have worked there as a means for understanding the origins of the archival impulse, the rationale for building the collections and the practices that shaped the collections during the first decade of the organization’s history.
Findings
The historical analysis of the Gerber/Hart library and archives situates community archives and LGBTQ collections within the broader historical context that lead to the founding of the organization and reveals deep connections to the information professions not previously considered by those studying community archives.
Originality/value
The paper offers a reconceptualization of community archives as archival projects initiated, controlled and maintained by the members of a self-defined community. The authors emphasize the role of the archival impulse or the historical origins of the collection and the necessity for full-community control, setting clear boundaries between community archives and other participatory archival models that engage the community.