A unique challenge arises in the intricate world of archives—the risk of archivists being perceived as self-promoters.
In archives, leadership is not merely a role but a proactive stance transcending the archival domain’s boundaries.
Digital preservation is crucial to safeguarding cultural and historical heritage for future generations.
Archivists play a crucial role in safeguarding the past and extracting valuable insights using cutting-edge technology.
Many archival repositories have invested in digitization projects to enhance access to their collections.
Archives have been particularly interested in infrastructure projects for several years. Repositories have also participated in collective efforts to test and disseminate tools, procedures, and methodologies.
Plagiarism is the practice of falsely representing as one’s own any language, thoughts, ideas, designs, or expression in a paper, exam, or other work. In short, it means taking someone’s else’s words, ideas, or work and passing them off as yours. There are severe consequences for plagiarism in your academic, work, and personal lives.
When you're conducting research online, it may be difficult to determine if a website contains credible information. Almost anyone can publish anything online, which provides a wealth of information for scholars and students. However, the ease of publication may promote information which is false, faulty, or misleading.
Digitization has changed how collections are used and accessed.
Research can make digital surrogates more amendable to interpretation, such as via full-text searching and indexing, as well as comparison of materials for multiple sources. Nonetheless, there may be times when no digital surrogate is adequate for scholarship. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate whether digitization is worthwhile before undertaking an initiative. Many factors come into play when assessing the value of digital files. These factors may help access when digitizing collections can be cost-effective. Valuable digital resources, which bring prestige to the institutions that create and maintain them, are those that support scholarship without losing the benefits of working with the originals.
Instagram is a powerful tool to introduce your archival collections to the public through images. It also allows your constituents to see parts of collections that they might not usually see because of security or preservation reasons. Viewers can experience your storage areas, your conservation room, or rare items that are rarely displayed.
When you are researching for a paper, you should take notes, not only to retain the information you are seeking but also to guide the next steps in your research strategy. I advise my students to take notes, either by putting pen to paper or by using programs like Mendeley which allow you to mark and save articles. Reading for research is never passive; it should be an active exchange in which you respond to and interrogate the text.
In my book, Creating Family Archives: A Step-by-Step Guide for Saving Your Memories for Future Generations, I discuss the techniques that archivists use to protect historical materials from the ravages of time. I find that it's also helpful to discuss what can cause damage to your archival items too. Many hazards are obvious, but others may surprise non-professionals.
