Documentary genre and digital recordkeeping: red herring or a way forward?

The purpose of this paper is to provide a preliminary assessment of the utility of the genre concept for digital recordkeeping. The exponential growth in the volume of records created since the 1940s has been a key motivator for the development of strategies that do not involve the review or processing of individual documents or files. Automation now allows processes at a level of granularity that is rarely, if at all, possible in the case of manual processes, without loss of cognisance of context. For this reason, it is timely to revisit concepts that may have been disregarded because of a perceived limited effectiveness in contributing anything to theory or practice. In this paper, the genre concept and its employability in the management of current and archival digital records are considered, as a form of social contextualisation of a document and as an attractive entry point of granularity at which to implement automation of appraisal processes. Particular attention is paid to the structurational view of genre and its connections with recordkeeping theory.     

Is it a question of trust or why are we afraid to go to Nineveh?

Trust is an overused concept in our contemporary world. This paper explores the complex relationship of trust, efficiency, accountability, transparency and responsibility and their relationship to recordkeeping in our globalizing culture. It focuses on the profound changes that have taken place in the meaning and practice of audit within neo-liberal societies and how the ??rituals of verification?? and the ??managerialism?? may pervert the resulting record. It challenges the unthinking use of much of the rhetoric surrounding these concepts by archivists to justify their existence. It reflects on why the archival voice often remains silent or at best goes unheard in much of the discussion about these questions that have profound consequences for democratic societies. It is easy to lay the blame at the door of a perceived breakdown of trust rather than to consider whether the root of the problem lies with archivists and records managers themselves. This paper draws on my experience in directing the Information Management and Preservation MSC programme at the University of Glasgow and wide and serendipitous reading, which has sometimes been brought to my notice by students.     

Play and Children's Museums: A Path Forward or a Point of Tension?

Play is a central, defining concept for children's museums, yet it's become a hot button issue which is problematic if play is what makes children's museums uniquely valuable. In this article, members of the Children's Museum Research Network share findings from their first research study, focused on elucidating the problem of play in children's museums. Results suggest that children's museums may not have shared definitions and conceptualizations of play.     

Teaching to trust: How a virtual archives and preservation curriculum laboratory creates a global education community?

Building virtual archives and preservation curriculum laboratories centered around born-digital and digitized records is a collaborative project currently underway between Simmons College (US) and Mid-Sweden University. In this virtual environment, issues of trust are central to the process, in terms of the both archival curriculum and the collaborative education process itself. The article describes the project, the collaboration, and offers a range of scenarios that demonstrate how the laboratories work within curriculum.     

Indigenous peoples’ human rights and the Victorian Charter: a framework for reorienting recordkeeping and archival practice

This article considers the legal framework for archival and recordkeeping institutions, archivists and recordkeeping professionals in one Australian state under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) and the relationship with protection of Indigenous culture. It examines the underlying themes of the Victorian Charter and considers the Charter rights to culture, privacy and family as relevant specifically to Indigenous Victorians, and to those institutions keeping records and archives relating to Indigenous Victorians. Finally, it explains the way the human rights protected by the Charter are enforced, and the role of public institutions as duty bearers under the Charter.     

Trusted by whom? TDRs,standards culture and the nature of trust

The first part of this paper examines the notion of trust within the suite of standards that anchor the trustworthy digital repository (TDR) concept. The second part traces the short and confusing trajectory of the TDR project at Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and explores the extent to which the failure of LAC TDR should be understood in relation to organizational funding, operational decisions, TDR standards culture or other factors. In the conclusion I suggest that the notion of trust within TDR standards culture is itself evolving in a positive direction that emphasizes user perceptions of trust rather than seeking to establish objective evidence of trust.     

The “Wicked Problem” of Neutral Description: Toward a Documentation Approach to Metadata Standards

Increasingly, metadata standards have been recognized as constructed rather than neutral. In this article, we argue for the importance of a documentation approach to metadata standards creation as a codification of this growing recognition. By making design decisions explicit, the documentation approach dispels presumptions of neutrality and, drawing on the “wicked problems” theoretical framework, acknowledges the constructed nature of standards as “clumsy solutions.”     

Pushy or a Princess?

Four times as many males as females appeared as experts on flagship television and radio news programmes in the United Kingdom as of the early 2010s. This study draws on four complementary sets of data to explore the reasons behind this disparity. The findings point to a combination of journalists’ news production processes and women’s perceptions of appropriate social norms and roles. A high proportion of woman experts surveyed lack confidence, saying they fear they will be perceived as self-promoting and “pushy” for wanting to appear on air. Broadcast journalists report women need to be persuaded and wooed, acting like “princesses” and therefore making male experts less trouble to recruit.     

End users’ trust in data repositories: definition and influences on trust development

While repositories’ efforts to build trustworthy digital repositories (TDRs) led to the establishment of ISO standards, much less research has been done regarding the user’s side, despite calls for an understanding of users’ trust of TDRs. In order to learn about users’ perspectives on trust in digital repositories, the present study investigated users’ definitions of trust and factors that influence users’ trust development, particularly addressing the users of three data repositories in the United States. A total of 19 participants were interviewed in this study. The results of this study indicate that users’ definition of trust is largely based on a lack of deception, when it comes down to the specific context of data repositories. Regarding factors influencing the development of users’ trust in repositories, organizational attributes, user communities (recommendations and frequent use), past experiences, repository processes (documentation, data cleaning, and quality checking), and users’ perception of the repository roles were identified.     

How do fans purposively create information to promote a celebrity? An analysis of fans' information practices and literacy improvement

Fans purposively creating information aiming specifically to inform the public positively about a celebrity has become a significant practice within contemporary Chinese fan culture. “Celebrity promotion” information creation offers an important opportunity to understand how people intentionally create information beyond internal user groups and existing information needs. Based on unobtrusive observation and semi-structured interviews, findings show that fans create positive online content and conduct offline advertisements to boost a celebrity's specific works, reputation, and fan base. Fans also intentionally develop strategies and improve their information literacy to make informational materials more visible and appealing, while critically separating “celebrity promotion” from enjoyment-centered fandom activities. As fans adapt to the current information environment, the intentionality of their practices stems from beliefs that 1) they are the actor(s)’ shareholders/partners and 2) by creating “promotion” information, fans can achieve their goal of helping the actor(s).     

Does the medium matter?: A comparison of a Web-based tutorial with face-to-face library instruction on education students' self-efficacy levels and learning outcomes

This study explored if students' library skills self-efficacy levels and learning outcomes varied based on instructional delivery mode. Groups consisted of an on-campus class with face-to-face instruction, an on-campus class with a Web-based library tutorial, and a Web-based class with a Web-based tutorial. Data were collected immediately prior to instruction and again 6 weeks after. Analysis indicated self-efficacy levels and learning outcomes significantly increased across all groups after instruction. Groups varied significantly on final self-efficacy levels, but not on final library skills scores. Results are discussed as they relate to the viability of Web-based tutorials for library instruction.     

Downloads or Outcomes?: Measuring and Communicating the Contributions of Library Resources to Faculty and Student Success

How can libraries proactively demonstrate, quantitatively and qualitatively, return on investment in an academic environment that is increasingly concerned with tangible results? As speaker for Mississippi State University Libraries' 9th MidSouth eResource Symposium, Dr. Rachel Fleming-May, Assistant Professor at the University of Tennessee's School of Information Sciences, articulated the need for libraries to communicate their true value and indispensability to campus communities, particularly through the measurement of electronic resource usage. The concept of “use,” however, is complex and must be fully understood for meaningful incorporation into assessment measures. A brief summary of this session, also authored by Amanda Price, appeared in the “E-Resource Roundup” column of the Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship, Volume 23, Issue 1 (2011: March).     

Sibling communication satisfaction as a function of interpersonal solidarity,individualized trust,and self‐disclosure

The purpose of this study was to examine sibling communication satisfaction, with a specific focus on interpersonal solidarity, individualized trust, and self‐disclosure. Respondents (N = 360) were asked to report on a relationship with either an older sister, younger sister, older brother, or younger brother. Results indicate that interpersonal solidarity is the largest predictor of sibling communication satisfaction, followed by individualized trust, and self‐disclosure.     

Users or Supporters? Understanding Motivations and Behaviors of Museum Members

Research into museum membership schemes and their members is limited and fragmented. This study presents an overview of existing research as a contextual framework for a study of the motivations and behavior of members of a British national museum. The paper examines factors such as members' motives for joining, their usage of benefits, the value they place on membership, and their feelings about the host organization. It concludes with advice as to how membership managers can more effectively manage their own membership organization.