Contexts,Original Orders,and Item-Level Orientation: Responding Creatively to Users' Needs and Technological Change

This article questions traditional assumptions that archival aggregations must always be rigidly defined. Technology allows archival institutions to respond to users' diverse requirements by empowering them to create multiple groupings and variable orders. To take advantage of these capabilities as archives become increasingly digital, a shift toward item-level orientation will be crucial. Users will still need information about context, but the digital future will almost certainly necessitate abandoning current methods in favor of documenting contextual relationships at item level. Respect for “fonds” and original order will retain some value but will no longer be the primary means of capturing context.