Cataloguing Cartographic Materials in Archives

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight the long-term preservation challenges that the Swedish private archives are faced with. In as much as they offer a complement to the public archives and hence offer a nuanced national narrative, they lack both financial and human resources to effectively deal with the digital information management environment.Design/methodology/approachParticipatory Action Research (PAR) was used to identify the challenges of long-term preservation together with the six private archives institutions that were involved in the collaboration. The collaboration was financially facilitated by the Södertörn University. PAR is defined as a systematic investigation, with the collaboration of those affected by the issue being studied, for the purposes of education and taking action or effecting social change. What is distinctive of PAR is the active involvement of people whose lives are affected by the phenomenon under study.FindingsThe private archival institutions face long-term preservation challenges such as lack of a digital repository that would facilitate the capture, organization and management of digital records that are of different formats and in a dispersed environment. There are no stringent legal requirements to facilitate the creation and management of the records in a standardized way and the institutions fear that imposing such requirements might deter their clients from depositing archival materials with them. The institutions will also need to espouse the business-oriented archival descriptions where private organizations are concerned to identify relevant archival materials and to promote participatory archival descriptions that would allow the creators to tag their records with metadata. Digital information requires a proactive approach, that is, planning for the long-term preservation of the information before it is created. Private archives need to invest in education packages that will facilitate their clientele’s understanding of the challenges of digital long-term preservation.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings cannot be generalized to all private archival institutions, as it was only six institutions that participated, but the issues discussed are relevant to most archival institutions.Practical implicationsA lot of research has been carried out in the area of long-term preservation, but researchers have not paid enough attention to the woes of the private archives. To sustain a nuanced national narrative, the private archives need all the support to be able to live up to their mission of preserving archives of the private sector that are not captured by the public archival institutions. This is important in a pluralistic society such as Sweden. Highlighting the challenges might enable the institutions to work towards finding common challenges.Social implicationsThe private archives are part of Sweden’s national heritage. Their preservation matters to the society as a whole and to enhancing the voices of the underrepresented.Originality/valueThe literature review revealed that not much research has paid attention to the challenges being faced by the private archives. This paper, therefore, contributes to this knowledge gap.

EDITOR'S SUMMARYFormal standards and professional practices characterize modern archival administration, increasing consistent archival description and interoperable metadata as well as the authenticity and reliability of the archives themselves. The International Council of Archives' General International Standard Archival Description identifies 26 data elements to describe archives, being extended for the semantic web. Archives in the United States follow three sets of archival description standards. Describing Archives: A Content Standard, 2nd Edition (DACS), used together with the other standards and with MARC, describes archival materials and authority records about material creators. It stresses principles for arrangement, order and hierarchical organization. The Encoded Archival Description (EAD) contains elements to describe archival materials and interrelationships. Like DACS, it stresses respect de fonds, keeping records together in original order. Encoded Archival Context‐Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC‐CPF) describes information about people and organizations reflected in an archive. It was adopted by the Society of American Archivists in 2011 and has been used to derive 6.6 million EAC‐CPF records from EAD finding aids and authority records. Archival descriptions are complex and unique. Using standardized and required descriptive elements and special search interfaces would maximize the advantage of EAD encoding and extend opportunities for data sharing between institutions.

Arhivski stručnjaci u svojem radu definiraju i koriste se mnoštvom relacija na različite načine. U konkretnim situacijama različito ih razumiju i različito primjenjuju. Od usvajanja prvoga međunarodnog arhivskog standarda ISAD(G), pojam relacije sustavno je ugrađen u opis arhivskih entiteta i zato ga svi koji se bave opisom moraju razumjeti u skladu sa svrhom standarda. U prilogu su predstavljeni teorijski okviri uporabe relacija u različitim kontekstima, koji se temelje na arhivskim standardima. Relacije su kvantitativno definirane, prije svega među krovnim arhivskim entitetima. Sve veća složenost upravljanja krovnim arhivskim entitetima zahtijeva razmjerno veći intelektualni napor arhivskih stručnjaka u odnosu na nestandardizirana rješenja u opisu arhivskih entiteta. U tom će kontekstu biti potrebno razmišljati o rješenjima koje poznajemo pod nazivom umjetna inteligencija.

The article is devoted to the analysis, cataloging of cartographic material of the consolidated catalog of “old” maps on the history of Kazakhstan in the XVII–early XX centuries. The funds for storage of cartographic materials in archives and libraries of Moscow and Orenburg are characterized. The functional values of the developed consolidated catalog of “old” maps have been substantiated. The consolidated catalog of cartographic materials can be considered as a kind of “guide” for potential users, with the help of which the user can get answers to the following questions: What archives, libraries, museums have the necessary cartographic material for the user and view cartographic bibliographies of “old” maps on the history of Kazakhstan. Based on the intermediate result of the research, a consolidated catalog of cartographic materials was prepared, comprising 282 cartographic sources of the XVII–early XX centuries on the history of Kazakhstan, which are of high scientific and social significance. Most of the cartographic materials on the early period of the history of Kazakhstan at the beginning of the XVII century are mainly of foreign origin. To fill with additional possibilities, the consolidated catalog of “old” maps for potential readers is enriched with photo files of cartographic materials accompanying the cartobibliographic record of “old” maps from the consolidated catalog. The identified cartographic materials are subjected to source analysis, assessment, and description. It has been established that cartographic materials on the history of Kazakhstan in the XVII–early XX centuries should not be studied in isolation but as part of the cartography of a certain era in all its interconnections and interdepend encies with the development of related areas of knowledge (history, geography, geodesy, etc.)

Online finding aids, internet search tools, and increased access to the World Wide Web have greatly changed how patrons find archival collections. Through analyzing eighteen months of access data collected via web analytics tools, this article examines how patrons discover archival materials. Contrasts are drawn between access from library catalogs and from online search engines, with the latter outweighing the former by an overwhelming margin, and argues whether archival description practices should change accordingly. The past decade brought a revolution in intellectual access to archival collections through the emergence of the online finding aid. These tools, created in a multiplicity of formats (EAD, HTML, PDF, and others), have made it possible for researchers anywhere to use an Internet connection to find materials in archives. Since archivists first introduced this genre of digital documents to support unmediated discovery, they have been accompanied by questions about their use and usability. Tools exist to measure access counts and the pathways followed to these finding aids, but to date very little has been published to show whether these tools are being used for this purpose, or what the results are if they are being used. This article will examine the experience of one repository, Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC) at the Washington State University Libraries, in collecting and analyzing data about the use of online finding aids. By 2008, MASC had well over eight hundred HTML finding aids online but no real numeric data 1 O'English: Applying Web Analytics to Online Finding Aids Published by DigitalCommons@USU, 2011 either on how often they were being accessed or on how they were found. In an effort to gather this data, MASC staff placed code from Google Analytics, a statisticsgathering Web service, on each finding aid webpage, as well as on other local gateway and digital collections pages. The intent was to explore the paths patrons follow to finding aids with the hope of improving access, as well as gaining patron-derived information that would help establish priorities for processing collections from the repository backlog and to determine which processed collections might benefit from further attention. The results of the statistical analysis provide useful data on where and how MASC users access our finding aids. Prior to the age of digital finding aids, their paper predecessors were found through various methods, which were generally predictable and well-defined, including online and analog library catalogs, published listings, and mediation by archives staff in person or by telephone. As the digital age emerged, many archives channeled substantial resources into major conversion projects, digitizing finding aids and often creating access to them through existing or new MARC records in online library catalogs. Digital search tools have become increasingly powerful and widespread, and social media have emerged as another path to online finding aids. Archivists with quantitative and qualitative data about the use of online finding aids can make better-informed decisions about the most effective ways to support discovery. The findings in this study suggest that it may again be time to change focus, shifting resources away from catalogs and toward the finding aids themselves.

Archival methods have become commonplace in geography over the past several decades, enabling geographers to explore past phenomena, conceptions of space, and the impacts of geographic thought. Geographers have brought the reliability of the archive into question and opened new modes of inquiry into archival materials and their interpretation. Despite these new articulations, understandings of archival processing and its impacts on research is limited and generally archival methodology in geography does not consider the theories and practices of the archivists who process collections. This article utilizes an autoethnographic case study to illustrate how archival processing limits researchers’ abilities to understand historical subjects, specifically highlighting the material and contextual leakages that occur while processing a collection. Specifically, I examine this through the processing of the papers of geographer Pradyumna “Paul” Prasad Karan (1930–2018). By exploring the archival concepts of provenance/context, appraisal, and original order/arrangement, along with the management idea of “more product, less process,” I highlight how the processing of archival collections often results in material and contextual leakages that meaningfully shape the historical record. For geographers engaging in archival methods, the article highlights the importance of understanding how archival organization limits the utility of the archive and how understanding these limits can contribute to more nuanced geographical scholarship.

Archivists have traditionally understood access through finding aids, assuming that—through creating them—they are effectively providing access to archival materials. This article is a history of finding aids in American archival practice that demonstrates how finding aids have negatively colored how archivists have understood access. It shows how finding aids were originally a compromise between resource constraints and the more familiar access that users expected, how a discourse centered on finding aids hindered the standardization of archival description as data, and how the characteristics of finding aids as tools framed and negatively impacted the Encoded Archival Description (EAD) standard. It questions whether finding aids are a productive or useful framework for understanding how archivists provide access to collections.

Describing archival materials: The use of the MARC AMC format: ed. by Richard P. Smiraglia. Binghamton, NY: Haworth, 1990. 228p. $29.95 ISBN 0-86656-916-2. LC 90- 43012. ( Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, Vol. 11, nos. 3/4, 1991.) Perm. paper

The Library of Congress Genre/Form Terms for Library and Archival Materials (LCGFT) thesaurus includes a robust set of headings for cartographic resources, which were among the earliest areas of focus during LCGFT’s development. The first cartographic headings were approved for the thesaurus in 2010, as part of a cartography-specific project undertaken in consultation with the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division. Following that initial burst of activity, the suite of available terms for describing cartographic resources has been largely stable until recently, with the addition of a small number of new cartographic headings beginning circa 2023. In this report, I will share some observations on the application of LCGFT in my library’s catalog, including discussion of successes and challenges, drawn from my first ten years as a map cataloger at Michigan State University.

Digitalization is an introduction of traditional, printed or manuscript library materials or archival materials in the form of digital data to the computer’s memory by scanning. The purpose of digitalization is primarily the protection of a collection by permanent preservation of the digital mapping of the object that belongs to the national heritage, protection of the original piece of work from excessive exploitation, devastation, theft, and finally support of the development of collections as a result of supplementing the existing original description based on a digital copy. Digitalization restricts the access to the original piece of work; however, the user while using the digital copy gets the impression of using the original. The problem of digitalization in the area of the European Union law is regulated by the recommendations of the European Parliament and of the Council and European directives, not to mention the lower-order acts. However such documents – as demonstrated in the article – lack of proper detail and accuracy.

The European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) is a large-scale EU project that involves 23 institutions and archives working on Holocaust studies, from Europe, Israel and the US. In its first phase (2011-2015) it aggregated archival descriptions and materials on a large scale and built a Virtual Research Environment (portal) for Holocaust researchers based on a graph database. In its second phase (2015-2019), EHRI-2 seeks to enhance the gathered materials using semantic approaches: enrichment, co-referencing, interlinking. Semantic integration involves four of the 14 EHRI-2 work packages and helps integrate databases, free text, and metadata to interconnect historical entities (people, organizations, places, historic events) and create networks. We will present some of the EHRI-2 technical work, including critical issues we have encountered.

Anzac Battlefield: A Gallipoli Landscape of War and Memory explores the transformation of Gallipoli's landscape in antiquity, during the famed battles of the First World War and in the present day. Drawing on archival, archaeological and cartographic material, this book unearths the deep history of the Gallipoli peninsula, setting the Gallipoli campaign in a broader cultural and historical context. The book presents the results of an original archaeological survey, the research for which was supported by the Australian, New Zealand and Turkish Governments. The survey examines materials from both sides of the battlefield, and sheds new light on the environment in which Anzac and Turkish soldiers endured the conflict. Richly illustrated with both Ottoman and Anzac archival images and maps, as well as original maps and photographs of the landscape and archaeological findings, Anzac Battlefield is an important contribution to our understanding of Gallipoli and its landscape of war and memory.

The relevance of forming a distinct scientific identity for the Ukrainian soil science school is increasingly important. Ukrainian soil science must achieve autonomy, separating itself from soviet legacies. The aim of this study is a historical analysis of the development of the modern Ukrainian soil science school, based on the examination of historical-geographical descriptions, scientific works, reports of soil surveys, and cartographic materials. The article addresses the key issue of soil science development, its main stages of evolution, and the historical context of the formation of this science. Scientific views on the periodization of soil science from the perspectives of both Ukrainian and foreign researchers are analyzed. Based on the obtained data, a new periodization of the Ukrainian soil science school’s development is presented. Understanding the historical features of this periodization is a crucial part of soil science historiography. The analysis of scientific works, historical-geographical descriptions, archival and cartographic materials shows that the development of soil science is closely related to practical issues in agriculture and soil management. The modern Ukrainian soil science school has undergone a long and complex process of formation: from empiricism, the era of feudalism (where it developed in global trends), through the genetic paradigm that dominated in the 19th century to the present day. The genetic paradigm became the foundation of modern soil science and made a significant contribution to the development of the Ukrainian school, as it had substantial input from domestic scientists. The genetic period of development of the Ukrainian soil science school, which laid the foundation for further scientific thought, is not entirely dependent on the research of “imperial” scientists alone, but also includes significant contributions from domestic soil scientists, a fact that is often overlooked. The modern Ukrainian soil science school, represented by various regional institutions, is based on the principles of genetic soil science, focusing on theoretical directions that are relevant (ecological, informational, social soil science, etc.). The formation of the modern Ukrainian school of soil science went through a long and complex stage of formation: from empiricism, the era of feudalism (where it developed in global trends), through the genetic paradigm that dominated in the 19th century. to the present day. It was the genetic paradigm that became the basis for modern soil science and left a significant contribution to its further development. The Ukrainian school is no exception, because its future scientific foundations were also formed during this period: the development of fundamental concepts and approaches to the study of soils (genesis, properties, geography and classification of soils) took place. The genetic period of the development of the Ukrainian school of soil science became fundamental for the formation of further scientific thought. It is important to note that this stage does not depend entirely on the achievements of only "imperial" scientists, and domestic soil scientists also made a significant contribution to this period, which is not paid enough attention to in the modern world. The modern Ukrainian school of soil science in global trends has evolved from genetic to ecological and anthropogenic soil science. This is a natural development, because in the modern world the ecological functions of soils are gaining special importance due to the increased anthropogenic impact on the natural environment, as well as the need to develop sustainable approaches to managing soil resources, preserving their fertility and preventing soil erosion and degradation. According to the authors, the modern Ukrainian soil science school is represented by various regional institutions engaged in research in relevant areas (agronomic, ecological, information, social soil science, etc.). The limited material and technical base encourages modern science to deepen theoretical foundations and principles. That is why Ukrainian soil science is at a crossroads in its further development: theorization or development of practical areas, which is difficult in today's conditions. But historical analysis shows that, having a solid scientific foundation and connections with other European centers of soil science, the Ukrainian school of soil science has a chance to become a regional leader of scientific thought. Keywords: Ukrainian soil science school, genetic soil science, historical analysis, periodization, soil science evolution, scientific identity, soil science research.

Relying on previously unknown cartographic materials of the State Archive of Sverdlovsk region and the Russian State Historical Archive, the author reconstructs the district plan of a metallurgical enterprise - Pudemsky ironworks of Glazov district of Vyatka province. The research material includes handwritten plans of the ironworks district of the first half of the XIX century - land ownership documents that allow clarifying the structure of the mining economy. The paper examines types of lands, natural resources under the enterprise ownership; the conclusion is made about reduction of forest areas in the mentioned period due to extensive forest management.

The paper presents hydrographic changes in a river system and their influence on the legal classification of watercourses in Poland. As a case study, the watercourse Motwica, right tributary of the river San has been analysed. The main objective of this paper is an attempt to analyse whether the Motwica should be classified as flowing or standing water and the legal grounds for such classification in the Water Law act. On the base of archival and contemporary cartographic materials’ analysis it has been determined that the Motwica should not be classified as natural watercourse because its significant part flows in an artificial channel.