Some Thoughts and Designs about Archives and Automation, 1984

Archivists traditionally use provenance-based means for intellectual control of collections, while many researchers have requested subject-based means of access. The former approach involves records management, and the latter involves information management. Automation makes it possible for a repository to employ both approaches in one integrated system. Reasons why this has not yet occurred involve theoretical, practical, and financial considerations. The author reviews an automation "wish list" and suggests how the computer, which can arrange, remember, count, and communicate data, may be used in relation to archival functions, which involve appraisal, accession, preservation and conservation, records processing and management, description, and information retrieval and reference. The essay concludes with important questions to be answered when considering automation and some suggestions as to ways archivists might employ innovations in the making of a modern archives.