http://www.flickr.com/groups/archivist/

http://airminded.org/2009/07/01/the-best-things-in-life-were-free/

The Royal Historical Society has for some years maintained an online bibliography of British and Irish history, updated three times a year. It currently has over 460,000 records. It’s a fantastic resource for scholars interested in any aspect of the history of the British Isles, not least because it’s free. But from 1 January 2010 it won’t be: it will be rebranded as the Bibliography of British and Irish History which will be sold by Brepols, with subscriptions available for institutions and individuals.

This is a shame, of course. A resource which was freely available to anyone with an internet connection will now only be open to those who can afford to pay.

http://www.rhs.ac.uk/bibl/

UK Forum for Archives and Records Management Education and Research (FARMER)

In association with

Network of Archival Educators and Trainers (North Western Europe)

(NAET)

"Questions of trust? Archives, records and identities"

An international conference, Wolfson College, Oxford, UK

July 5-6th 2010

Call for Papers

As we enter the second decade of the 21st century, the digital world is ever more the place in which many of our lives are lived and recorded. The transition to this new world and new way of working has brought many new questions for all those interested in archives and records, as well as reformulating and suggesting re-imagining many traditional ones. Chief amongst these questions are those which relate to trust (of records, of governments and organisations, of systems) and to identity/identities and the way in which archives and records might support the construction, articulation and demonstration of those identities. In recent years there has been a growing recognition of the political nature of archives and records, and of archives and records management. Questions of trust and identity sit at the heart of these political concerns and processes. This conference will consider the implications of these questions for professional education, research and practice.

The conference will bring together an international group of those active in archives and records management education and research, as well as interested practitioners. Moreover the conference sets out to be actively transdisciplinary in its outlook and will encourage contributions from many related and relevant disciplines including library and information science, museology, cultural heritage, history, anthropology, public policy and governance, business management, information systems development and design, etc.

Conference Themes

Amongst the themes contributors might wish to consider are:

· Can records and archives be trusted? What might ‘trust’ mean in this context? Are there archives, information and records management systems which can ensure the ‘trustworthiness’ of archives and records? How does trust relate to authenticity, integrity, completeness or other (supposed) qualities of archives and records?

· Does (or how might) access to archives and records, particularly in a digital world, support levels of trust in governments, commercial organisations, communities, etc?

· Are the present crises of confidence and public trust in major governmental and financial institutions mitigated or made worse by legislation specifying public access to information?

· Many claims are made about the different ways in which communities and shared identifications are constructed around (upon) histories, heritages and archives. How are these identities constructed and shared and how do these processes engage with records, archives, and other heritage materials? What role is played in the construction of collective and community memories by the question of ‘trust’ in these heritage materials, and in the authority of those who hold them?

· What are the implications, including questions of trust and identity for virtual communities forming around, sharing and engaging with heritage materials online when social and participatory technologies are used?

· What does the concept of identity mean within digital and virtual environments? What are the implications for the security and trustworthiness of records in this context?

Papers and session proposals:

The organisers hope that many of the papers from the conference will be published in an international journal and are in negotiation with publishers and editors about this. Further details will follow in due course. The language of the conference will be English.

The conference organisers encourage proposals for individual papers as well as for panels. Paper submissions should include a short abstract (300-500 words) plus a brief CV and contact details for the proposer. Panel submissions (maximum of 3 speakers plus chair) should include a brief overview of the theme of the panel, short abstracts (300-500 words) for each of the proposed papers, and a brief CV and contact details for each of the chair and panel members.

A conference website will established shortly but meanwhile further information can be found at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/infostudies/research/icarus/farmerconference2010/

Important dates:

Please submit individual paper or panel proposals via email (with ‘FARMER Conference Proposal’ in the subject line) by 30 September 2009 to a.flinn@ucl.ac.uk. Proposals will reviewed by the organising committee with final decisions being made before the end of the year.

In order to better facilitate discussion and exchange at the conference, papers will be made available to delegates in advance. Participants will therefore be asked to agree to submit a full version of their paper by 31 May 2010.

"When the rumor concerning Michael Jackson’s tragic death became fact, I raced to the Starbucks
on the corner of 7th and E, Northwest, in downtown Washington, D.C.
It was as close as I could get to the site of the clothing store (the name of which I cannot remember) where,
in the late Spring of 1971, the tailor measuring the suit I would wear to my 9th grade graduation, would sing, and sing,
and sing the opening lines from the Jackson 5’s hit single “Never Can Say Goodbye.”
The tailor alternately crooned and chanted those four words-pausing only to ask if I was okay with
the length of the slacks.
I simply nodded.
In part because the suit idea wasn’t mine to begin with, and because I shared his love for
that aching, arresting love song, and wanted to return to that space.
I had him adjust the cuff length four times before my Mother gave a look which said “Let’s go!”
Today I could not tell you what that suit looked like if my life depended on it.
But I remember the exact site of the clothing store.
A glitzy art gallery stands in its place.
The 7th Street of my youth, adolescence and early adulthood was as different a place
as photos of the pre and post teenage Michael Jackson.
I was so overcome with emotion, I was sorely tempted to tell the otherwise bored barista about my experience.
I’d say she was in her early ‘20’s-which probably meant she was more familiar with Michael Jackson the tabloid star
than the vocalist whose sound is as much a part of me as shyness, so I held back..
I can’t even remember what I ordered.
I do know that I stood in front of that gallery, lost in a 38 year-old memory.
I held the cup like the girl I dreamed of dancing with each time that sweet song played."
Reuben Jackson is a poet and associate curator in the Archives Center at the National Museum of American History.
Link
http://blog.americanhistory.si.edu/osaycanyousee/2009/06/never-can-say-goodbye.html

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2009/06/winterton.html Press Release

Collection site: http://www.library.northwestern.edu/africana/winterton/

EVANSTON, Ill. --- This week -- for the first time ever -- a searchable collection of thousands of rare photographs chronicling Europe's colonization of East Africa becomes available to anyone with an Internet connection anywhere in the world, thanks to the efforts of staff at Northwestern University Library.

The Humphrey Winterton Collection of East African Photographs: 1860-1960 began attracting the interest of Africa scholars and others in 2002 when it was acquired by Northwestern's Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies. The library officially launches the online collection today (June 25).

"The 7,000-plus photographs in this extraordinary collection document the changing relationships among Africans and between Africans and Europeans during 100 years of dramatic historic change," says Herskovits Library curator David Easterbrook.

German Book:
Land und Leute in Deutsch-Ost-Afrika
http://books.northwestern.edu/viewer.html?id=inu:inu-mntb-0005370551-bk

http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/15526

Yesterday the Register posted an article by Charles Eicher on the topic of copyfraud — asserting copyright where it doesn’t exist, or asserting more restrictions than copyright grants. A very important topic — true copyfraud diminishes the commons, either in the sense of propertizing the public domain, or effectively reducing the scope of uses not restricted by copyright.

Unfortunately, the article merely uses this interesting and important topic as a jumping off point for hyperbole. On the public domain and copyfraud, comments on the article offer far more insight than the article itself.

http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/cgi-bin/fullrecord.pl?handle=20081027-10191097

Produced by the Archivio di Stato di Roma, the Imago II Project website is an excellent resource, providing access to digital reproductions of some of the most heavily-used and important fonds in the Archive. At time of review, eight fonds have been digitized, comprising: the Alessandrino land registry; the Urban land registry; the Gregorian land registry; the Old land registry maps; Parchments; Precious volumes; Notaries and Tesoreries. Explanatory texts introduce each fond, presenting a description of documents included, while a more general guide to the collection of the Archivio di Stato di Roma is available in PDF. Users can search or browse each fond. Digital facsimiles are of outstanding quality and images can be enlarged to enable better viewing. The Alessandrino land registry, for example, makes available a strong and rare collection of more than 400 aquarelle maps and fine images of the Roman countryside. The Gregorian land registry section presents a selection of reproductions of maps surveying the Papal States taken from the 1835 land registry of Pope Gregory XVI. It comprises in excess of 1.400 images. Free registration is required to access the database and the digital facsimiles. A short bibliography on the Project and its achievements is available for consultation. The website has been listed on the Unesco Archives Portal.
URL http://www.cflr.beniculturali.it/Imago/index.html [English; Italian]

http://www.thecommunityarchive.org.nz/