{"id":77,"date":"2017-04-17T04:58:02","date_gmt":"2017-04-17T04:58:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/?p=77"},"modified":"2017-04-17T04:58:02","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T04:58:02","slug":"an-archive-is-not-a-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/2017\/04\/17\/an-archive-is-not-a-library\/","title":{"rendered":"An Archive is NOT a Library"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image

Me when I found out what an archive is<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Prior to my CTW class, I had never really thought about what an archive actually is. I simply imagined that an archive was a room like a basement that stored old dusty books<\/strong> that some people used occasionally– I was wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image

Source<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

After my professor assigned a research paper that I am to use Santa Clara University\u2019s archives for, I was still under the assumption that it was probably just a dusty dimly lit version of a library with books that are a bit older. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Image

Source<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Once I was assigned to read, <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Journeying Into the Archive<\/span><\/a>s\u201d by <\/span>Katherine E. Tirabassi<\/span>, I realized that my assumption that an archive was basically a library in a storage unit was very far from true. Still, after I read of Tirabassi\u2019s account and explanation of an archive, but I still didn\u2019t quite understand what it physically “is”.<\/strong> <\/span><\/p>\n

As I clicked on the first link after googling \u201cwhat is an archive\u201d, I found a good explanation<\/span><\/p>\n

An archive is a place where people go to find information. But rather than gathering information from books as you would in a library, people who do research in archives often gather first hand facts, data, and evidence from letters, reports, notes, memos, photographs, audio and video recordings, and other primary sources.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/files.archivists.org\/advocacy\/AAM\/WhatIsAnArchives.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So I an archive is a place that one would go to analyze primary documents– concluding that an archive is not a library.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Image

Source<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

That revelation aside, I now had a reason to be interested in the purpose and use of archives because I am to use one soon. To use one well, I think that it is valuable to look at the a proposed organized approach to archives<\/strong> as Tirabassi explained in the reading:<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Principle of Selectivity:<\/strong> to understand how artifacts are selected of rejected for a particular archives<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Principle of Cross-Referencing:<\/strong> \u201csearing across documents\u201d for contextual traces to clarify an archival document\u2019s rhetorical situation or to confirm, collaborate, clarify, or contradict a fact or point cited in a given document.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Principle of Categorization:<\/strong> the development of key words and findings aids that help researchers access information in an archives<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Principle of Closure:<\/strong> Understanding that there are inherent gaps in archival records and that the researcher should know when to stop researching. <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Tirabassi)<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Image

Source<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

The reading and a bit of further research into archives prepared me for actually using an archive to conduct my own research later on in the term. Because I have more clarity on what an archives \u201cis\u201d, my approach to an upcoming research paper will be very different than relying on my limited prior knowledge of the purpose of an archives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Until next time…. go visit an archive<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Prior to my CTW class, I had never really thought about what an archive actually is. I simply imagined that an archive was a room like a basement that stored old dusty books that some people used occasionally– I was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1909,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","kk_blocks_editor_width":"","_kiokenblocks_attr":"","_kiokenblocks_dimensions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"gutentor_comment":0,"qubely_featured_image_url":null,"qubely_author":{"display_name":"lschreder","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/author\/lschreder\/"},"qubely_comment":0,"qubely_category":"Uncategorized<\/a>","qubely_excerpt":"Prior to my CTW class, I had never really thought about what an archive actually is. I simply imagined that an archive was a room like a basement that stored old dusty books that some people used occasionally– I was … Continue reading →","post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/lschreder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}