Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE LIS3111

 
TITLE Advanced Archival Description

 
UM LEVEL 03 - Years 2, 3, 4 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 6

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Library Information and Archive Sciences

 
DESCRIPTION The study-unit provides focused and specialised training in the arrangement and description of archives. The role and application of standards such as ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF), the Manual of Archival Description, Encoded Archival Description, UNESCO thesaurus, and Descriptive Guidelines issued by the International Council on Archives are dealt with. Practical exercises are included to train future archivists in describing a variety of records including official, non-official, private archives, personal papers, electronic records and datasets.

Study-unit Aims:

This unit aims to build on the Introduction to Archival Description unit and provides more in-depth training to students. From the general principles of archival description, the module moves on to more complex learning, in particular training on the various archival standards, and also introduction of a number of software packages that can be employed in the archival description process.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Understand the workings and uses of the various archival standards;
- Understand the hierarchical levels of fonds and the various manners of archival description;
- Build knowledge on the new methods of archival description in line with EAD and conducive to web-based descriptions.

2. Skills
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Arrange records in line with the archival concepts of provenance and original order;
- Describe records in line with international descriptive standards;
- Decide on the depth of description for particular holdings;
- Write administrative histories;
- Convert traditional catalogues into web-based finding aids.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

- Cook, M. and Procter, M. Manual of Archival Description, 3rd ed. 2000
- European Commission, Model Requirements for the Management of Electronic Records, MoReq2010 Available online at: http://moreq.info/- Official website of EAD https://www.loc.gov/ead/
- Canadian Rules on Archival Description. Available online at http://www.cdncouncilarchives.ca/archdesrules.html.
- I.C.A., The International Standard on Archival Description (ISAD(G), 2nd Edition, 2000. Available online at: https://www.ica.org/sites/default/files/CBPS_2000_Guidelines_ISAD%28G%29_Second-edition_EN.pdf
- I.C.A., International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families, 2nd edition 2011. Available online at: https://www.ica.org/en/isaar-cpf-international-standard-archival-authority-record-corporate-bodies-persons-and-families-2nd
- Miller, F. J. Arranging and Describing Archives and Manuscripts, SAA, 1990
- National Council on Archives, Rules for the construction of personal, place and corporate names, London, 1997. Available online at: https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/ncarules/
- Gartner, Richard, An XML schema for enhancing the semantic interoperability of archival description Available online at: https://hydi.um.edu.mt/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=TN_springer_jour10.1007%2Fs10502-014-9225-1&context=PC&vid=356MALT_VU1&lang=en_US&search_scope=all&adaptor=primo_central_multiple_fe&tab=default_tab&query=any,contains,archival%20description&offset=0

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment SEM1 Yes 50%
Presentation (25 Minutes) SEM1 Yes 50%

 
LECTURER/S Valeria Vanesio

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit