Archival Science 3: 65–66, 2003. 65

Book Review

Bruce W. Dearstyne, Managing Historical Records Programs: A Guide forHistorical Agencies (Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press, 2000), 240pp. $62.00/$24.95. ISBN 0-7425-0282-1

Until recently in the UK, most archivists assumed that the responsible wayof ensuring the future preservation of and access to the records of localcommunities was through their deposit in or gift to an established localauthority record office or a specialist repository. Historical societies, literaryinstitutes, charities, local museums and public libraries were discouragedfrom keeping archives, especially if they had no professional archival staff(which they generally did not) and if they were reliant on volunteer help.Archivists believed that proper provision could only be made in adequatelystaffed and funded record offices, even though this meant removing archivesfrom their original context. In part, this stems from the century-long traditionof a network of county record offices across England that offered levels ofservice far beyond what a small institution could aspire to. Hard won recog-nition for the archive profession and its achievements was defended and forarchives of outstanding importance their proper care is clearly paramount.A more inclusive and flexible approach is now emerging, which takes intoaccount the value to local communities of all sorts of historical materials.

Against this British perspective, it is almost shocking to read that US StateHistorical Records Advisory Boards surveys carried out in the late 1990sfound that less than one third of the historical agencies holding historicalrecords had a professional staff member, almost one third relied entirely onvolunteers and 40% had budgets below $1000. Dearstyne sounds a cautionarynote when he remarks ‘how easy, and common, it is to underestimate what ittakes to manage historical records in a responsible manner and on a sustainedbasis’. However, he does not advise historical agencies to give up, rather hesets about writing a soundly based and practical handbook ‘intended to helpthese agencies find solutions and approaches that best fit their needs’.

The handbook is organised into ten thematic chapters which address theframework and management of archives programmes (e.g. prerequisites forprogramme success, leadership and management) and the key professionalactivities (e.g. arrangement and description, preservation, services to users).There is a brief look at the future in chapters on electronic archives and on

66 BOOK REVIEW

current trends. Almost 100 pages are devoted to practical appendices, whichusefully gather material from a variety of sources and reproduce it with someadditional commentary. Each chapter (except chapters 6 and 10) ends witha handful of questions, designed to help the reader to check their recordsprogramme against good practice.

I have some differences of opinion on some of the matters discussed.Chapter 1 defines the terms used. Dearstyne suggests that records are definedby their informational content: I think that their essence is that they provideevidence of an activity and this is what makes a record distinct from an infor-mation product. He also says that ‘document means approximately the samething as record’ which it does not.1 I dislike the use of ‘collection’ to meanfonds or record group: I think that it should only be applied to artificiallycreated ‘collections’ such as those amassed by an antiquarian.

Apart from a short discussion of records management on page 2, this vitalpart of our work is not mentioned. The justification may be that the book isdirected at acquisitive archives (Dearstyne’s ‘collecting programs’) but theyall ought to be encouraged to have an interest in the record creating activitiesof the parent body especially when the records are created electronically.Dearstyne effectively admits this difficulty in chapter 9 when he suggeststhat the best option may be for electronic records to stay in the organizationsthat created them. Local authority record offices in the UK commonly neglectthe management of the current records of their parent body, to the ultimatedetriment of the archives, and this book perpetuates this weakness.

My other main criticism of the book is that it makes little reference to inter-national approaches and standards. For example, in chapter 6, Arrangementand Description, while MARC, AACR2 and Library of Congress SubjectHeadings are discussed, there is no mention of the International Standardson Archival Description (such as ISAD(G)) published by the InternationalCouncil on Archives. Although there may be practical reasons for such anapproach it limits the usefulness of the book to audiences working outsidethe North American tradition.

These points aside, Dearstyne has produced a useful, practical handbookwhich will no doubt be invaluable to its target audience. It is to be hoped thatit will contribute to the strengthening of historical records programmes alongthe lines of Dearstyne’s recommendations.

Elizabeth ShepherdSchool of Library, Archive and Information StudiesUniversity College London, London, UK

1 For a discussion of these and other terms, see E. Shepherd and G. Yeo, ManagingRecords: A Handbook of Principles and Practice (London: Facet Publishing, 2003) pp. 2–5,13–17.