Work

Reviews

Year: 1977

Type: article

Abstract: Kudos to the Association of Canadian Archivists and the Midwest Archives Conference!As publishers of two new journals, Archivaria and The Mid-Western Archivist, they have committed their resources to enhancing archival literature and promoting serious discussion to the benefit of the profession as a whole.Many papers presented at professional meetings deserve further dissemination and discussion; important issues need to be aired in numerous forums; significant books need reviews by more than one reviewer.The advent of these two new periodicals is a major step toward meeting these needs.Archivaria is the more ambitious of the two publications.Appearing semiannually, it contains major and shorter articles; "Notes and Communications"; "Coun terpoint,'' an open forum;' 'Potpourri,'' limits undefined; book reviews; and bibliography.In the first two issues the boundaries of the categories seemed a bit uncertain.For example, Gordon Dodds's thoughtful discussion of "The Compleat Archivist" was in the section of shorter articles but seemed virtually indistinguishable from the articles in "Counterpoint."It would be useful to have a statement by the editors of the criteria used to place articles in each section.Similarly, "Notes and Communications" is a melange of reports on meetings, discussions of new archival projects and techniques, and regular features on conservation measures and "lesser known" archives.The editors might consider breaking this section into several parts."Counterpoint" is a splendid idea, but some way should be found to involve the archival public in the discussions, perhaps by providing space after the feature piece for rebuttals to "Counterpoints" in previous issues.Again, the ground rules for such dialogue should be clearly stated in the journal.The one section that may be superfluous, at least in part, is that on bibliography.Listing works published in French or English through 1974, the bibliography partially duplicates both Frank Evans's enormous bibliography and the continuing annual bibliographies of the American Archivist.Archivaria could perform a real service by providing comprehensive bibliographic information on archival writings in current Canadian publications which, when used with the American Archivist and the Evans book, would provide thorough coverage of recent archival writings in North America and citations to a wide-ranging background of international archival theory.Finally, as befits a Canadian publication, major articles are followed by a brief resume in French.It would be nice if this service could be extended to the shorter articles as well, especially as two of the most interesting pieces in the first two issues,

Source: The American Archivist

DOI: 10.17723/aarc.40.1.h38660063t11x225