Better off forgetting?: essays on archives, public policy, and collective memory

TitleBetter off forgetting?: essays on archives, public policy, and collective memory
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsCheryl Avery, Mona Holmlund
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press
CityToronto
ISBN Number9781442641, 1442641673, 9781442610, 1442610808
Call NumberCD3621 .B47 2010, 025.17/140971
Abstract

"Throughout Canada, provincial, federal, and municipal archives exist to house the records we produce. Some conceive of these institutions as old and staid, suggesting that archives are somehow trapped in the past. But archives are more than resources for professional scholars and interested individuals. With an increasing emphasis on transparency in government and public institutions, archives have become essential tools for accountability.

Better Off Forgetting? offers a reappraisal of archives and a look at the challenges they face in a time when issues of freedom of information, privacy, technology, and digitization are increasingly important. The contributors argue that archives are essential to contemporary debates about public policy and make a case for more status, funding, and influence within public bureaucracies. While stimulating debate about our rapidly changing information environment, Better Off Forgetting? focuses on the continuing role of archives in gathering and preserving our collective memory."--pub. desc.

Notes

'bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.'
'statement of responsibility: edited by Cheryl Avery and Mona Holmlund.'
'Table of Contents: Pennies from Heaven: The History of Public Funding for Canadian Archives / Marion Beyea -- Lady Sings the Blues: The Public Funding of Archives, Libraries, and Museums in Canada / Shelley Sweeney -- Access-to-Information Legislation: A Critical Analysis / Jo-Ann Munn Gafuik -- Privacy: A Look at the Disenfranchized / Doug Surtees -- The Laurier Promise: Securing Public Access to Historic Census Materials in Canada / Terry Cook and Bill Waiser -- Search vs. Research: Full-Text Repositories, Granularity, and the Concept of \'Source\' in the Digital Environment / Robert Cole and Chris Hackett -- Preserving Digital History: Costs and Consequences / Yvette Hackett -- Archives, Democratic Accountability, and Truth / Terry Eastwood -- Archivists and Public Affairs: Towards a New Archival Public Programming / Tom Nesmith -- Reconciliation in Regions Affected by Armed Conflict: The Role of Archives / Tom Adami and Martha Hunt -- Bridging Us to Us: An Argument for the Importance of Archivists in Current Politics and Journalism / Robert Steiner'

Short TitleBetter off forgetting?