Scarecrow Press
Pages: 304
•
Trim: 5¾ x 8¾
978-0-8108-4896-2 • Paperback • December 2003 • $103.00 • (£79.00)
978-1-4175-0370-4 • eBook • December 2003 • $97.50 • (£75.00)
Richard J. Cox is a Professor of School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh.
...this volume contains rich examples of the various kinds of archival practices, dubious decisions, inadequate methods, and limited professional assumptions about the function of records in society. It is also replete with wide-ranging ideas taken from the literature on museums, libraries, and other memory institutions. Thus, this work references a vast array of fascinating studies and perspectives on 'collecting' from both within the archival profession and from institutions in other parts of the heritage sector....Cox makes some telling points about the importance, indeed, the urgency of appraisal. Cox is virtually unmatched in the sheer mass of information he collects and proffers to archivists through his published studies. He brings to his writing aseemingly inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge of instructive cases, histories, news, and stories about record keeping practice and the strategies and conventions of such preservation bodies as libraries, museums, and other memory institutions. A readerneed only glance at the footnotes and bibliographies in his numerous publications to appreciate wide reading. (When does he take time to sleep?) Indeed, Cox is a relentless documenter and an unabashed empiricist....No one has done more to educate America
— Journal of Archival Organization
As we have come to expect from this author, the book is loaded with examples drawn from everyday life, which illuminate the connection between records and things society thinks (or should think) worth striving for. Some of these connections are profoundly enlightening, linking public issues with appraisal successes and failures in ways that are truly insightful for professional and lay person alike. This has always been one of Cox's strengths. Earlier case studies are repeated here, but this provides a valuable consolidation and exposes new cases...There is much here that is new, stimulating, challenging and profound. The chapters are based on a coherent position and illuminated by wide reading and considered judgments...
— Journal Of The Society Of Archivists
...this volume contains rich examples of the various kinds of archival practices, dubious decisions, inadequate methods, and limited professional assumptions about the function of records in society. It is also replete with wide-ranging ideas taken from the literature on museums, libraries, and other memory institutions. Thus, this work references a vast array of fascinating studies and perspectives on 'collecting' from both within the archival profession and from institutions in other parts of the heritage sector....Cox makes some telling points about the importance, indeed, the urgency of appraisal. Cox is virtually unmatched in the sheer mass of information he collects and proffers to archivists through his published studies. He brings to his writing a seemingly inexhaustible storehouse of knowledge of instructive cases, histories, news, and stories about record keeping practice and the strategies and conventions of such preservation bodies as libraries, museums, and other memory institutions. A reader need only glance at the footnotes and bibliographies in his numerous publications to appreciate wide reading. (When does he take time to sleep?) Indeed, Cox is a relentless documenter and an unabashed empiricist....No one has done more to educate American archivists about the history, practices, and institutional patterns of their own profession than Richard Cox. Few have done more to promote and explain to the outside world the unique value of archives and the challenges archivists face in accomplishing their mission. No one has been a more persistent advocate, critic, and publicist for the profession....those who are unfamiliar with Cox's previous contributions to the field as well as those who wish to learn about what matters have been preoccupying archival scholarship over the last decade will get a good sampling from these essays.
— Journal of Archival Organization
• Winner, Winner of the Waldo Gifford Leland Award for writing of superior excellence and usefulness in the field of archival history, theory, or practice_Society of American Archivists 2005