LIBRARY GUIDE TO HST 3930 - Field experience: public history

De-mystifying the Archive
An introduction for new users of archives

Introduction to Archival Organization and Description 
Book-length guide for novices

Personal Digital Archiving
Basic information on digital preservation from the Library of Congress

James M. O'Toole & Richard Cox, Understanding Archives and Manuscripts (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2006)
- especially chapters 4 & 5

Laura Schmidt, Using Archives: A Guide to Effective Research (Society of American Archivists)
A guide designed for the users of archives

School of Information, University of Michigan: Understanding Records and Archives
Course materials on all aspects of archivists' work, including history and ethics

David Bearman, Archives and Museum Informatics Technical Report #9 (Pittsburgh, Archives and Museum Informatics, 1989)

David Carmichael, Organizing Archival Records: A Practical Method of Arrangement and Description for Small Archives (2004)
A straightforward, step-by-step approach to archival processing for beginners

Processing manuals
Actual manuals used by libraries to acquire, arrange, and describe archival collections

 

History Skills workshops by the Historical Society of Michigan

Continuing education from SAA

Processing

• Linear footage calculator
• Guidelines for efficient archival processing (University of California Libraries)
• Basic processing manual for students and volunteers (University of South Florida)
• A dictionary of archival and records terminology (SAA)
   

Preservation

• Collection care and handling (Library of Congress)
• Preservation (detailed yet clear guidelines from the North East Document Conservation Center)

Digitization

• Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Self-Guided Curriculum for Digitization

Ethics

• SAA Core Values Statement and Code of Ethics
• Records Management: Code of Ethics

Society of American Archivists website (SAA)