Archivists Essay

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Automated is transform the materials or records into digital form. As the era of the technology present, the demanding of digital records is drastically increased. Automated records may present archivists their greatest challenge in identifying, selecting, and preserving records of enduring value. Since the introduction of the computer, archivists have been concerned about its impact on their profession's mission. Based on report by the National Archives of Canada on machine-readable data stated that "if one were to take the traditional archival approach of waiting for whatever recorded information came out of the system, then the archivist in the electronic age will undoubtedly die of information starvation."23 Over the past decade archivists have tried to redefine their role in the modern information age, 24 but many seem to have been merely paying lip service to society's major shift to an "information" era. At present one can count on one hand the number of major programs established to deal with automated records, and these are only located at some of the largest archival institutions - The National Archives of Canada, the U.S. National Archives, and the New York, Utah, and Kentucky state archives. Contrast this with the facts: computers have been used for three decades, personal computers have become an ubiquitous feature of society in just the past decade, and a major portion of all information presently being created is going into automated systems of some variety. Nevertheless, there is overwhelming evidence that archivists are not effectively appraising such information nor using the helpful findings of previous research. 25 Current research is, however, both innovative and promising. Archivists have made substantial pro...

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...he automated systems themselves. Otherwise, archivists risk losing a large portion of the overall body of information that should be saved.
Fourth, and finally, archivists must determine how to become involved in the decision- making process of creating automated information systems and to demonstrate to system designers, through cogent arguments based on hard research results, why long-term retention is important. Sufficient technological sophistication will be required to suggest how this can be done. Archivists have no choice. If they do not do this, they risk losing information of enduring value that has been destroyed or is otherwise irretrievable.27 Archivists must be sensitive and responsible to the changing context of their mission, realizing that theirs is the only profession with the unique role of identifying and preserving information of enduring value.

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