For example, libraries contain published works (books, magazines, newspapers, electronic databases, etc.) created for education, information, and entertainment, while archives contain mostly unpublished materials created by individuals, organizations, and governments in the course of a typical day. -The latter are often collected at the end of a day’s activities and only later preserved because they tell us something important about the past. The library’s collection is not unique, as most of the works it receives are made in multiple copies and sold to other libraries across the country. However, archival collections are unique. You will not find archival records in one repository duplicated elsewhere. There is an old cliché that says: “libraries are for readers, and archives are for writers”. Libraries are used by different people, but those who plan to create knowledge for others use archives. Although there are exceptions to this cliché, we hope you get the point.

Due to their unique holdings, archival institutions often have well-developed preservation, conservation, and security plans designed to protect and preserve their collections. After all, if an archival document is destroyed or stolen, it cannot be replaced. A factor that limits libraries in replacing missing documents is money – does the library have the funds to purchase replacements? As a result, most libraries allow their materials to circulate outside the library and then replace lost and stolen items if necessary. Archival materials are almost never removed from the archive because they cannot be replaced.

Libraries and archives also process materials differently. In general, libraries catalog resources at the item level. You can search the library’s online catalog by subject, author, title, keyword, etc. and find individual items that focus on your topic. Archival collections are maintained and processed at the collection level, and many collections contain literally thousands of items (some much larger). Instead of cataloging individual items in archival collections, archivists create finding aids for the collections as a whole. These finding aids, rather than library catalog records, are access tools for researchers. You can read more about how finding aids work below, but archives are also staffed by archivists who assist researchers as part of their job. Feel free to ask them for help!

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Many archival collections are not processed as much as they used to be, so you may come across letters with the wrong chronological order in a folder or perhaps even a slightly inaccurate folder name for what’s inside it. You can “process” the collection yourself with your digital files. Ruth Rappaport’s diary, which she wrote in Israel in 1948-1949, was written on sheets of paper. They were completely out of order in several folders and were mistakenly labeled as correspondence.

Organizing your files by collection and archive is great for making sure your citations are accurate, but it can be impossible to remember exactly what is in what when you are dealing with a huge amount of material. You can create a spreadsheet to keep track of your files or an important group of documents. Ruth Rappaport’s collections included hundreds of letters to and from her over the decades, many of which contained great quotes.

There is a lot of software that can help you organize and label files. Zotero, an open-source tool, is popular among academics and is great for saving and tracking citations of academic publications, but it is not well suited for archival materials. One advantage is that you can log in from any device and collaborate with other authors. Tropy, developed by the same group behind Zotero, focuses more on images and documents and has a great system for organizing and tagging them, but you need to download it to your computer and use it only there. You can also export your digital documents and photos to online exhibition software (remember, you can’t do this unless you have permission from the archive). Scrivener, a popular writing software, also allows you to upload documents, but it is not free. Keep in mind that setting up any of these systems requires a lot of work. And using your own file folders, spreadsheets, and text documents may be perfectly fine. It’s worth investing in optical character recognition (OCR) using Adobe Acrobat or other tools. It can scan your digitized printed documents and convert the characters into searchable text. However, older printed documents that may be faded or have uneven printing can come out quite distorted.

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Another significant point is that new machines and technological tools present greater, even unprecedented, opportunities for archivists to support one of the core elements of their professional mission, namely the use of used archival files. humanity has been able to develop many powerful digital imaging and communication tools that have rapidly transformed the world we have lived in into a futuristic environment that most science fiction scenarios are now a reality. Another significant point is that new machines and technological tools present greater, even unprecedented, opportunities for archivists to support one of the core elements of their professional mission, namely the use of used archival files. humanity has been able to develop many powerful digital imaging and communication tools that have rapidly transformed the world we have lived in into a futuristic environment that most science fiction scenarios are now a reality. Another significant point is that new machines and technological tools present greater, even unprecedented, opportunities for archivists to maintain one of the core elements of their professional mission, namely the use of used archival files.

Despite technological developments in all other scientific disciplines, archival studies remains part of the scientific world based on old-fashioned principles and faithful to classical values. Thanks to my visit to the university, I had the opportunity to discover that in the process of studying, creating, and accessing archives, only a few things have already evolved and changed over the past centuries. Technology and the digital birth of documents is often a term unknown to archivists, who have as their archetype the work of great researchers who dedicated their scholarship to formulating the theoretical technological evolution of archival studies in an era when technological means were few and access was financially unaffordable.

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How can museums find a balance between preserving and protecting cultural documentation? And how can the general public gain greater access to the rich collections held in archives and museums? Traditional communities and cultural institutions have begun to seek intellectual property (IP) information and advice on these issues. Greater clarity on how to identify relevant IP issues and options can benefit all stakeholders. This article outlines several key issues and describes WIPO’s activities to address them.

The ethnographic collections of museums and other institutions often contain invaluable, even unique, records of ancient traditions, lost languages and community histories that are vital to indigenous peoples’ sense of identity. The treatment of sensitive and sacred materials in such collections can be a source of particular concern. Indigenous peoples also cite numerous instances where commercial users have utilized cultural heritage collections without seeking the consent of the community concerned, let alone acknowledging the source or distribution of commercial benefits. Some popular world music albums, such as Return to Innocence, have included samples of traditional music that were originally recorded and made public for heritage preservation purposes.

According to expert Henrietta Formille (Center for Indigenous History and Art, University of Western Australia), the essence of the problem from the perspective of indigenous people is that “the information collected about us simply does not belong to us.”

This raises questions about the role of intellectual property law, policy and practice in activities aimed at preserving cultural heritage. Such questions arise for museums, libraries, archives, and galleries in relation to their collections of original works, as well as derivative databases, catalogs, journal books and postcards, etc. Intellectual property issues become more relevant when they create digital libraries of their collections.

Traditional cultural materials

The “public domain” nature of traditional cultural expressions (folklore), which has been the subject of criticism, especially by indigenous peoples, raises interesting and complex issues. For example, while intellectual property law may consider a traditional song to be in the public domain, a recording of that song creates intellectual property rights in the recording. Who owns these new rights, and how can they be managed in a way that takes into account the interests of the community that has been entrusted with the custody of the song under customary laws?

Additional questions to consider include:

What intellectual property rights do researchers and cultural institutions have? And how can these rights best be managed in the interests of cultural preservation, promoting cultural diversity, fostering creativity and cultural exchange, and facilitating public access to and enjoyment of diverse cultural expressions?
What existing intellectual property rules and practices can help researchers and cultural institutions fulfill their objectives?

These questions often arise in practice. The Tulumne Tribe of California recently used copyright laws to stop the sale of CDs and videos of their sacred dances. There are other cases where the recording of a work of traditional art and the use of intellectual property rights to that recording helped protect the original work from misuse

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