Course Description

Course List

LIS 9673 (Winter 2019)   Archival Arrangement and Description

Instructor: L. Riedstra

Course Description

The course covers the theory and practice of archival arrangement and description and tools designed to improve retrieval for patrons, as well as management, of archival holdings.  Review and application of the Canadian archival descriptive standard, Rules for Archival Description (RAD), will form the focus of the course. 


Course Syllabi for LIS 9673 (Winter 2019)
The syllabi for this course is a PDF file that requires a FIMS account to view

The nature of multi-level arrangement and description as it relates to the basic archival principle of respect des fonds and its two derivative principles of provenance and original order will be explored.  An overview of various programs in current use for automation of RAD will also be presented, as well as the provincial and national archival databases, ARCHEION and ArchivesCanada.

This course will build on the arrangement and description portion of the Introduction to Archives Administration course LIS 9670.  Through lectures, practical exercises, class discussion and site visits to archives, students will gain proficiency in understanding and applying descriptive tools.  Books and articles for reading will be reserved in the Resource Centre.



Program Content Areas
Information Organization, Curation and Access

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of readings, assignments, and class participation, students will be able to:
1. Understand the principles of archival arrangement and description (PLLO 2, 6);

2. Apply archival descriptive tools, focusing on the Canadian standard, Rules for Archival Description (PLLO 2, 4, 6);

3. Compare principles and tools with actual practice in archives (PLLO 5, 6);

4. Review international and foreign English-language national archival descriptive standards (PLLO 2 6);

5. Review technologies employed in archives and archival databases for the control of recorded information (PLLO 4).
MLIS Program Level Learning Outcomes
MLIS Program Goals and Objectives

Top