The Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies (JCAS) announces the publication of two new articles.
"How Accessible are European Public Archives? An Assessment of the Compliance with the Council of Europe Recommendation R(2000)13 on a European Policy on Access to Archives" written by Michael Friedewald, Ivan Szekely, and Murat Karaboga.
Download the article: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol10/iss1/21/
Abstract: This paper takes as its starting point the lessons learned from the second pan-European study on access to archives conducted 20 years after the first one – with the understanding that these results may also provide global lessons. The principal aim of the study was to assess the European archives' compliance with the Council of Europe Recommendation No. R(2000)13 on a European policy on access to archives, which was adopted in July 2000 and was the first international norm in this field. Although the overall access situation in Europe has significantly improved over the past 20 years, several practices still exist that are incompatible with the requirements of the Recommendation. These include the need for special authorization to access otherwise unrestricted documents or finding aids, as well as denying access based on the research topic or the insufficient qualifications of the user. In some countries, certain documents may remain classified and thus restricted in their accessibility without time limit. In addition to the challenges of digitization, and handling born-digital documents, the changing expectations and demands of archive users also pose challenges that archives of today must face. This article attempts to place these empirical results in a broader context.
"Variegated Order: Making Space for Neurodiverse Perspectives in Archives" written by Sophie Penniman.
Download the article: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/jcas/vol10/iss1/22/
Abstract: This article aims to envision how archives could better reflect and represent neurodivergent records creators-people whose brains function in ways that diverge significantly from dominant societal standards of "normal". It discusses how neurodivergent records creators and their recordkeeping behaviors often do not fit within traditional archival paradigms which center verbal, written, and linear documents in specific organizational systems. The article then brings together sources from disability studies, feminist and gender studies, library studies, literary analysis, and archival scholarship to imagine ways in which the principle of provenance could be expanded to fit the archives of neurodiverse creators (and archives that resist wholeness and completeness more broadly). One way of conceptualizing this is through the idea of variegation, or of a unified whole comprised of multiple distinct elements. In an application of provenance that is not uniform but instead variegated, we could begin to extend a framework of neurodiversity to archival arrangement and description.
JCAS is a peer-reviewed, open access journal sponsored by the New England Archivists, Yale University Library, and Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
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Sally Blanchard-O'Brien
Marketing & Outreach Associate
Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies
email.jcas@gmail.com
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