Navigating Legal Issues in Archives, by Menzi L.Behrnd-Klodt. Chicago: Society of American Archivists,2008. 340p. D69.95. ISBN 1-931666-28-8.
Navigating Legal Issues in Archives is an updatedversion of 1985's Archives and Manuscripts: Law fromthe Society of American Archivists' Basic Manual series.Since the earlier volume's publication, laws havechanged significantly and society has become increas-ingly litigious. Attorney and archivist Menzi Behrnd-Klodt created a new handbook for an intended audienceof barchival professionals, including employees, con-sultants, and volunteers in public and private institu-tions; in business/corporate, religious, academic/scho-larly, historical society, museum, and governmentalsettings; those who spend their professional livesamong archival colleagues, and those who are dlonearrangersTQ (p. v). In other words, anyone who workswith records of enduring value will find this book usefulat all stages of their career.
Aiming to provide a volume to serve archivists fordecades, Behrnd-Klodt provided general legal infor-mation in succinct chapters. Divided into four sectionsby theme, the volume is to be bdipped intoQ whenarchivists need bcomplex issues N explained simplyQ(p. vi). The first section sets the legal framework for therest of the book, explaining policies and procedures,working effectively with counsel, and explaining legalprocesses and civil litigation. Section 2 exploresissues of acquisition and ownership, including transfer,appraisal, loans, abandoned materials, tax issues, andrisk management. The third section—the largest—dealswith administration and access to the archives, privacy,and confidentiality, as well as implications of theSarbanes-Oxley Act, the Family and Education Rightsand Privacy Act (FERPA), and cultural property laws.The final section provides advice on copyright andintellectual property law.
The chapters stand alone and are accessible as needand time permits, which enhances the book's value as asource of timely advice flexible enough in format toserve as a ready reference book. Each chapter explainswhy the content is important and who will find it mostuseful, allowing the busy professional to select chaptersrelevant to their interests. For instance, laws regulateaccess to legal, educational, medical, public, and pre-sidential records; those who do not work with theserecords may want to skim or skip chapters pertaining tothem. Of particular interest to most archivists, espe-cially in smaller institutions in which records programsare part of their duties, is the chapter on legal issues ofrecords and information management. Also includedare sample legal documents and forms, such as donor,de-accession, and loan agreements; important statues;a copyright term chart; and an extensive notes section.
Navigating Legal Issues in Archives offers vital,laconic information for the industrious archivist seek-ing informed discussions and practical recommenda-tions for the myriad legal issues abounding in anincreasingly complex information age. This referencebook of legal information through the prism of archival
management deserves a rightful place on the book-shelves of all archivists.—Margot Note, Archivist andInformation Manager, World Monuments Fund, 95Madison Avenue, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10016, USA<[email protected]>.
doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2009.03.021
Doing Things With Information: Beyond Indexingand Abstracting, by Brian C. O'Connor, Jodi Kearns, andRichard L. Anderson, Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited,2008. 241p. D50.00. ISBN 978-1-59158-577-0.
Doing ThingsWith Information attempts to address theproblems of failed searches arising out of inappropriaterepresentation of searchers' questions and informationsource. Standard indexes and abstracts (A&I) arecurrently created out of a representational perspectiveand convention,which do not necessarily alignwith thatof the searcher's. Inconsistency and subjectivity in A&Ipractices compound the problem. This situation wor-sens with non-word based documents due to mediumincompatibility between words (descriptor) and con-tent. The book seek to address this problem by movingaway from themechanics of indexing and abstracting byasking the preliminary question of what is it that oughtto be represented in the relationship between searcherand information source. It explores how to do appro-priate modeling and constructions of surrogates thatreflectmore accuratelywhat is being asked for andwhatis actually in the documents.
There are 10 chapters in the book; the first chapteroutlines concepts and defining terms used throughoutthe book. The rest of the chapters can be grouped into: 1)Representation, its function and use, and failures inrepresentation; 2) Aboutness (document description atthe level of meaning), the difficulties of describingaboutness, and what can be done when representationand describing aboutness fail; 3) Exploringmethods andtools for describing and analyzing documents throughmeasurement of content to elicit useful patterns orbehavior; and 4) Presentation of an interdisciplinaryontology that models the relationship between users,documents, and environment. Finally, the book endswith a short chapter that calls the reader to examine allthat has been discussed and to reflect on the complexityand enormity of the tasks ahead without necessarilyoffering any kind of conclusion or prescription.
Inmanyways, this is a remarkable book that discussesthe complexity of the information search process andthe pitfalls of engaging in A&I without having carefullyexamined the basis of that activity. Readers are en-couraged to examine assumptions held regarding infor-mation, search processes, and metadata descriptionpractice as it exists now. The book would also help sys-tem architects re-examine how and whether theirinformation system presents a misleading or inappro-priate representation of its documents that can lead tofailed searches. That being said, however, the book
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