22.Edited Works and Conference Proceedings. The archives and records management field has long advanced its knowledge via conferences or edited compilations of essays. Careful analyses of the primary journals reflect that a considerable portion of the content published in these outlets derive from conferences and special meetings. Some of these have become noteworthy benchmarks in transitions in practice and theory or gained attention because of controversial or contested viewpoints. Others have merely reflected current practice, much like the basic manuals. However, such publications cannot be ignored because they often provide important commentary on the more basic writings or provide reports on research, case studies, and other issues serving to advance practice.

23.There are many examples of such publications providing additional insights into archival work. Some of these volumes have knit together essays in order to form a basic textbook, such as Maygene F. Daniels and Timothy Walch, eds., A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings on Archival Theory and Practice (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1984), a volume still in print and in use even though it is very outdated (the Society of American Archivists is currently preparing a new version of this reader, a much needed replacement). Some of these kinds of volumes now provide useful historical texts, such as Richard H. Lytle, ed., Management of Archives and Manuscript Collections for Librarians (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1980; org. Pub. 1975), an excellent view into prevailing archival practices of a quarter of a century ago. Laura B. Cohen, ed., Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts (New York: Haworth Press, Inc., 1997) and Elsie Freeman Finch, ed., Advocating Archives: An Introduction to Public Relations for Archivists (Metuchen, New Jersey: Society of American Archivists and the Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994) both provide, for example, groups of writings that add to the existing literature on reference and advocacy. The Finch volume is, moreover, probably the best set of writings on the archival function of advocacy. The Cohen volume is intended to replace Lucille Whalen, ed., Reference Services in Archives (New York: Haworth Press, 1986), and it is a far superior work. By reading this volume and the Whalen collection of essays one gains a sense of immense changes in how archivists view reference.

24.Not surprisingly, electronic records management has been the topic of many conferences resulting in conference proceedings and edited works. There are many important conference proceedings on electronic records, including Cynthia J. Durrance, comp., Management of Recorded Information: Converging Disciplines; Proceedings of the International Council on Archives’ Symposium on Current Records, National Archives of Canada, Ottawa May 15-17, 1989 (New York: K. G. Sauer, 1990); Margaret Hedstrom, ed., Electronic Records Management Program Strategies, ed. Margaret Hedstrom (Pittsburgh, PA: Archives and Museum Informatics, 1993); and Stephen Yorke, ed., Playing for Keeps: The Proceedings of an Electronic Records Management Conference Hosted by the Australian Archives Canberra, Australia, 8-10 November 1994 (Canberra: Australian Archives, 1995). The Hedstrom and Yorke volumes are especially noteworthy because of the essays from many different perspectives and the capturing of the sense of controversies over different approaches to electronic records management.

An extremely useful teaching tool and resource is a CD publication by Cohasset Associates, Inc. produced for the US Patent and Trademark Office, Managing Electronic Records National Conference: The Best of the First Five Years of the MER 1993-1997 [1999]. The CD includes 28 talks grouped by five areas – electronic records management issues and concepts; classification, indexing, scheduling, storage, and access; application issues and concerns; legal issues; and management concerns. What you get is the recording of the speaker’s actual presentation, and the pacing with the presentation of PowerPoint slides. Some of the best-known authorities are represented on this CD, including Charles Dollar, Gregory Hunter, John McDonald, and Robert F. Williams. The CD publication is free either through the US PTO or Cohasset Associates.

25.The archival profession has also supported the collecting of essays by or about archival pioneers, providing a unique set of writings on archival management with a historical perspective. The accumulated writings of Margaret Cross Norton, collected and edited by Thornton Mitchell and mentioned above, is the prime example of this type of publication. Barbara L. Craig, ed., The Archival Imagination: Essays in Honour of Hugh A. Taylor (Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists, 1992) is an important work with many important contributions in it, especially Terry Cook’s essay on macro-appraisal. One of the best sources on Ernst Posner, one of the leading archival theorists and historians of the twentieth century, is Ken Munden, ed., Archives and the Public Interest: Selected Essays by Ernst Posner (Washington, D.C.: Public Affairs Press, 1967), conveniently collecting some of his seminal writings. It would be useful to have more of these kinds of volumes available to the profession, especially of the more recent pivotal figures such as Margaret Hedstrom, Terry Cook, and James O’Toole – all projects that are eminently doable since these individuals are quite active and could undertake the work. Each of these individuals has been as influential on archival theory and practice in the 1980s as Schellenberg or Jenkinson were more than a half-century ago.

26.Conference proceedings or edited works on archival appraisal and descriptive standards also have moved professional discussions on these issues to new and interesting levels. Terry Eastwood, ed., The Archival Fonds: From Theory to Practice, (Ottawa: Bureau of Canadian Archivists, 1992) is an example of a series of works on Canadian archival description standards that has energized discussion about this area. Murtha Baca, ed. Introduction to Metadata: Pathways to Digital Information (Los Angeles: Getty Information Institute, 1998) is part of a series of Getty publications providing a practical introduction to the descriptive management of digital information, including electronic records and Web pages including electronic records. An excellent set of essays introducing the concept and importance of authority control for access to archival records is Avra Michelson, ed. Archives and Authority Control, Archival Informatics Technical Report, 2 (Summer 1988). A number of archivists have used edited works to focus on critical issues and challenges facing the profession. Joan D. Krizack, ed., Documentation Planning for the U.S. Health Care System (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994) builds on the earlier appraisal work done in the realm of scientific, medical, and technology to examine how complex aspects of the American health care system will, or can, be adequately documented. Nancy E. Peace, ed., Archival Choices: Managing the Historical Record in an Age of Abundance (Lexington: D.C. Heath, 1984) is an excellent example of how some edited works have played substantial roles in reformulating basic archival functions such as appraisal. The Peace volume was a benchmark effort in the early 1980s to develop new appraisal approaches, especially to bring into the mix lesser-known archival appraisal methods from Europe. Lawrence J. McCrank, ed., Archives and Library Administration: Divergent Traditions and Common Concerns (New York: Haworth Press, 1986) was another effort to explore the relationships between archivists and librarians as a time when more archivists were beginning to work in libraries and when archival education was shifting to schools of library and information science. This collection remains the best probe into the relationship between the disciplines.

27.Such edited works have also been an important venue for making the ideas of archivists in other nations more readily available on an international level. The Australians have been especially adept in producing volumes of collected writings on seminal topics, such as the two publications exploring fundamental aspects of the record and recordkeeping systems -- Sue McKemmish and Frank Upward, eds. Archival Documents: Providing Accountability Through Recordkeeping (Melbourne: Ancora Press, 1993) and Sue McKemmish and Michael Piggott, eds., The Records Continuum: Ian Maclean and Australian Archives First Fifty Years (Clayton, Australia: Ancora Press in Association with the Australian Archives, 1994). A similar volume on the contributions by Canadians on archival theory, with a focus on provenance, is Tom Nesmith, ed., Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance (Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993), an important contribution marred only by the lack of an index that would have knitted together the essays in thematic ways. Finally, another groundbreaking group of essays, commissioned as part of a conference, is James M. O’Toole, ed. The Records of American Business (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1997). This volume is particularly relevant for corporate records managers because it examines the value of business records from a variety of perspectives.

28.Corporate archives and archival history have become a frequent topic of inquiry in specially focused conferences. An English publication, “Pioneering New Frontiers”: An International Exploration of Current Initiatives in Business Archives: Proceedings of the Business Archives Council Annual Conference 1997, is the product of a joint conference of the US Business History Conference, the UK Association of Business Historians and the Business Archives Council held in Glasgow in July 1997. The volume includes essays on de-accessioning, electronic finding aids and the archives of multinationals and small businesses. M. V. Roberts, ed., Archives and the Metropolis: Papers Delivered at the ‘Archives and the Metropolis’ Conference, 11-13 July 1996, organised by London Metropolitan Archives, the Corporation of London Records Office, Guildhall Library and the Centre for Metropolitan History (London: Guildhall Library Publication in association with the Centre for Metropolitan History, 1998) is an intriguing, if uneven, collection of essays providing histories of archives in cities, the development of non-government archives located in cities, and the use of municipal records for writing urban history. Some of the essays are excellent analyses, with important viewpoints to offer, such as Thomas Behrmann’s comparison of medieval “communal record-keeping” in Genoa and Lubeck. Such publications, providing reasonably quick references of important thinking going on in archival circles, continue to provide challenges to established principles and practices most generally reflected in the basic manuals and textbooks.