Recording, keeping, and using information
The oral world
The rise and spread of literacy
Reasons for recording information
The impulse to save
The impulse to destroy
The technology of record making
Characteristics of recorded information in the modern age
The usefulness of archives
The history of archives and the archives profession
Old world antecedents
American origins: the two traditions
Emergence of the archival profession
The crucial decade: the 1930s
Diversification and development
Consolidation of professional identity
Current issues
The archivist's perspective: knowledge and values
Knowledge
Values
The archivist's task: responsibilities and duties
Planning
Saving and acquiring archival records
Organizing archival records
Making archival records available
Archivists and the challenges of new worlds
Postmodernism
Internet time
Ethics and security
Symbolism and technology
Advocacy and the archival mission
Recordkeeping in the digital era
Professionalism.