User Manual

Basics in archives and libraries

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2 Basics in archives and libraries

2.1 Introduction

A great multiplicity of cultural information is stored in archives and libraries in a

confined space. The focus lies with written cultural assets, but more and more now

with analogue and digital audio and visual storage media or hybrids of the two as

well. The stock partly overlaps with museums, treasuries, audio archives, film ar-

chives and other special collections.

Archives and libraries have the task of collecting information, developing it and

keeping it available for the present and the future.

Archives primarily have an often legally specified documentation order and papers

such as certificates, contracts and files for administration and for political offices

must be stored and made accessible. Some of these papers are judicially impor-

tant. Archives therefore mainly serve legal security and traceability of political and

legal processes. They primarily store unique copies or documents with limited edi-

tions.

Libraries on the other hand, mainly – but not exclusively – look after the simple

availability of knowledge which is available in larger numbers and nowadays in-

creasingly also in electronic databases. Libraries have the primary aim of making

knowledge and literature available to the interested public. According to their man-

date, they can more or less choose freely which stock they collect within their spe-

cialization (e.g. specialized library, public library etc.).

Archives as well as libraries reflect the cultural achievements and interests of their

sponsors which go back decades and centuries. Therefore, they are an important

part of the identity of every society or every group.

2.2 Intangible and material values

The value of archives and libraries is mainly of an intangible kind and it lies in the

cultural achievements kept on the information storage media and the possibility of

reconstructing them and to classify and evaluate them from a historical point of

view or to use the knowledge in a new context e.g. in research and education. The

material value of an individual object is usually of less importance whereas the im-

portance is attached to the collection as a whole and to its totality. Depending on

how unique each individual object is (e.g. manuscripts etc.), it may in particular

cases be of great value. Security for the cultural assets stored in archives and li-

braries must be ensured to an appropriate extent and in relation to the importance

of the stock. It must be borne in mind that the irreplaceability of a collection can be

judged very different depending on the type of the institution and the use of the in-

formation stored there and it is even evaluated differently by experts.

2.3 Goals of conservation

Despite the fact that each object has a finite life expectancy, all archives and librar-

ies are interested in maintaining their objects with justifiable effort for as long as

possible and to make it available to the user. All demands or justifiable efforts are

different for this, depending on how unique the stock is or how important it is for the

relevant institution (e.g. for research and education). The environmental conditions