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Curation and Stewardship introduces students to collections management and deals with the issues and activities involved in maintaining authentic and usable records over time and through change. It aims to enable students to build a clear appreciation of the vulnerability of the physical and virtual record, and to develop the knowledge and skills to ensure that such records are maintained and that the risks to them are properly addressed and managed.ÌýAlongside this focus on the record, the module foregrounds the people behind the records and introduces students to frameworks for taking a person-centered approach to recordkeeping.Ìý To this end, students should, by the end of the module, be able to;Ìý

Explain what is meant by and involved in the preservation and management of records over timeÌý

• Identify and apply the most appropriate standards, strategies and processes to ensure the ongoing preservation of records in a variety of contextsÌý
• Understand the web of relations (creators, donors, users, archivists, communities etc) existing around the recordÌýÌý
• Identify and apply what taking a person-centered approach means in different collections management contexts.

The module will cover the following topics, which may be subject to variation depending on developments in academic research and the interests of the class:

• Taking Custody including; collections development, collecting policies, stages in accessioning, interviewing donors, terms of deposit, automated metadata extraction, accessions registers and cataloguing policies.
• Building the Store including; the key characteristics of paper and parchment, the chemistry of paper, the nature of acid deterioration, security, the use of off-site storage or alternative approaches and building green and sustainable archives.
• Managing the Store including; the influence of standards on funding for archive buildings, a review of new building examples and consideration of how to address risks such as flood, pollutants, dust and pests, monitoring procedures and the use of packaging as both protection and support.
• Processing including; the application of the principles of provenance and original order, archival descriptive standards, including ISAD(G), the qualities of good archival description and indexing and vocabulary control.
• Preservation Planning including; standards, the function and application of benchmarking, disaster planning and emergency response, the use and function of a preservation policy, surrogacy options and digital preservation.

The method of delivery is mixed, involving lectures, class discussion, practical sessions and seminars. There is also a compulsory two-week work placement attached to this module, which takes place at the beginning of term 3. The module is assessed by two pieces of coursework, one to be submitted at the beginning of term 2 and the other following the work placement in term 3.