Assignment

Vocabulary

Each English term is supplied with its dictionary definition. Think of the corresponding Russian equivalent and its explanation. Fill in the appropriate empty box.

archive	a) an individual item forming a part of archives; b) archives originating from a single provenance
archives	a) an institution responsible for the acquisition, preservation and communication of archives: also called archival agency (US), archive(s) service, record office; b) non-current records preserved, with or without selection, by those responsible for their creation or by their successors in function for their own use or by an appropriate archives because of their archival value; c) a building or part of a building in which archives (b) are preserved and made available for consultation; also called archives(s) repository, archival depository (US)
archive(s) management, archive(s) administration	a) the theoretical and practical study of policies, procedures and problems relating to archival functions; b) the direction and management of archives
archivist	a person professionally occupied in the administration of archives and/or the management of archives
record(s)	recorded information (document(s)) regardless of form or medium created, received and maintained by an agency, institution, organisation or individual in pursuance of its legal obligations or in the transaction of business
record(s) management	that area of general administrative management concerned with achieving economy and efficiency in the creation, maintenance, use and disposal of records

Comprehension

Supply answers to the following questions.

1. How long has the author of the text been working in the field of archives management?

2. Is the author a historian according to his degree?

3. How does a joint application system work?

4. What changes connected with archival profession are taking place at present?

5. What did an expansion in numbers bring about?

6. Why do archivists still remain a tenacious group?

Discussion

1. How do you understand the opening sentence of the text: «When we survey the world we tend to look out from the battlements of our own castle»? Is this idea somehow connected with the content of the text?

2. Compare the way of selecting archivists in Great Britain and in Russia. Point out common and distinctive features.

3. Why do you think being an archivist is still a very attractive career in Great Britain? Is it the same in Russia?

• Before doing the text, read the title and try to guess what the text is about. Then read the text and say if there is any new information which adds to what you have already said. Speak about the advantages of taking an archive training course at Bodley.

TRAINING COURSE CONTENT AND PURPOSE

It was pleasant, being Bodley's only archive student that year. I was supervised by well-known scholars. I was expected to attend relevant lectures in the University, and so heard, among others, Neil Ker and Kathleen Major, and I had the powerful conversion experience that was involved in being tutored by W. G. Hoskins. On my first day in the Western Manuscripts I joined in a discussion with Professor Cheney that included reading a set of twelfth century charters, and debating with him the meaning of some of the words. Excitements like this were only the beginning.

One of the great advantages of that pragmatic training was that we were surrounded by complete sets of record publications, the great local historiographers, and all the apparatus of literature searches.

Looking around the archives world today, I still think that as a group archivists are insufficiently trained in the use of bibliographic services, and insufficiently impelled to use them. Isolationism has been for many the atmosphere of work in a record office. In the age of the Internet, this is one of the things that will change, let us hope.

(Cook M. Changing Times, Changing Aims)

Commentary

All the names mentioned in this text are those of celebrated scholars.