X. Read the text and make its written translation.

A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented. Museums normally have a collecting policy for new acquisitions, so only objects in certain categories and of a certain quality are accepted into the collection. The process by which an object is formally included in the collection is called accessioning and each object is given a unique accession number.

Museum collections and archives in general, are normally catalogued in a collection catalogue, traditionally in a card index, but nowadays in a computerized database. All new acquisitions are normally catalogued on a computer in modern museums, but there is typically a backlog of old catalogue entries to be computerized as time and funding allows.

Museum collections are widely varied. There are collections of art, of scientific specimens, of historic objects, of living zoological specimens, and much more. Because there are so many things to collect, most museums have a specific area of specialization. For example, a history museum may only collect objects relevant to a particular country or even a single person, or focus on a type of object such as automobiles or stamps. Art museums may focus on a period, such as modern art, or a region. Very large museums will often have many subcollections, each with its own criteria for collecting.

Because museums cannot collect everything, each potential new addition must be carefully considered as to its appropriateness for a given museum's defined area of interest.

Accessioning is the formal, legal process of accepting an object into a museum collection. Because accessioning an object carries an obligation to care for that object in perpetuity, it is a serious decision. While in the past many museums accepted objects with little deliberation, today most museums have accepted the need for formal accessioning procedures and practices. While each museum has its own procedures for accessioning, in most cases it begins with either an offer from a donor to give an object to a museum, or a recommendation from a curator to acquire an object through purchase or trade.

Deaccessioning, the process of disposing, selling or trading objects from a museum collection, is not undertaken lightly in most museums. There are ethical issues to consider since many donors of objects typically expect the museum to care for them in perpetuity. Deaccessioning of an object in a collection may be appropriate if a museum has more than one example of that object and if the object is being transferred to another museum, It may also be appropriate if an object is badly deteriorated or threatening other objects.

XI. You are suggested the following points for discussion:

¨ Museum collections: their variety and tasks.

¨ Accessioning and Deaccessioning. What obligations do they care?

XII. Combine 2 texts and distinguish the main characteristic features of discipline “MUSEUM STUDIES”.

Unit XXI

I. Look through the words and expressions and learn them:

Ø retrieval – пошук;

Ø to concern with circumstances – цікавитися обставинами;

Ø long range impact – довготривалий вплив;

Ø advent – прихід;

Ø to pertain – мати відношення;

Ø deterioration – пошкодження;

Ø to meet needs – задовольняти потреби;

Ø to uphold requirements – підтримувати вимоги;

Ø to meet the expectations – відповідати очікуванням;

Ø scrapbook – альбом для газетних вирізок

II. Read and translate the text:

ARHIVAL SCIENCE

Archival science is the theory and study of the safe storage, cataloguing and retrieval of documents and items. It includes practice of organizing, preserving, and providing access to information and materials in archives. Emerging from diplomatics, the discipline also is concerned with the circumstances (context) under which the information or item was, and is used. Archival Science also encompasses the study of past efforts to preserve documents and items, revision of those techniques in cases where those efforts have failed, and the development of new processes that avoid the pitfalls of previous (and failed) techniques. The field also includes the study of traditional and electronic catalogue storage methods, digital preservation and the long range impact of all types of storage programs.

Traditionally, archival science has involved time honored methods for preserving items and information in climate controlled storage facilities. This technique involved both the cataloguing and accession of items into a collection archive, their retrieval and safe handling. However, the advent of digital documents and items, along with the development of electronic databases has caused the field to revalue the means by which it not only accounts for items, but also how it maintains and accesses both information on items and the items themselves.

While generally associated with museums and libraries, the field also can pertain to individuals who maintain private collections (item or topic specific) or to the average person who seeks to properly care for, and either stop or slow down the deterioration of their family heirlooms and keepsakes.

Archival Science and course work pertaining to archival techniques as a course of study is taught in universities, usually under the umbrella of a History program.

In the archival sense, appraisal is a process usually conducted by a member of the record-holding institution (often a professional archivist) in which a body of records are examined to determine which records need to be captured and how long the records need to be kept. Some considerations when conducting appraisal include how to meet the record-granting body’s organizational needs, how to uphold requirements of organizational accountability (be they legal, institutional, or determined by archival ethics), and how to meet the expectations of the record-using community.

Appraisal is considered a core archival function (alongside acquisition, arrangement and description, preservation, reference, and public programming) although the task of records appraisal is somewhat slippery and can occur within the process of acquiring records, during arrangement and description, and for the sake of preservation; further, public programming projects often prompt the reappraisal process. The official definition is as follows:

"In an archival context, appraisal is the process of determining whether records and other materials have permanent (archival) value. Appraisal may be done at the collection, creator, series, file, or item level. Appraisal can take place prior to donation and prior to physical transfer, at or after accessioning. The basis of appraisal decisions may include a number of factors, including the records' provenance and content, their authenticity and reliability, their order and completeness, their condition and costs to preserve them, and their intrinsic value. Appraisal often takes place within a larger institutional collecting policy."

The word "archives" can refer to any organized body of records fixed on media. The management of archives is essential for effective day-to-day organizational decision making, and even for the survival of organizations. Archives were well developed by the ancient Chinese, the ancient Greeks, and ancient Romans. Modern archival thinking has many roots in the French Revolution. The French National Archives, who possess perhaps the largest archival collection in the world, with records going as far back as A.D. 625, were created in 1790 during the French Revolution from various government, religious, and private archives seized by the revolutionaries.

An archive refers to a collection of historical records, and also refers to the location in which these records are kept. Archivists tend to prefer the term "archives" (with an S) as the correct terminology to serve as both the singular and plural, since "archive", as a noun or a verb, has meanings related to computer science.

Archives are made up of records (primary source documents) which have been accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime. For example, the archives of an individual may contain letters, papers, photographs, computer files, scrapbooks, financial records, diaries or any other kind of documentary materials created or collected by the individual - regardless of media or format. The archives of an organization (such as a corporation or government), on the other hand, tend to contain different types of records, such as administrative files, business records, memos, official correspondence, meeting minutes, and so on.

In general, archives of any individual or organization consist of records which have been especially selected for permanent or long-term preservation, due to their enduring research value. Archival records are normally unpublished and almost always unique, unlike books or magazines, in which many identical copies exist. This means that archives (the places) are quite distinct from libraries with regard to their functions and organization, although archival collections can often be found within library buildings.

Archives are sometimes described as information generated as the "by-product" of normal human activities, while libraries hold specifically authored information "products".

A person who works in archives is called an archivist.

III. Find English equivalents of those expressions in the text:

§ уникати помилок;

§ вшановані часом методи;

§ переоцінювати засоби;

§ відбуватися в процесі;

§ спонукати до переоцінки;

§ походження архівних записів;

§ автентичність та достовірність;

§ збирати протягом життя;

§ протоколи зборів;

§ завдяки незаперечній науковій цінності

IV.Arrange the following words in pairs of antonyms:

V. Study the given below lexical units and provide their Ukrainian variant:

· the study of past efforts to preserve documents;

· digital preservation;

· average person;

· family heirlooms and keepsakes;

· the record-holding institution;

· for the sake of preservation;

· records’ intrinsic value;

· records going as far back as;

· "by-product" of normal human activities

VI. Arrange the following words in pairs of synonyms:

VII. Try to explain the following notions connecting with the discipline “Archival studies”. Pay attention to the different meaning of the words “STORAGE” and “PRESERVATION”:

¨ safe storage;

¨ cataloguing;

¨ retrieval of documents;

¨ accession;

¨ preservation;

¨ description;

¨ arrangement;

¨ appraisal;

¨ provenance

VIII. Select the endings for the given statements to develop the idea:

v Archival science is the study and practice of …

v The discipline also encompasses …

v The field generally associates with …

v Course work pertaining to archival techniques is taught …

v Appraisal is a process conducted by …

v The task of records appraisal can occur …

v Archives refer to …

v Archives traced their roots back to …

v Archives of individual or organization consist of …

v Sometimes archives are described as …

v Archivist is …

IX. Check how well you remember the text:

1. What field of knowledge is basic for archival science?

2. What does discipline comprise?

3. What methods and techniques has archival science involved?

4. Can the field pertain to organization or to individual?

5. What are the core archival functions?

6. What is appraisal in archival sense?

7. Where is modern archival thinking rooted in?

8. What are archives made up of?

9. Explain the difference between archives of individual and of organization.