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This paper scrutinizes the scholarship on community archives' information work. Community archives and archiving projects represent unprecedentedly democratic venues for information work centering on essential documentary concepts such as custody, collection development and appraisal, processing, arrangement and description, organization, representation and naming, collaboration, resource generation and allocation, activism and social justice, preservation, reuse, and sustainability.

Unearthed through databases searches, citation chaining, and browsing, sources examined include peer-reviewed journal articles, books, and book chapters published in the English language between 1985 and 2018.

The literature on community archives’ information work shows considerable geographical (six continents), topical, and (inter)disciplinary variety. This paper first explores scholars' efforts to define both community and community archives. Second, it unpacks the ways in which community archives include new stakeholders and new record types and formats even as they leverage alternative archival principles and practices. Third, it discusses community archives as political venues for empowerment, activism, and social justice work. Fourth, this paper delves into the benefits and challenges of partnerships and collaborations with mainstream institutions. Fifth, it documents the obstacles community archives face: not only tensions within and among communities, but also sustainability concerns. Finally, it sets forth six directions for future research.

This paper is the first systematic review of the community archives literature.

This paper aims to explore definitions and notions of what a community archive is, and the tensions between different understandings of community archives.

The paper is a critical analysis of community archives definitions and understanding from researchers and practitioners across the wider heritage information sector.

Community archives are a growing area of interest for researchers because of the archives’ intrinsic link to the community and their provision of the evidence of it. While discussion often focuses on a paradigm of transformative purpose, existing definitions around community archives continue to be tenuous, reflecting different real or perceived types and practices and the perspective of the author and the sector they work within. Variations in definition can also occur because of differences in perspective around theory and practice, with many practitioner-based definitions intrinsically bound with the community they represent. This can result in community archives being defined as “alternative” based on mainstream practice or “political” based on theoretical purview, or “meeting the needs of community” by the community archivists themselves.

The paper is conceptual and does not attempt to provide one definition that covers the perceived extent of community archives. It is part of work in progress on the nature of community archives and the impact such discourse may have on archival theory and practice.

This paper provides an overview of some of the key issues and themes impacting a definition of community archives, and in doing so works towards a broader understanding the nature of community archives. In most cases, the concept of “community” seems to provide a common definitive element and practitioner definitions focus on addressing the needs of self-defined community to a greater or lesser extent.

The purpose of this study to investigate the relationships between South Africa (SA) universities and universities surrounding communities (USC) for preserving community histories and serve the universities’ mandate to support their local communities and support universities’ teaching and scholarship.

The study used a multiple case study approach through interviews. The population of the study comprised representatives from selected universities and their USC.

The findings revealed a lack of effective relationships between universities and USC to preserve communities’ histories. Hence, the communities’ archives are tools for teaching and scholarship. Relations between universities and USC are to be built on trust. Accountability and transparency are to be considered by both parties.

The research is limited to selected SA universities, namely, University of Venda, Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Pretoria and SA and USC. The findings are applicable to all SA universities and USC.

The relationship between universities and USC has a practical impact on the National archives of South Africa (NARSSA) to collect communities archives because it is in conflict with the mandate of NARSSA. The National Archives’ Act 43 of 1996 obliged NARSSA to collect and preserve communities’ archives on behalf of societies.

Lack of universities and USC can lead to the loss of communities histories or archives.

This paper appears to be the first to research the relationship between SA universities and USC.

This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of community archives, offering a critique of the community archives discourse through a historical case study focused on the origins of the Gerber/Hart LGBTQ library and archives in Chicago.

This study explores the archival collections of the founders of the Gerber/Hart library and archives and the librarians that have worked there as a means for understanding the origins of the archival impulse, the rationale for building the collections and the practices that shaped the collections during the first decade of the organization’s history.

The historical analysis of the Gerber/Hart library and archives situates community archives and LGBTQ collections within the broader historical context that lead to the founding of the organization and reveals deep connections to the information professions not previously considered by those studying community archives.

The paper offers a reconceptualization of community archives as archival projects initiated, controlled and maintained by the members of a self-defined community. The authors emphasize the role of the archival impulse or the historical origins of the collection and the necessity for full-community control, setting clear boundaries between community archives and other participatory archival models that engage the community.

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of a qualitative study exploring the conditions associated with the creation, preservation and transmission of Shuishu archives in China, and the crises today in their preservation and transmission and the reasons behind them. It also proposes activation mechanisms to shift Shuishu archives from jeopardized collective memory to preservable cultural memory.

Semi-structured interviews and ethnographic fieldwork were conducted over the course of a month in 2015.

The creation, preservation and transmission of Shuishu archives in the community of the Shui rely upon the community’s closed system. But this system has been broken as a result of modernization and wide use of new media in China. To preserve and transmit Shuishu archives to future generations, there needs to be mutual trust and equitable cooperation between government archives and the Shuishushi. The “cultural consciousness” of the Shui needs to be stimulated, and more members of the Shui and the whole of society need to participate in the preservation and transmission of this distinctive memory.

The study can provide a provocative example for education in preservation and LIS about community culture and archiving, and the preservation of social memory, identity and culture. The activation mechanisms seek to aid in the preservation and transmission of Shuishu archives and other similar community memory.

The study uses semi-structured interviews and ethnographic methodology to develop a rich understanding of the history and the status quo of the preservation and transmission of Shuishu archives. It redefines Shuishu archives and sheds light on the roles government archives should play in the preservation and transmission of Shuishu archives.

This paper aims to characterize community archives in the common array of the manuscript collection of the National Library of Russia (NLR). The purpose of the paper is to identify the features of organization of the archival system of Russia and the place of community archives in it. The authors intend to characterize the features of origin, history of existence and preservation of archives of public organizations in Russia on the example of the archives of Russian societies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; to spread knowledge about historical communities of Russia and their archival heritage and to discuss the value of community archives and their information potential.

The research is based on the traditional methodology of the academic archival studies. At the same time interdisciplinary approach plays a great role in the field of study of community archives. The findings of the study were obtained as a result of the application of methods of historical research and special historical disciplines: archival heuristics, archive studies, source studies and archeography. The data were complemented by documentary analysis, including materials of nine archives, documents concerning acquisition and storage of these archives.

As a result of the study of different community archives in the Manuscript Department of the NLR the authors came to the conclusion about poor preservation and diffusion of these archives. It suggests the necessity of developing methods of virtual archive reconstruction.

This is the first study to date on the community archives in Russia. The first attempt to attribute and classify community archives of the NLR.

This study aims to assess the Venda indigenous archives incorporation into the Limpopo Provincial archives to promote archives decolonisation.

This research is based on a qualitative research method. Interviews conducted with the 10 Limpopo Provincial Archivists and 25 community leaders based in the Venda area were conducted. The semi-structured interview was used to collect data.

It is a South African constitutional mandate for each province to manage its archives. As the former Venda was now part of the Limpopo province, its archives were incorporated into the Limpopo Provincial Archives. The Venda archives incorporation to the Limpopo Provincial Archives did not consider the will of a community member to travel a long distance. Furthermore, challenges faced by archivists such as lack of skills and knowledge to process archival materials, lack of funding and participation in the incorporation of archives materials.

This research confines itself to the Venda indigenous archives created from 1979 to 1993.

This paper addresses archives decolonisation.

The paper has the potential to demonstrate the value of the indigenous archive.

The study can be replicated for other research practices. This case study can be implemented in other parts of the world that face similar circumstances so regarding the transfer of archives and the challenges faced to maintain community knowledge and make them accessible.

This paper aims to assess the role of archives in documenting African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) records on the liberation struggle of South Africa from 1960 to 1990 with a view to recommending the best method of collection and preservation of archival materials.

Qualitative data were collected through interviews with purposively selected employees of the African National Congress (ANC), the Nelson Mandela Foundation centre of memory, the national heritage and cultural studies at the University of Fort Hare, the National Archives of South Africa and provincial archives of South Africa. Interview data were augmented through content analysis of ANC documents such as policies, websites and annual reports.

The study found a gap of documentation of the role of archives in documenting ANCWL’s contribution to the liberation of South Africa. The National Archives of South Africa did not play a meaningful role to document the history of African National Women’s League in the liberation struggle of South Africa. There was also a lack of coordination of community archives that keep ANCWL archives materials. There is a need to embark on oral history and bilateral relations with overseas archival institutions to repatriate ANCWL archives to South Africa. Furthermore, contemporary history records about the ANCWL records need to be listed, arranged and described and made available to the public.

The research is limited to the role played by the National Archives of South Africa and community archives such as the ANC archives, the Mayibuye Centre archives based at the University of Western Cape in documenting ANC and ANCWL and contemporary issues that impact the development of ANCWL records created from 1960 to 1990.

The findings are expected to be instrumental to document the history of women’s struggle for democracy in South Africa. The ANCWL collection may contribute to social cohesion to enable society to understand the role of ANCWL during the struggle for democracy in South Africa. While the literature on women’s archives is limited, there is still much research that needs to be conducted. Increasing the body of research will strengthen understanding of the role of the National Archives of South Africa and community archives on documenting women’s liberation struggle in South Africa.

The document of women’s history would enrich the archival collection. This means that records with historical, cultural and social significance will be permanently preserved by archives.

The research appears to be the first of its kind to assess the documentation on the role of archives on documenting ANCWL. The archival heritage of women’s struggle for democracy forms part of the national archival heritage of South Africa as they bridge the gap of undocumented history of South Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the richness of information and the satisfaction of participants in an online community regarding archive management in Taiwan.

An investigation was deployed to attendants in 20 training courses created by the National Archives Administration (NAA) in Taiwan for records staff on the topic of digital preservation. The responses were collected from respondents who were participating in an online community for archive management. Through structural equation modeling method, this study examined the effects of channel richness, information transparency and accessibility of archive to brand image and trust and then continued to the satisfaction of professional participants to archive management in an online community.

Appropriate disclosure of information regarding archiving can effectively improve the satisfaction of participants in the online community to archive. Channel richness of communication, information transparency and accessibility of archive significantly affect the brand image of archive and the trust of participants to archivists and finally affect the satisfaction of participants in the online community towards archive management.

The larger the amount of information exchanged, the more the trust among participants and the better brand image of the archives. The more trust and brand image exists among participants, the more satisfaction they will obtain from archive management.

The results can provide a strategic direction for managers of the national archive and the online community in government agencies to allocate resources for enhancing the information richness and the image of archive as well as achieving the satisfaction of participants in the professional community.

Conventional approaches to digital preservation posit that archives should define a Designated Community, or future user group, for whom they preserve digital information. Archivists can then use their knowledge of these users as a reference to help them deliver digital information that is intelligible and usable. However, this approach is challenging for archives with mandates to serve wide and diverse audiences; these archives risk undermining their efforts by focusing on the interests of a narrow user group.

A unique approach to this challenge was developed in the context of a project to build a digital preservation program at the Ontario Jewish Archives (OJA). It draws from previous research on this topic and is based on a combination of practical and theoretical considerations.

The approach described here replaces the reference of a Designated Community with three core components: a re-articulation of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS) mandatory responsibilities; the identification of three distinct tiers of access for digital records; and the implementation of an access portal that allows digital records to be accessed and rendered online. Together with supplemental shifts in reference points, they provide an alternative to the concept of a Designated Community in the determination of preservation requirements, the identification of significant properties, the creation of Representation Information and in the evaluation of success.

This article contributes a novel approach to the ongoing conversation about the Designated Community in digital preservation, its application and its limitations in an archival context.