Social science research is a form of inquiry which is useful in expanding the knowledge-base of a profession, but one which is not normally associated with the archival profession. The purpose of this study is to examine social science research as it applies to the Canadian archival profession in general, and to archivists who have graduated from the Master of Archival Studies (MAS) degree program, at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia. This study examines the attitudes of the first cadre of graduates of a degree program in archival studies in Canada towards the various roles that social science research plays in the development of their discipline and practice. A reading of the literature in the archival field reveals that social science research methods are infrequently employed by the profession in Canada, although there have been frequent calls for their adoption. Archivists are more familiar with and employ more often theoretical (deductive) and historical methods than empirical (inductive) methods. The study employs the methodology of a survey questionnaire to discover the training and application of social science research methodology that these graduates have experienced during their formal education and during their careers. All the respondents had either completed the MAS program or the course work towards the degree in the period, 1981-1994, and were working in the field at the time of the study. The study revealed that respondents support a research dimension for the field, although their support was inclusive of other types of research more common to the archival studies (theoretical, historical, scholarly, and archival), and not specifically directed to scientific research. 33% of respondents expressed an interest in learning about research methods, while 39% said that they were somewhat interested. There was also a correlation between those respondents who had taken a course in research methods and their knowledge of and support for this type of research in the archival profession. Likewise, there was also evidence to support that respondents without the knowledge of research methods were as confident in their ability to conduct a research project or assist on a research team led by someone else, as were their colleagues who had taken the course. The qualitative data yields evidence of at least a few scientific research projects being conducted in the archival workplace, particularly user or reference surveys and conservation surveys. The study concludes that there is a role for both pre-appointment and continuing education programs to foster greater understanding and use of social science methods in all facets of the profession's research endeavours. Social science research methods are not only applicable to archival studies, they are beneficial and necessary to the development of the Canadian archival profession. The thesis recommends that archivists should have, at the very least, an appreciation of research methods and a discerning eye for what constitutes good research.

Social science research is a form of inquiry which is useful in expanding the knowledge-base of a profession, but one which is not normally associated with the archival profession. The purpose of this study is to examine social science research as it applies to the Canadian archival profession in general, and to archivists who have graduated from the Master of Archival Studies (MAS) degree program, at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia. This study examines the attitudes of the first cadre of graduates of a degree program in archival studies in Canada towards the various roles that social science research plays in the development of their discipline and practice. A reading of the literature in the archival field reveals that social science research methods are infrequently employed by the profession in Canada, although there have been frequent calls for their adoption. Archivists are more familiar with and employ more often theoretical (deductive) and historical methods than empirical (inductive) methods. The study employs the methodology of a survey questionnaire to discover the training and application of social science research methodology that these graduates have experienced during their formal education and during their careers. All the respondents had either completed the MAS program or the course work towards the degree in the period, 1981-1994, and were working in the field at the time of the study. The study revealed that respondents support a research dimension for the field, although their support was inclusive of other types of research more common to the archival studies (theoretical, historical, scholarly, and archival), and not specifically directed to scientific research. 33% of respondents expressed an interest in learning about research methods, while 39% said that they were somewhat interested. There was also a correlation between those respondents who had taken a course in research methods and their knowledge of and support for this type of research in the archival profession. Likewise, there was also evidence to support that respondents without the knowledge of research methods were as confident in their ability to conduct a research project or assist on a research team led by someone else, as were their colleagues who had taken the course. The qualitative data yields evidence of at least a few scientific research projects being conducted in the archival workplace, particularly user or reference surveys and conservation surveys. The study concludes that there is a role for both pre-appointment and continuing education programs to foster greater understanding and use of social science methods in all facets of the profession's research endeavours. Social science research methods are not only applicable to archival studies, they are beneficial and necessary to the development of the Canadian archival profession. The thesis recommends that archivists should have, at the very least, an appreciation of research methods and a discerning eye for what constitutes good research. / Arts, Faculty of / Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), School of / Graduate

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In the past decade, the amount of scientific data collected and generated by scientists has grown dramatically. This growth has intensified an existing problem: in large archives consisting of datasets stored in many files, formats and locations, how can scientists find data relevant to their research interests? We approach this problem in a new way: by adapting Information Retrieval techniques, developed for searching text documents, into the world of (primarily numeric) scientific data. We propose an approach that uses a blend of automated and curated methods to extract metadata from large repositories of scientific data. We then perform searches over this metadata, returning results ranked by similarity to the search criteria. We present a model of this approach, and describe a specific implementation thereof performed at an ocean-observatory data archive and now running in production. Our prototype implements scanners that extract metadata from datasets that contain different kinds of environmental observations, and a search engine with a candidate similarity measure for comparing a set of search terms to the extracted metadata. We evaluate the utility of the prototype by performing two user studies; these studies show that the approach resonates with users, and that our proposed similarity measure performs well when analyzed using standard Information Retrieval evaluation methods. We performed performance tests to explore how continued archive growth will affect our goal of interactive response, developed and applied techniques that mitigate the effects of that growth, and show that the techniques are effective. Lastly, we describe some of the research needed to extend this initial work into a true "Google for data".

<p>I have for my one year master's thesis worked on arranging and cataloging the archives from the missions stations of Musana, Congo-Brazzaville and Sundi-Lutete, Congo-Kinshasa, belonging to the Swedish Missions Church (Svenska Missionskyrkan). The archives contained records written in Swedish, French and Kikongo, from primarily the years 1910 until 1961. Records have though been found that adhere from both prior to and after these years. These archives are deposited at the Swedish National Archive and it was therefore important to take the opinions and regulations of both parties into consideration, as well as relying onto archival theory.</p><p>The archives were initially scattered and had in some parts been organized by an archivist without formal schooling. The major difficulties in this work has therefore been to establish the provenance – to which creator the documents belonged to, and also to decide to which degree the principle of the original order should play a part. After considering different theories, I decided to respect the secondary order for the correspondence, since rearranging it would disrupt the concordance in the work already done by researchers.</p><p>To still make the archives accessible for the users in its existing order it required me to be aware of whom the user of the archive is, probable areas of research and how these archives are used. This information was then used when writing the archival description and the scope notes in the inventory. I have also taken decisions based on what is practically possible; it has because of regulations not been possible to physically bring the archive to one unit. Also, the circumstances of a shared custody of the archives also determined, in practice, how the inventory could be written.</p><p>This is a one year master's thesis in Archival Science, at the university of Uppsala, Spring semester of 2010.</p>

I have for my one year master's thesis worked on arranging and cataloging the archives from the missions stations of Musana, Congo-Brazzaville and Sundi-Lutete, Congo-Kinshasa, belonging to the Swedish Missions Church (Svenska Missionskyrkan). The archives contained records written in Swedish, French and Kikongo, from primarily the years 1910 until 1961. Records have though been found that adhere from both prior to and after these years. These archives are deposited at the Swedish National Archive and it was therefore important to take the opinions and regulations of both parties into consideration, as well as relying onto archival theory. The archives were initially scattered and had in some parts been organized by an archivist without formal schooling. The major difficulties in this work has therefore been to establish the provenance – to which creator the documents belonged to, and also to decide to which degree the principle of the original order should play a part. After considering different theories, I decided to respect the secondary order for the correspondence, since rearranging it would disrupt the concordance in the work already done by researchers. To still make the archives accessible for the users in its existing order it required me to be aware of whom the user of the archive is, probable areas of research and how these archives are used. This information was then used when writing the archival description and the scope notes in the inventory. I have also taken decisions based on what is practically possible; it has because of regulations not been possible to physically bring the archive to one unit. Also, the circumstances of a shared custody of the archives also determined, in practice, how the inventory could be written. This is a one year master's thesis in Archival Science, at the university of Uppsala, Spring semester of 2010.

Archives can tell us many things about the past. The purpose of this guide is to facilitate the work of those who want to know more about the documents associated with death sentences. The guide gives a brief introduction to the history of the death penalty in Swedish legal history, to the legal process and to the judicial authorities. It also adresses the relationship between the various bodies and the relationship between law and jurisprudence. The guide presents primarily the archives of Nedre justitierevisionen and of Svea hovrätt. The guide presents what kind of information can be found and provides guidance as to how these documents are sought. Through a case study, we learn that records can give answers to many questions regarding a person sentenced to death.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The narrative of the Fall Creek Parkway YMCA is central to the record of the historically black community northwest of downtown Indianapolis, which was established in the early 1900s, as well as reflective of the urban revitalization projects and demographic fluxes that changed this community beginning in the 1960s. This is because the conflict between administrators of the Fall Creek YMCA branch and Greater Indianapolis YMCA or Metropolitan YMCA over the viability of the branch at 10th Street and Indiana Avenue was a microcosm of the conflict between community and city leaders over the necessity of large-scale forces. This thesis specifically examines the large-scale forces of urban revitalization, defined in the study as the city’s implementation of construction projects in Indianapolis’ downtown area, and school desegregation, which was the focus of a federal court case that affected Indianapolis Public Schools. Delineating the contested visions held by Fall Creek and Metropolitan YMCA administrators about how the Fall Creek YMCA should have functioned within an environment changed by urban revitalization and school desegregation is crucial to understanding the controversies that surrounded major construction projects and desegregation measures that took place in the downtown area of Indianapolis during the late twentieth century. The study therefore understands the conflict between the Metropolitan and Fall Creek YMCAs over targeted membership groups and autonomy as a reflection of changes in the branch’s surrounding area. Moreover, the study utilizes such conflict as a lens to the larger conflict that took place in Indianapolis between the agents of citywide urban revitalization plans and community leaders who opposed the implementation of these plans, as well as school desegregation measures, at the expense of the historically black community located in the near-downtown area of the city. This thesis is informed and humanized, respectively, by archival research and oral history interviews with individuals who were involved in either the administration or advocacy of the Fall Creek YMCA between 1971 and 2003.