The focus of the thesis is to investigate how four university archivists perceive the functionality of the new Swedish process-oriented archival description system. University archivists are at the center of the study since the organizational structure of a university is process-oriented to some degree. However universities still have activities that are more challenging to view as processes, such as research. Universities were thus identified as a suitable candidate to analyze how process-oriented archival description functions in an environment that both is and is not clearly process-oriented. The research questions posed in this study are all related to the new archival description model, and archivists own experiences and views of the system. The main questions in the study concern the functionality of the system, its durability (if there is a repeated call for modification of the model), how the archival description system works with organizations that are not process-oriented, as well as if the system can operate as a finding aid in a long term perspective. The theoretical aim of the study is based around two different and sometimes contrasting views on the nature of archival records; namely the life cycle- and continuum-model. According to the life cycle-perspective records follow a linear-path from birth to death, reaching pre-destined pit stops along the way. The continuum theorists imagine records not as linear but as multifaceted, having multiple lives and never reaching a “death”-state. In Sweden, earlier research has shown that the life cycle-model has dominated the archival scene, but the new process-oriented archival description system could open up for a continuum-related approach. This study shows that no archivist made any statements that hinted in a continuum-way of thinking, and the results rather substantiated earlier research claiming the dominance of the life cycle-model. Investigation results show that three out of four archivists don’t believe that the archival description model is suitable for universities, as the organizational structure is not process-oriented. All of the archivists are struggling with describing activities as process-based, and three out of four archivists claim that description ends upcontrived. All archivists however concur that the positive effects of the system could result in government agencies increases transparency and accountability, but only if the system works as intended. The long term durability of the description model is also put in question from three out of four archivists. All archivists additionally regard the model as sensitive to organizational changes, and all universities are preparingfor and expecting numerous future modifications. The conclusion of the study is that the process-oriented archival description system is difficult to apply to organizations that have activities with unclear processes. The results furthermore indicate that the system needs continuous effort to maintain, due to the nature of ever changing organizations. As a finding aid the model is viewed as flawed, as the classification schema will be revised several times, which will certainly demand that the user have assistance in understanding the schema. All archivists claim that the archival function (and not the classification schema) of the university will be the main search tool for all users in the future.

In this essay I seek to examine how the Principle of Provenance can be discerned in the new activity-based wayof establishing an archival description. In which terms do authors of reports and works about archival descriptionspeak about provenance. Do they at all?In order to do so I have studied the history of the Principle of Provenance and what is to be its future – theregulation from the Swedish National Archives, RA-FS 2008:4. I have also read the referrel that was sent out toSwedish authorities, universities and other archival institutions. This to see how the referrel and the new ways ofarchival description was recieved, and also what was to be changed. To get a more extensive grip on the matter itwas necessary to read up on international standards on archival description, such as ISAD(G) and ISAAR(CPF),and standards for records management. How do they fit in to the activity-based archival description?

The aim of this study is to investigate transmission of knowledge as critical archive practice within folk dance, and thereby contribute to updating the concept tradition bearer. The research questions are: What is done in the situation of knowledge transmission where different folk dance bodies understood as archives – both living dancers and bodies in text and image – meet over time and space? How can these situations be understood theoretically and thus contribute to a new, archive oriented, theoretical understanding of the transmission of knowledge and tradition within folk dance? The empirical material consists of phenomenological interviews with three folk dancers who each participated in two workshops created by the author: in one case, the participants encountered archival material such as text, film and photography, in the other a living dancer understood as an archive. Drawing on critical and pluralizing archive theory, the findings of the study show how both dancers and archive records are stakeholders and agents in creating the affective, dynamic and complex interchanges that take place in both situations. Pluralizing archive theory also proved useful in identifying values and hierarchies among the stakeholders in the folk dance archive. In the interchange between dancer and archive, negotiations between different approaches to tradition took place. Through pluralizing archive theory and the understanding of the body as archive, the concept of tradition bearer may be given a more dynamic and inclusive definition, shifting focus from what it is to what it does, and be considered a complex relational situation.

This study examines uses of the records continuum model and related continuum concepts and ideas within the broader field of archival research. By analysing the different ways researchers understand and use the model and related concepts the study aims to contribute new knowledge regarding the records continuum model and its roles in contemporary archival science. The study is a literature review within a qualitative, interpretative paradigm. The review method shares some traits with a systematic literature review through systematicity in the search process and the procedure of selecting articles for the study. These were delimited to English written, peer reviewed, archival science articles published 2005-2018 which use the records continuum model (RCM) in their own studies. Systematicity is also present in analysis through a set of questions that seek to link the research goals within the studies with the purposes of using the RCM and the perceived value of its application. This combination of questions offers a method to get hold of some of the functions and roles of the RCM in archival science. An analysis of the research goals within the articles revealed societal as well as theoretical/methodological goals. Different uses of the RCM were further explored – by analysing motives for including the RCM and related concepts as well as the authors descriptions of their application. The identified goals and an interpretation of the ways the RCM and related ideas were used were then connected, and further interpreted with the help of a theoretical framework consisting of (1) the abilities of theoretical frameworks (according to Anfara 2008), (2) a typology of theories in Information Systems studies (according to Gregor 2006) and (3) the purposes of modelling in science (according to Hofman 2017). The results enabled a discussion on the roles of the RCM in archival research. The study is of value since it identifies the goals within some RCM research and connects these goals with the purposes of using the RCM and related ideas, which might support a continuing discussion on the roles of the RCM in archival science. The study further has a merit in providing a survey of the RCM in contemporary research through a perspective “from without”. This perspective is arrived at partly by including studies from both continuum researchers in the know, as well as from individual researchers of different proximity to continuum thinking and the RCM as a theoretical model; partly by the fact that the author is not a researcher within a community of continuum thinkers or researchers. This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.