Trends in Archives Practice by the Society of American Archivists is a new, open-ended series of modules featuring brief, authoritative treatments — written and edited by top-level professionals — that fill significant gaps in archival literature. The goal of this modular approach is to build agile, user-centered resources. Each module will treat a discrete topic relating to the practical management of archives and manuscript collections in the digital age.

The first three modules address archival arrangement and description and are designed to complement Kathleen D. Roe's book, ARRANGING AND DESCRIBING ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS. They include:

MODULE 1
STANDARDS FOR ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION
Sibyl Schaefer and Janet M. Bunde
Untangles the history of standards development and provides an overview of descriptive standards that an archives might wish to use.

MODULE 2
PROCESSING DIGITAL RECORDS AND MANUSCRIPTS
J. Gordon Daines III
Builds on familiar terminology and models to show how any repository can take practical steps to process born-digital materials and to make them accessible to users.

MODULE 3
DESIGNING DESCRIPTIVE AND ACCESS SYSTEMS
Daniel A. Santamaria
Implementation advice regarding the wide range of tools and software that support specific needs in arranging, describing, and providing access to analog and digital archival materials.

Christopher J. Prom is assistant university archivist and associate professor of library administration at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Thomas J. Frusciano is university archivist at Rutgers University.

INTRODUCTION • 1
Christopher J. Prom and Thomas J. Frusciano

Module 1 Standards for Archival Description • 9
Sibyl Schaefer and Janet M. Bunde

Module 2 Processing Digital Records and Manuscripts • 87
J. Gordon Daines III

Module 3 Designing Descriptive and Access Systems • 145
Daniel A. Santamaria