ABSTRACT

’MAD3’ is the third and latest edition of the influential Manual of Archival Description, revised to take account of a decade of developments in national and international descriptive practice. Many improvements have been made as a result of wide consultation with archive professionals. The Manual remains the only comprehensive British guide to the theory and practice of listing archives held in any format, from letters, photographs and maps to electronic multimedia. New features of this edition include: ¢ additional information on national and international standards which have appeared since the last edition, including data elements mapped to the General International Standard Archival Description - ISAD(G) - which appears as an appendix ¢ coverage of developments in archives administration theory and new access delivery initiatives ¢ extensive updating of sections covering audiovisual material ¢ rewritten chapter on electronic archives ¢ updated dictionary in line with the 1999 ICA definitions ¢ additional examples of listing practice. This standard, authoritative guide to listing and cataloguing is for both generalist repositories and other organizations with archives to manage. As online cross-repository searching becomes a reality, the new edition will enable both professional archivists, records managers and other information professionals to standardize archive listing.

part |2 pages

PART I THE NATURE OF AN ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION

chapter 1|3 pages

What are archives?

chapter 2|1 pages

Archival arrangement

chapter 3|4 pages

The function of a finding aids system

chapter 4|8 pages

Levels of archival description

chapter 5|4 pages

The multi-level rule

chapter 7|2 pages

The two modes of archival description

chapter 8|4 pages

Depth of description

chapter 9|22 pages

Other aspects of archival description

part |2 pages

PART II THE DATA STRUCTURE OF AN ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTION

part |2 pages

PART III MODELS FOR DESCRIPTION

chapter 15|22 pages

Models for description

chapter 16|12 pages

Standard listing conventions

chapter |14 pages

PART IV TYPOLOGY OF ARCHIVAL DESCRIPTIONS

part |2 pages

PART V SPECIAL FORMATS

chapter 17|3 pages

Introduction to special formats

chapter 18|18 pages

Title deeds

chapter 19|8 pages

Letters and correspondence

chapter 20|7 pages

Photographs

chapter 21|8 pages

Cartographic archives

chapter 22|8 pages

Architectural and other plans

chapter 23|11 pages

Sound archives

chapter 24|10 pages

Film and video archives

chapter 25|17 pages

Electronic records

part |2 pages

APPENDIXES

chapter 1|14 pages

Dictionary of technical terms

chapter 2|2 pages

Brief bibliography

chapter 4|4 pages

ISAD(G)/EAD/MAD3 mapping