12 - Archiving and language documentation

Summary

This chapter provides sufficient context to archival functions to help researchers and documenters create, deposit and use archival records. Effective archival management of endangered language documentation is dependent not only on the actions that archives take to acquire, preserve and provide access to records, but also on the foresight and contributions of the creators and prior custodians of those records. The chapter is organized around core archival functions: appraisal, accession, arrangement, description, preservation, access and use. When carrying out each of the core functions, the steps taken by an archive to preserve and provide access to documentation of endangered languages depend on the actions of creators and collectors of the material. In the past decade, several collecting repositories devoted primarily to language documentation have been founded. These archives are able to treat language documentation with subject-specific expertise and fuel progress on standards for metadata, citation and access.