This volume widens the perspective of the roles that records play in society. As opposed to most writings in the discipline of archives and records management which view records from cultural, historical, and economical efficiency dimensions, this volume highlights that one of the most salient features of records is the role they play as sources of accountability—a component that often brings them into daily headlines and into courtrooms. Struggles over control, access, preservation, destruction, authenticity, accuracy, and other issues demonstrate time and again that records are not mute observers and recordings of activity. Rather, they are frequently struggled over as objects of memory formation and erasure. The 14 powerful case studies focus around four closely related themes—explanation, secrecy, memory, and trust. They demonstrate how records compel, shape, distort, and recover social interactions across space and time. The diverse range of case studies includes the ownership of the Martin Luther King, Jr. papers, the destruction of records on Nazi war criminals in Canada, the politics of documents in the Iran-Contra affair, the failure of records management in the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, the publication of tobacco company documents on the World Wide Web, access to records associated with the U.S. government's infamous Tuskegee syphilis study, the role of the U.S. National Archives in identifying assets looted by the Nazis in the wake of the Holocaust, the destruction of public records by the South African government during apartheid's final years, the construction of foreign relations of the U.S. documentary histories, the forgery corrupting recordkeeping systems, and the collapse of foreign indigenous commercial banks.

Archives, Recordkeeping, and Social Justice expands the burgeoning literature on archival social justice and impact. Illuminating how diverse factors shape the relationship between archives, recordkeeping systems, and recordkeepers, this book depicts struggles for different social justice objectives. Discussions and debates about social justice are playing out across many disciplines, fields of practice, societal sectors, and governments, and yet one dimension cross-cutting these actors and engagement spaces has remained unexplored: the role of recordkeeping and archiving. To clarify and elaborate this connection, this volume provides a rigorous account of the engagement of archives and records—and their keepers—in struggles for social justice. Drawing upon multidisciplinary praxis and scholarship, contributors to the volume examine social justice from historical and contemporary perspectives and promote impact methodologies that align with culturally responsive, democratic, Indigenous, and transformative assessment. Underscoring the multiplicity of transformative social justice impacts influenced by recordmaking, recordkeeping, and archiving, the book presents nine case studies from around the world that link the past to the present and offer pathways towards a more just future. Archives, Recordkeeping, and Social Justice will be an essential reading for researchers and students engaged in the study of archives, truth and reconciliation processes, social justice, and human rights. It should also be of great interest to archivists, records managers, and information professionals.

In the twenty-first century, the widespread integration of computer technologies has brought text-based information into many facets of everyday life. This has caused an ever-growing interest in typography across many fields of visual communication, where text and letterform play a central role in disseminating social trends and reflecting the spirit of the times. Arabic Typography takes the reader through a comprehensive study of Arabic letterforms, starting with a concise historical overview of their development and styles, and proceeding to the latest design and technological advances. It attempts to establish the foundations for Arabic type-design by drawing lessons from past practices and aesthetic conventions, in order to retain the enduring traits that are of relevance for improvement and innovation in future type-design creations. Going beyond the historical facts to discuss current design issues pertaining to the creation and production of letterforms, it presents Arabic typographic design as an essential communication tool that should marry functionality and legibility to aesthetic delight. This book will serve as a valuable reference on Arabic typography, and as an educational guide for design students, professionals and anyone who uses Arabic type and enjoys the visual appearance of this language and its letterforms.

University College Dublin has provided education on archives for 35 years mainly in the Archives Department. This book of essays celebrates its role in a timely manner as the Archives Department has become part of the new UCD School of History and Archives. The topics covered here include aspects of the history of archives, record keeping, ethics and ethical issues, the publication of diaries, digitisation and digital preservation, the representation of archives in literature, the use of archives in education, the curatorship of ancient, medieval and early modern archives, the management of church and local authority archives, and, the exploration of the impact of documents in everyday life. Contributors include: Mary Clark (Dublin City Library), Lisa Collins (UCD), Michelle Cooney (Christian Brothers Archives, St Helen's Province), Marianne Cosgrave (Mercy Congregational Archives), Clare Hackett (Guinness Archive), Charles Horton (CBL), Donal Moore (Waterford City Council), Colum O'Riordan (Irish Architectural Archives), Joanne Rothwell (Waterford County Council), and David Sheehy, (Archdiocese of Dublin Archives Service).