4.1 Who are we addressing?

UTARMS prioritizes the use of plain language that is accessible to a wide variety of potential users.

  • Review and revise your text to keep it simple.1 Make sure your description does not have extraneous or irrelevant details, complicated sentence structure, and uses correct spelling and grammar.2 It is recommended that all archivists and student staff ask another staff member to review extensive descriptions before publishing.

  • Avoid using archival jargon. Remember that your readers may be unfamiliar with archival terminology and ensure description is appropriate for a general audience.

    For example:

    • Refer to different levels of description sparingly. When used and if possible, embed links to direct the reader.

    • Select clear and recognizable terms if possible. Consider “miscellaneous documents” and “collected pamphlets” rather than terms such as “miscellany” or “ephemera”.

  • Consider those outside of academic communities.3 Where possible, provide explanatory information for concepts, references, or terms that are highly specialized.

For example, write:

In response to the philosophical debates surrounding the objectivity of scientific inquiry and theory, often referred to as ‘the science wars’, Dr. Hacking published The Social Construction of What? (1999).

Caution

Consider the cultural dimensions of what you think requires explanation as these are also indicators of who we perceive our audience to be and whose experience might be centred within our descriptions.

  • Be aware and avoid language that devalues non-Western traditions, knowledge, values, or practices.4
Instead of… Consider writing…
his missionary work brought education to Northern communities his missionary work included setting up a Christian primary school.
he explored the forbidding terrain north of Lake Winnipeg with Cree guides, he conducted a geographic survey of Cree territories north of Lake Winnipeg.

  • Consider who is implicated in the records. If material content addresses specific communities, ask yourself:

    • Has the community been involved in the description, and to what extent?

    • How have we ensured accuracy and alignment with the subject’s identity and terms?5

    • Have we consulted community-accepted resources from the groups being described?

    • Are there additional ways to ensure the community is prioritized when thinking about discovery?

Information about these considerations should be recorded and filed within the collection’s case file.

Endnotes

  1. Technical Services Department, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, “How We Describe” (Duke University, June 2021), https://library.duke.edu/sites/default/files/rubenstein/pdf/HowWeDescribe_2021_06.pdf ↩

  2. Correct spelling and grammar refers to writing that demonstrates a level of care that is put into describing individuals, communities, contexts, and records in a manner that reflects their value. Archivists should similarly be attentive to preserving community terminology, slang, and vernacular when it is important in maintaining the nuance and implications of who or what is being described. ↩

  3. Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia’s Anti-Racist Description Working Group, “Anti-Racist Description Resources,” October 2019, https://archivesforblacklives.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/ardr_final.pdf ↩

  4. Jarrett M. Drake, “RadTech Meets RadArch: Towards A New Principle for Archives and Archival Description,” On Archivy (blog), April 7, 2016, https://medium.com/on-archivy/radtech-meets-radarch-towards-a-new-principle-for-archives-and-archival-description-568f133e4325 ↩

  5. This can be through consultation or other means, such as secondary source research. It is up to archivist discretion based on content, sensitivity, volume, and level of description of specific records being worked with. Also consider the availability of information that doesn’t require community labour. It can be useful to consider a community’s autonym or endonym, which is the term for a place, group of people, or language that the community itself uses. By contrast an exonym is a term used externally and should be evaluated for any connotations it may carry and its usefulness if included as a secondary term for discoverability. ↩