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Theft from NY State Archives
A sad story this week out of the New York State Archives. An archivist was caught selling documents from the archives on Ebay. Check out the New York Times article for background.
The outrage over the scandal proves the desire and need for archivists to continue managing historical papers and records and that ultimately archivists are accountable to the law and people. It gets people thinking about professional ethics, the trust instilled in archivists, and our duty to our communities. A running theme through archives courses is the need for documentation and transparency of the actions of archivists. By documenting our decisions and actions, we can help the next generation of archivists and users understand why and how materials were saved or destroyed. Creating more transparency could also help to safeguard against legal suits.
Posted by cassch at January 30, 2008 04:57 PM
