Archival Strategies for the Post-Custodial Era

formation processing is inexorably changing our world and our work, pushing us into a new period in archival history, a period I call the post-custodial era. Our effectiveness as archivists in this new era depends on our ability to alter our past behavior and to fashion strategies to cope with both the opportunities and the problems created by this revolution. During the custodial era, the mass of records we contended with was relatively small; the technology of records creation, storage, and retrieval was fairly simple; and we assumed a passive role in shaping the documentary record. Concern with the uniqueness of the material in our care, and the normal expectations of our custodial role, tended to make us uncommonly introspective, preoccupied with our own gardens, and too little aware of the larger historical and social landscape that surrounded us. Our introspective proclivity has isolated us from one another and fragmented our work, obscuring the advantages of cooperation and shared ideas. Our custodial