Archival Principles and Records of the New Technology

Basic archival principles apply to records created by computer technologies. The concepts of informational and evidential value as criteria for retention and the concepts of provenance and original order as keys to arrangement will continue to provide a framework for archival analysis. Description techniques will have to be augmented to accommodate more refined descriptors. Although these basic principles remain applicable, the computer technology forces archivists to address anew the problems of obsolescence and change, privacy and public use, mixed records systems, changing research demands, and the nature of the archival profession itself.