Reading, 'Riting, and 'Rithmetic: Speculations on Change in Research Processes

The skills of reading, writing, and arithmetic have evolved distinctly and negatively during this century. These changes have already begun to affect archivists and archival institutions. The need for what archives contain will remain, but the ability of many people to use archives effectively may be expected to diminish. Unless archivists are willing to move away from serving the whole population in a postliterate society, they will have to mediate between the users' needs and the documents' contents to a greater degree than they have in the past.