Integrated Archives and Records Management Programs at Professional Membership Associations: A Case Study and a Model

Professional membership associations present special problems for archivists because of the highly dispersed nature of their activities (and hence recordkeeping) and the constant turnover of actors. This paper presents a case study and a model for addressing archives and records issues in these types of settings, based on the conception of the archivist as a coordinator of others' activities and not a curator of records. The strategy and tactics employed here may also work well in an era when organizational hierarchies are being eliminated and when electronic recordkeeping systems are becoming dominant.