Archives versus libraries - the differences

You may already be familiar with using Libraries, for example when researching for your university assignments or finding books for your leisure reading. However, libraries are different to archives so how use them will differ.

Archives consist mainly of primary sources of information, such as firsthand accounts from people or evidence that relates to a past event or time period. In contrast libraries contain mostly secondary sources of information such as journal articles and books which have been formally published.

Also, archives are organised by provenance, who collected or created the object or item. This is different to western libraries which organise information using the Dewey Decimal system which is by subject area. This means how you search an archival collection will be quite different to searching your university of public library.

Watch the following short video to get a brief overview of searching some key Australian archives:

 Video length: 6 min. 55 sec

Not all archives have been able to digitise their content due to time, expense, copyright restrictions and privacy. You may have to visit certain archives in person or contact the archivist to discuss what you are looking for. They may be able to assist you with gettting something digitised inf you cannot physically come into the archive.

Many archives have finding aids. These are guides, or keys, to help you navigate their collections.

Finding aids will help you learn more about the collection to determine if it is relevant. They typically include: background information on the creator or theme of the collection, a description of the collection's content and organisation, and a breakdown of the collection's contents.

The National Archives of Australia has a range of finding aids (research guides) that you can explore here:

Before you start consider: 

• What are the main topics, themes or events you want to search for?
• Who may have created information about these? Think about places, events, dates and people. These are often used to organise and describe archives. Note these down in a table or mind map as a strategy to organise your ideas.
• What language or terminology may have been used? Use a dictionary, such as the Macquarie Dictionary or the Oxford Dictionary, which has a thesaurus you can explore.
• Doing some initial searching and reading of secondary sources of information, such as journal articles and book chapters, to learn more about the topic, theme or event.

Dictionaries:

As archives contain primary sources, some which are not in written form making, keyword searching can be difficult. You may find it easier to start by browsing a collection and focus your search as you get a feel for it.

If you want to do a keywords search be mindful that the more keywords you add the narrower your search will become. A useful technique can be to start with a basic keywords searching using either the subject, geographic location, format, creator or creation date. You can then choose to add more keywords to your to search to narrower it further.

Search interfaces and their features will most likely vary significantly between different archives depending on their size and funding.

Some features to consider utilising if available are:

Tip: Always look for help screen or search tips to find out the best way to search that archive.