Care and Conservation of Manuscripts 10 – proceedings of the tenth international seminar held at the University of Copenhagen

professionals. Is there a way in which this dichotomy can be avoided by archive studies? Likewise, one of the results of the focus on museum visitors and the learning that takes place in museums has been the concern, as expressed by Jane Glaister (former President of the Museums Association) that ‘too many museum collections are underused – not displayed, published, used for research or even understood by the institutions that care for them’. This is probably not an accusation that could be as easily levelled at archives, which have developed – and implemented – documentation standards that are the envy of those responsible for museum documentation. Can the development of a critical discipline of archive studies with a focus on users avoid such problems? Instead, museums and archives have much to learn from each other. For example, the very recent exploration of Collections-Level Descriptions by museums is clearly following in the wake of archives, though the implementation of CLDs in museums is also drawing on postmodern thinking that emphasises the impossibility of straightforward hierarchical classification schemes. The result may be a model that can be further developed by archives as they come to terms with the increasingly complex needs of their users. What are Archives? is therefore an important marker in thinking about archives that will, I hope, encourage other people who care about archives and other collections to join the authors in debate and discussion. It is very unfortunate that, with only a hard-back edition selling for £60, this book will not achieve the readership it deserves.