The American College of Surgeons (ACS) is a scientific and educational association of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to improve the quality of care for the surgical patient by setting high standards for surgical education and practice. The College Archives, located in the headquarters building in Chicago, collects and preserves inactive College records of enduring value and makes them available for research to its members and to the general public.

Archives and special collection development policies should state what the organization currently holds and the collecting areas, especially records of enduring value that represent the organization's history. A policy will not only formalize the archives program, it will allow you to focus on what you would like to acquire as well as to disregard materials that fall outside of the collection. Focusing on what you will not collect will also allow you to deaccession materials that should not be in the collection.

Over the years, I have directed or have been a subject matter expert on a number of projects using born-digital and digitized cultural heritage materials. With each new experience, I have gathered a series of questions, an aide-mémoire, to be explored before commencing a digital initiative.

Open source software (OSS) is the technology world’s response to consumers who are price sensitive, but as with many things, it’s important to do your homework before making a commitment. Read on for some thought provoking suggestions on how to evaluate the best ILS or KM software for your organization. Maybe it’s open source, maybe it isn’t.

We’re always trying to enhance our software to make it easier to navigate. Recently, we introduced a new menu system in SydneyEnterprise, GeniePlus, and Argus. It makes great use of “screen real estate” while giving you lots of choices, and personalization via “Favorites.”

In discussions with our archives clients, we often hear this: “I’m using a system that an old colleague built for me and it doesn’t work well. There’s no documentation, and the guy who built it is no longer with our organization.” Why is this a problem? Let us count the ways.

The Arizona State Archives collects and preserves permanent public records, historical manuscripts, photographs and other materials that contribute to the understanding of Arizona history. With six professionals overseeing their many collections of government materials, private manuscript collections, oral histories and photos, documenting everything and making it accessible is a huge challenge. With CuadraSTAR SKCA (STAR Knowledge Center for Archives), their collections are now more visible and available than ever before.

Baylor University is a private Christian university and nationally ranked research institution in Texas with more than 16,000 students, and multiple libraries and archives maintained by approximately 30 staff members. They have achieved significant impact using Star Knowledge Center for Archives (SKCA) to manage their collections.