LAUSR

The book articulates at length the many differences between the library and archive professions, as a means of allowing each profession a better understanding of the other. It offers little, however, in the way of practical examples or tips as to how they can better work together. Acknowledging the differences between the professions and the challenges faced when they come together can be a powerful driver in reaching an improved understanding between the two professions, but examples of how issues can be overcome and how to better work together would also be valuable. Technology, in particular the discovery of and access to digital material, is a theme that appears in other publications looking at the convergence or collaboration between libraries and archives. In his editorial for a 2016 issue of the Australian Library Journal focusing on ‘The Library–Archive Confluence’, Ross Harvey states that he has ‘long held the view that librarians have much to learn from archival theory and practice – a view that holds greater currency as both segments of the information profession strive to develop new ways of working to manage digital materials’ (2016, p. 145). In a 2012 paper Robert VanderBerg observes that ‘many current information and recordkeeping professionals pin the future of collaboration ... on the development of compatible digital technologies and the creation of integrated access systems to collections’ (2012, p. 137). While Bastian, Sniffin-Marinoff and Webber acknowledge that the world of digital content is where the two professions have greater opportunity to work together, stating that ‘with as many similarities as differences, archivists and librarians in academic and public library environments are increasingly cooperating around technology-related issues that are critical to their viability as information centres’ (p. 103), the coverage of working with digital material is restricted to the focus of a single chapter and a scattering of mentions in other chapters. Archives in Libraries articulates many of the challenges that are encountered when archives are located within the administrative and physical structures of libraries and provides some useful analysis for the ongoing convergence debate between the professions. It also features useful information about the background and professional practices of the archive and library professions in the United States, however some of this context is less relevant to professionals working outside the US. The book would have benefited from a greater focus on solutions to the problems encountered and on technology and digital material.