The evolution of the finding aid in the United States: from physical to digital document genre

In this article, we examine the American finding aid as a form of genre from both a cognitive and a sociological perspective and use this analysis to articulate some of the hidden or underlying regularities and assumptions of archives work. As finding aids increasingly are created and delivered digitally, we can anticipate tensions in the form and use of these genres giving rise to increased scrutiny of archival practices that in turn should cause us to explore the representation of the archives profession in a digital world. A particular focus of this article is to advance an argument that for too long, the actual consumption and use, that is, the reading of finding aids, has been ignored or overlooked. Yet, it is likely that only through understanding how people exploit and read these documents in real use can we improve their design. In so doing, we make a case for archival research to move further into the analysis of user behavior, information seeking, and contemporary information practices so as to improve and extend the appreciation of how archives contribute to the larger information field.