This volume introduces students and beginning practitioners to the fundamentals of working with and preserving archival records and manuscripts. Sample topics include the history of the archives profession, the organization of archival records, and the values that inform practice. A new chapter on contemporary challenges in the archival world has been added for the second edition, and the bibliographic essay has been updated. O'Toole (history, Boston College) is former director of the MA program in history and archives at the U. of Massachusetts-Boston, and Cox supervises graduate students at the U. of Pittsburgh, School of Information Sciences. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)