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Besides values attached with archival systems, professional value is the values set held by practitioners. The professional body and work emphasises particular kinds of values that suit the work. At the same time, archivists are also individuals and

members of their societies so they also have values influenced by their socio-cultural contexts. It depends on each practitioner how much they bring individual values to work (Kingsley) and how they solve the problems caused by the conflicts between professional and their personal/ social values. It can be said that archivists advocate these professional values through their work especially when professional values are not totally compatible with social values in their contexts.

Defining professional values

The business dictionary defines professional value as

“Business-related beliefs or principles that guide professional behavior. Values may

reflect ethics, practices, standards and other norms within a commercial environment”

(Business dictionary).

Professional values are thus beliefs that support each occupation’s practice. A job cannot be called a profession without professional values or code of conduct. Oxford Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care defines a profession in general as “[a]n occupation that has traditionally been regarded as having a number of characteristics:

a code of ethics/conduct; a regulatory body; a knowledge base; and control over new entrants” (Harris and White).

Not every occupation can be called a profession, and one of the defining qualities that a profession must have is a code of ethics. In other words, it needs to hold a principle or pattern of behaviours in practicing the job. Obviously, some sets of beliefs and values need to be enshrined in the profession.

Values and information professionals

In a more specific information profession perspective, some studies on professional values and ethics have been done. Wallace Koehler suggested that values held by the

profession are related to what information is for. Taking a functionalist perspective, Koehler discussed Capurro’s idea that:

The question ‘what is information for?’ leads to the question ‘what is information science for?’ since information science, conceived as a hermeneutic-rhetorical discipline, studies the contextual pragmatical

dimensions within which knowledge is shared positively as information and negatively as misinformation particularly through technical forms of

communication. These are not just an instrument but a ‘way of being’

(Koehler 101).

Thus, the work of this discipline has been interpreted according to the context, and practical side of management. The profession depends on the nature of information and the cultural context. Values it holds can be various according to the context. This article discussed a number of studies that conducted surveys with various kinds of information professionals. Koehler mapped out the results that showed, in general, that values defined by information professionals are: intellectual freedom, protecting library users’ right to privacy, confidentiality, intellectual property rights, professional neutrality, preservation of the cultural record, and equity of access. Some values were mentioned in many studies, indicating that in the practitioners’ point of view they have a significant role. Professional values are usually mentioned along with ethics.

Apart from identifying values in librarianship and information professions, this study identifies variables that cause variation in values: different kinds of work (meaning having different functions in society) and culture according to different regions. For example, archivists and records managers prioritise preservation, while librarians identified it as having a much lower priority (Koehler 108). Librarians and other information professionals also have values as a part of the charter (Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) of their career development.

Values and archivists

This research aims to study the archives profession’s values, including related

professions, as archivists are those preserving, interpreting and disseminating value in archives. Archivists have a professional code of conduct provided by the ICA.

The ICA Code of Ethics is as follows (International Council of Archives):

1) Integrity of archival materials

2) Appraisals that respect provenance and impartiality 3) Protection of authenticity

4) Continuation of accessibility and intelligibility

5) Documentation of the practice in order to provide justification of their practice 6) Promotion of the widest access

7) Respect both access and privacy

8) Using trust given to the archivists for general interest 9) Pursuing professional development

10) Promotion of preservation and use of the world’s documentary heritage

Mark Greene, former president of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) gave a speech claiming the importance of having professional core values in the archives profession. He stated that it is important for archivists to know who they are, not only what they do. He stated that knowing archivists’ values will help to increase their power and value in the public’s eyes (Greene). He proposed the following set of values for American archivists:

1) Professionalism 2) Collectivity 3) Activism 4) Selection 5) Preservation 6) Democracy 7) Service 8) Diversity 9) Use and Access 10) History

This list is similar to that of the ICA; however, it can be seen that when it comes to specific regions, there are cultural elements attached to the list of values. That is, the SAA list has some values such as democracy and diversity. These values are

important in the US context where sensitivity in terms of multiculturalism is required and freedom is desired.

It is noteworthy that many values discussed for both library science and archivists are functions such as appraisal, preservation, service, and so on. These words are ethical guidance but they are not values according to psychology. It may be true that, as Mark Greene claimed, archivists are more attached to the process but find it difficult to articulate who they are. However, the codes aim to communicate with the

practitioners to practise in the ways that accord with the values. And, one practice contains many values. For example, appraisal itself is not a value but it implies the belief in impartiality and the willingness to protect materials. Similarly, providing access requires a balance with privacy.

Jeannette Bastian discussed characteristics of ethical imperatives in archives and records management. Firstly, professional ethics tend to be considered at the

individual level. Though institutions or organisations have rules, archivists will have to use their personal values in making decisions (Bastian 102). Secondly, ethics in archives management is an evolving process. Each era has its own ethical challenges.

She points out that in the 21^st century, the challenges for ethics in archives are social justice, sensitivity for indigenous people, and the challenges of the digital age. This reveals that professional values keep changing in accordance with society.

Nevertheless, Bastian suggested that though issues around archivists keep changing, the main principle of archivists remain as Sir Hilary Jenkinson suggested: to maintain the integrity of the evidence and provide knowledge to users (Bastian 102).

Values among archivists are different from those of librarians due to nature of the work. The professional principle is mainly about preservation and giving access as well as encouraging archives to be a tool in dealing with social issues. The distinctive status of archivists is to be those who have information that interacts with justice, education and heritage at the same time. The profession’s relationship to information gives it the nature of service and organisation values while its content makes

information professionals accord with current ideas.

Information professionals and archivists’ values and Thai values

Applying Schwartz’s value framework with archives and information professionals, the values the professionals hold are clearly in the areas that support their roles.

The first evident role is universalism which emphasises the role to promote scholarship and knowledge. The areas of information that educational and cultural institutions like libraries and archives promote are on the intellectual search for truth and beauty which is also included in this value. Universalism also appears in giving access to all equally. This role can be found in both information practitioners in general and archivists. The second value which is traditionally considered by those outside information professionals is self-direction. The professionals work on arranging and controlling information to be promptly used. It can be found in the nature of the work. For example, the SAA professional values list archival work that involve this value e.g. selection, preservation and so on. Benevolence is another value needed in information professionals who work in service. Their work is to support others (information users). The nature of work that contributes to others is connected to benevolence value which aims to enhance others’ wellbeing. Additionally,

stimulation is a value stated by some practitioners in the interviews in that they can be exposed to new knowledge which make them feel fascinated and privileged.

As for the archival profession in particular, extra values that are added to information professionals in general are tradition and power. Tradition is distinctive in the sense that archivists have duties to preserve materials the past. Advocacy for these materials sometimes can bring people to perpetuate what has been inherited though arguably that can also lead to changes. I include power value for the archives profession as their materials when regarded as evidence can take control of rights, property and political power.

Comparing these values to Thai values described earlier, some prominent values in archives are not important ones in Thai social values e.g. universalism and self-direction. The lack of appreciation of these values in Thai society make the archival mission more challenging. And, some archivists see promoting these values that are not of interest in Thai society as their mission. For example, promoting value for educational purposes, supporting recordkeeping practice and documentation (more detail can be seen in chapter 4). In contrast, the ones that exist in both professional

values and Thai values are benevolence, tradition and power. These values have been reflected in Thai archival practice but with the expression in Thai culture. For

example, benevolence can be seen in delivering service. Tradition is especially shown in the materials they provide and their presentation. Power is used to support power and stability. (More detail in chapter 4). So, some values in the profession correspond with Thai values in the professional areas but also interpreted in Thai context.

Values and historians

Apart from the archives profession and information side of the work, history is a twin discipline the practice of which directly influences archives.

On the relationship between social values and historians, Jörn Rüsen discussed the standpoint of a values system with empirical methodology in historiography. He referred to the contradiction between social values, which is about preferences, and the impartiality of classical historiography. He stated that historians hold the

standpoint that narratives are formed by their own beliefs and opinions but all have to provide empirical validity to prove their points of view (Rüsen “Historical

Objectivity” 57-62).

Historiography is closely related to social values and changes in them. Just like archivists, historians have to face the conflicts of objectivity and subjectivity in their methods. Despite each historian’s personal standpoint that shapes history, all of them have to follow the solid ground of their methodology: to provide evidence to

sufficiently support their points of view.

I will not go into much detail in Schwartz’s value framework like professional values for archivists in the previous section. However, the point of view of historians has to be examined from their historical methods, which again appear not perfectly to fit in the Thai context. This will be discussed further in the material that deals with

perceptions of history in 5.2.

3.7 Conclusion

This chapter mainly examines archival value and Thai social values by employing Schwartz’s value framework which attempts to categorise basic human values into ten groups. Conventional literature describing Thai values and their origins identify some outstanding values, such as benevolence, power and hedonism, while more recent literature shows changes in Thai society. As for archives, they are usually considered materials with value attached to them because of their authenticity, age or importance as heritage, but this is culturally and socially determined depending on how society makes use of them. This chapter has shown that values supported by a modern (Western) archival system do not align as closely with Thai social values, and the main values even contradict prominent Thai values. For example, some significant values in Western archival notions (e.g. self-direction, achievement and universalism) are not prominent Thai values. Conversely, the traditional Thai recordkeeping system supports Thai values. However, both archival systems still have what is called in this research “value gaps”. Hedonism and benevolence are not supported by either

archival system. Some professional values required in archivists correspond with Thai values such as tradition and power; others can add challenges for Thai archivists since the mission of their work is to promote what is not culturally valued in a society that is not strong in the values of universalism and self-direction.

In brief, the exploration and analysis of this chapter shows how modern archival values are not culturally compatible with Thai values. This issue is at the heart of many of the challenges facing the provision of Thai archives today.

Chapter 4

Attitudes towards Archives and Archival Practice 4.1 Introduction

After the previous chapter’s discussion of archives and recordkeeping systems and social values, this chapter will consider attitudes towards archives: what different groups of people think of archives and how they feel or take action towards them.

This chapter will explore Thai people’s attitudes towards archives and archival

institutions in Thailand. Firstly, history of Thai recordkeeping and the development of the NAT will be explored. It is necessary to have understanding in this background as it is influential in shaping perception and attitudes towards archives in Thai society.

Secondly, Thai perceptions and attitudes will be explored by looking at the data given by the survey participants who mostly hold general traditional Thai views on archives and the ones given by interviewees who are more involved with archives in the modern sense (archivists, users and academics). Their views on archival practice will be examined to explain the culture in archival practice and the service in reality. For interview data, some opinions from the British interviewees will also be offered for comparison and contrast. Finally, some psychological understanding discussed in chapter 2 will be used to analyse attitudes towards archives and archival practice in Thai and British contexts.