Navigating Legal Issues in Archives

Attorney and archivist Menzi Behrnd-Klodt details legal issues in this excellent resource. The book contains 22 chapters that are divided into 4 major sections corresponding to functional areas of archival and public history work:

-legal framework (especially useful for its orientation to the structure of laws and litigation, how to work with lawyers, and how to be a good client):
-acquiring and securing ownership to collections;
-access (e.g., privacy, student, health, presidential, and public records); and
-copyright and intellectual property.

Each chapter begins with a short bulleted list stating "Why this topic is important" and "Who will find the chapter particularly useful."

The book includes many sample legal documents, forms, policies, and guidelines (e.g., mission statement, collections policy, subpoena examples, deeds of gift, restrictions, copyright expiration table, deaccession and loan forms, and releases for users requesting copies from a repository). An explanation of the legal issues in each is provided along with the curatorial and cutltural objectives at stake.