Archive Buildings in the United Kingdom 1993-2005

摘要

Christopher Kitching's second book on archive buildings in the UK focuses on those built after his first book1 was published in 1993. The scene has changed a great deal since then and, as he is the first to acknowledge, the period has witnessed a 'remarkable flowering' of archive buildings. The scale of investment has been high, totalling an expenditure of well over ￡250 million, and it does suggest that some archives at least are held in high esteem. National, local, community, business and university archives all feature in this catalogue of investment, though the author admits that 'too many exceptions to the general success story' still exist. The volume is divided into two main sections, the first being further divided into issues to do first with planning and then building, while the second section is a series of case studies selected from those which Kitching reckoned had 'most to contribute to our understanding of the genre'. The whole is very clearly written and laid out with many good sized photographs to illustrate the text.