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Re: [ARSCLIST] Archive/Archives
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Richter" <mrichter@xxxxxxx>
> The report "Copyright Issues Relevant to Digital Preservation ..." uses
> the word 'archives' as a singular, typically in a phrase such as
> a libary or an archives ...
> That's a construction new to me and not reflected in the OED. It seems
> unlikely to be a typographic error, so can someone explain the
> distinction between 'archive' (singular) and 'archives' (singular)?
>
AFAIK, an archive (singular) is a collection of either a certain
type of object (i.e. my 78 archive) and/or documents which apply
either to a single topic or are connected to a single common
thread (i.e. an institutional archive). ArchiveS (plural)
indicate what might be better described as a collection of
collections...and in some cases is used to indicate that
something (usually a created work) is so outdated as to
belong to the past and placed in some repository of things
ancient and obsolete,,,
Steven C. Barr