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To discuss the purpose, methodology, and results of the recent Archival Census and Education Needs Survey in the United States (A*CENSUS)

Description of survey conception, purpose, methodology, and the implications of selected results.

The 2004 Archival Census and Education Needs Survey in the United States (A*CENSUS) was the first archival census in the USA since 1982. Funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services, it represents unprecedented cooperation and collaboration among over 50 archival organizations and educational institutes throughout the USA. Preliminary findings indicate that the educational preparation of archivists has changed drastically, the profession has feminized, and that archivists are aging, with insufficient numbers of younger archivists to replace them. In spite of these dramatic changes, the archival profession has failed to diversify racially and ethnically.

This early view of the A*CENSUS is intended to stimulate discussion and further analyses of these data. The methodology sets a precedent for inter‐organizational collaboration and will help archivists and allied professionals better understand the profession today as well as the prevailing trends.

This article presents an early report on the A*CENSUS results and discusses potential implications of use of the dataset.

The purpose of this paper is to present a survey carried out on a sample of Greek university students (including students of library and archival science) that aimed to map and clarify perceptions of the archive among the students as well as their understanding of the nature of archival science. Moreover, it intends to investigate the information regarding student’s opinions and expectations about their archival studies.

Two separate groups took part in this research and were asked to answer a questionnaire with 16 closed-type multiple-choice questions. The first group included 244 individuals, all of them Higher-Educational Institutions students from almost all academic fields. The second group contained 130 students from the three Information Departments of Greece.

The conclusions verify Greek society’s view of archives. Even though no consistent definition of the archive seems to exist among the sample of students on which this survey drew, there is a clear understanding of the archive as a source of information emerging from the questionnaires as a shared undisputed fact.

The research indicates that archival science is an important part of the information studies. The survey results were taken into account during the revamping of the curriculum of the Department of Library Science and Information Systems, Technological Educational Institute (TEI) of Athens.

The study has advanced the understanding of archival science as an informational discipline which has to contribute a great part in the integrated field of information.

This paper aims to advocate that significant human and systems-based capabilities (termed “socio-technical capabilities”) need to be developed in government departments and other public sector organisations to support more effective description of information resources, collections and their context in online environments.

The ideas in this paper draw upon the findings of several action research interventions undertaken within a government department in Victoria in Australia since 2011 as part of a knowledge management initiative. Specific focus is given to the design and development of a new record-centric knowledge curation tool (KCT).

Effective functioning of KCT relies upon the input of well-structured, standards-based metadata used to describe collections, information resources and their context. The central claim is that the move towards standards-based descriptions will fundamentally change the capabilities required to manage, search for and disseminate knowledge and records.

In addition to the capabilities discussed, management of records and knowledge through time requires commitments to stable repository, workflow and administrative systems, and working with contemporary systems involves technical knowledge such as the use of application programming interfaces. These aspects are not discussed here.

The capabilities discussed in this paper are socio-technical in nature. This means there is a requirement to shift current perspectives about who is responsible for managing organisational information as collections.

While some of the concepts discussed will be familiar to information professionals, the paper provides a unique description of how existing archival and recordkeeping practices are being integrated in innovative ways within organisations outside the information management professions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the recognition of record management profession in the Namibian Public Service. The objectives of the study are to determine appreciation of the importance of records record management; establish policies that support records management; find out the promotion of the records management function in the public service; establish training and job opportunities available for the record management professionals; and come up with recommendations on how the recognition of the record management profession could be enhanced in the public service of Namibia.

This case study used qualitative data collection methods, namely, focus group discussions and interviews. The two ministries and records keeping staff who took part in the focus group discussions were conveniently selected, whereas the two government offices where one key informant each was interviewed were purposively selected.

This study revealed that the records management profession was not well recognised in the public service of Namibia. The hiring of staff with low educational qualifications and the hiring of records keeping staff with some Diploma qualifications into the same positions as those without qualifications were all evidence of this. In addition to these was the failure to re-grade the records keeping staff through the establishment of a records management cadre.

The study recommends the creation of record management units in all offices, ministries and agencies headed by qualified record managers supported by qualified records management staff, finalisation and implementation of the records management policy, as well as the creation of a records management cadre.

The findings of the study on which this paper is based could inform policy for decision makers, and for the records management keeping staff, a strategy for advocating for recognition of their profession was planned.

The study aims to assess the views of archives and records management (ARM) professionals in Eswatini about massive open online courses (MOOCs). The purpose of this study is to explore the potential of MOOCs as open gateways for ongoing learning opportunities to scholars, institutions and academics across the globe. It explores the challenges of providing MOOCs in a developing country such as Eswatini.

The study was anchored on the interpretive research paradigm and adopted a qualitative research methodology. The study used maximum variation sampling to identify individuals that would constitute the research sample. The rationale behind this sampling is to obtain participants with a shared experience within a phenomenon but who have some demographic variance.

The findings revealed that there was lack of awareness of the potential of MOOCs in revolutionizing the delivery of ARM courses in Eswatini. The findings support the need for higher education institutions in Eswatini to adopt MOOCs to deliver ARM courses. The study revealed that access to internet connectivity was among the key inhibitors undermining the adaptation of MOOCs for the delivery of ARM courses in Eswatini.

The novelty of the study is that it brings into the limelight the factors that impede the adaptation of MOOCs for the delivery of ARM courses in Eswatini. It brings into focus the challenges encountered by ARM institutions in Eswatini in moving towards a MOOC-centric mode of course delivery.

Archival education has progressed tremendously in the past 30 years. The numbers of archival programs, full‐time tenure track faculty and courses offered have all increased exponentially. Archival science is no longer seen as a sub‐specialization of library science or history and the efforts to legitimize archives as a separate field worthy of in‐depth inquiry at both the Master's and doctoral levels have succeeded. Most recently, however, the convergence of the information disciplines has called the distinctions between related disciplines into question. This poses both challenges and opportunities for archival education. This article places archival education in its historical and professional context, and will then discuss some of the issues relating to convergence and integration in the information professions.

In the decades since the founding of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) in 1938, the array of functions considered core to archival work have grown and evolved. In the early years of SAA, the profession was largely focused on issues of collection maintenance, heavily emphasizing preservation as the fundamental mission of the archivist. Yet, at this time, there were archivists calling on their colleagues to engage with audiences outside of the archival reading room. It was not until the social history movements in the 1970s, however, that discussions of outreach as a core function of the archivist's work took hold in the profession. From the 1970s and moving through to today, outreach and proactive engagement with external communities has moved from a peripheral activity of the archivist to one seen as essential to the overall success of an archival program. In this chapter, we examine the evolving discourse surrounding outreach and engagement activities by archivists, focusing on how outreach has been discussed in professional literature. We also explore ways in which this shift in professional perspective is reflected in the work done today by archivists at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

As the archival profession seeks a wider role in the field of information science, the need to prepare students for careers in a rapidly changing world requires multidisciplinary education, greater emphasis on core archival knowledge, and fully articulated graduate programs combining structured course sequences with practical experience and sophisticated research projects. The Society of American Archivists is currently considering new “Guidelines for a graduate program in archival studies”. This case study of the graduate program in archives and records management at Western Washington University provides one example of the diverse offerings available for archival students. The six key aspects of the Western Washington University curriculum include: linking history and archives, integrating archives and records management, emphasizing information technology, incorporating management principles, including practical experience, and requiring research for a master’s thesis.

This paper aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the concept of community archives, offering a critique of the community archives discourse through a historical case study focused on the origins of the Gerber/Hart LGBTQ library and archives in Chicago.

This study explores the archival collections of the founders of the Gerber/Hart library and archives and the librarians that have worked there as a means for understanding the origins of the archival impulse, the rationale for building the collections and the practices that shaped the collections during the first decade of the organization’s history.

The historical analysis of the Gerber/Hart library and archives situates community archives and LGBTQ collections within the broader historical context that lead to the founding of the organization and reveals deep connections to the information professions not previously considered by those studying community archives.

The paper offers a reconceptualization of community archives as archival projects initiated, controlled and maintained by the members of a self-defined community. The authors emphasize the role of the archival impulse or the historical origins of the collection and the necessity for full-community control, setting clear boundaries between community archives and other participatory archival models that engage the community.

In the future, library applications related to traditional functions may increasingly assume some of the roles and characteristics of archives and museums. In this article, the author describes fundamental archival concepts and theories and their evolution in recent times. Basic archival functions—appraisal, arrangement, description, reference, preservation, and publication—are also introduced. Finally, early applications of automation to archives (including SPINDEX, NARS‐5, NARS‐A‐1, MARC AMC, presNET, CTRACK, PHOTO, and DIARY) and automation trends for the future are discussed. The article presents a cogent introduction to archival operations, thereby providing 1) a basis for understanding distinctions between current archival and library practices and 2) insight concerning the possible convergence of selected roles and functions.