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An archivist is an
information professional An information professional or information specialist is someone who collects, records, organises, stores, preserves, retrieves, and disseminates printed or digital information. The service delivered to the client is known as an information service ...
who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and
archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
s determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can consist of a variety of forms, including letters, diaries, logs, other personal documents, government documents, sound and/or picture recordings, digital files, or other physical objects.


Description

As
Richard Pearce-Moses Richard Pearce-Moses is an American archivist and educator. He was president of the Society of American Archivists in 2005-6. He was recognized by the Library of Congress for his work as a Digital Preservation Pioneer. He was the first director o ...
wrote: Determining what records have enduring value can be challenging. Archivists must also select records valuable enough to justify the costs of storage and preservation, plus the labor-intensive expenses of arrangement, description, and reference service. The theory and scholarly work underpinning
archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...
s practices is called archival science. The most common related occupations are librarians, museum curators, and
records manager A records manager is the professional responsible for records management in an organization. This role has evolved over time and takes many forms, with many related areas of knowledge required for professional competency. Records managers are foun ...
s. The occupation of archivist is distinct from that of librarian. The two occupations have separate courses of training, adhere to separate and distinct principles, and are represented by separate
professional organization A professional association (also called a professional body, professional organization, or professional society) usually seeks to further a particular profession, the interests of individuals and organisations engaged in that profession, and th ...
s. In general, the librarian tends to deal with published media (where the metadata, such as author, title, and date of publication, may be readily apparent and can be presented in standardized form), whereas the archivist deals with unpublished media (which has different challenges such as the metadata not always being immediately apparent, containing complications and variety, and more likely to depend on provenance). The
Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the or ...
(SAA) also notes that while both professions preserve, collect, and make materials accessible, librarians can often obtain "new copies of worn-out or lost books", while records in archival collections are unique and irreplaceable. The SAA further distinguishes libraries and archives based on the materials they keep and how they are accessed by patrons. Because archival records are frequently unique, archivists may be as much concerned with the preservation and custody of the information carrier (i.e. the physical document) as with its informational content. In this sense, the archivist may have more in common with the
museum curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...
than with the librarian. The SAA states that museum curators and archivists sometimes overlap in their duties, but that curators often collect and interpret three-dimensional objects, while archivists deal with paper, electronic, or audiovisual records. Even so, archival selections are sometimes exhibited in
museums A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
. The occupation of archivist is also frequently distinguished from that of
records manager A records manager is the professional responsible for records management in an organization. This role has evolved over time and takes many forms, with many related areas of knowledge required for professional competency. Records managers are foun ...
, although in this case the distinction is less absolute: the archivist is predominantly concerned with records deemed worthy of permanent preservation, whereas the records manager is more concerned with records of current administrative importance. The SAA additionally notes that historians and archivists have a long-standing partnership, as archivists preserve, identify, and make records accessible, while historians use those records for their research.


Duties and work environment

Archivists' duties include acquiring and appraising new collections, arranging and describing records, providing reference service, and preserving materials. In arranging records, archivists apply two important principles: provenance and
original order Original order is a concept in archival theory that a group of records should be maintained in the same order as they were placed by the record's creator. Along with provenance, original order is a core tenet of the archival concept of ''respect d ...
. Provenance refers to the creation of records and keeping different records separate in order to maintain context. Many entities create records, including governments, businesses, universities, and individuals. Original order is applied by keeping records in their order as established and maintained by the creator(s). Both provenance and original order are closely related to the concept of '' respect des fonds'', which states that records from one corporate body should not be mixed with records from another. There are two aspects to arrangement: intellectual and physical. Both aspects follow the principle of original order. Archivists process the records physically by placing them in acid-free folders and boxes to ensure their long-term survival. They also process the records intellectually, by determining what the records consist of, how they are organized, and what, if any,
finding aid A finding aid, in the context of archival science, is an organization tool, a document containing detailed, indexed, and processed metadata and other information about a specific collection of records within an archive. Finding aids often consist o ...
s need to be created. Finding aids can be box lists or descriptive inventories, or indexes. Even if the original arrangement is unclear or unhelpful in terms of accessing the collection, it is rarely rearranged to something that makes more sense. This is because preserving the original order shows how the creator of the records functioned, why the records were created, and how they went about arranging them. Moreover, the provenance and authenticity of the records may be lost. However, original order is not always the best way to maintain some collections and archivists must use their own experience and current best practices to determine the correct way to preserve collections of mixed media or those lacking a clear original arrangement. Archivists' work encompasses a range of
ethical Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns ma ...
decisions that may be thought of as falling into three broad and intertwined areas: legal requirements; professional standards; and accountability to society in selecting and preserving documentary materials that serve as a
primary source In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called an original source) is an artifact, document, diary, manuscript, autobiography, recording, or any other source of information that was created at the time under ...
of knowledge, and influence collective memory and identity. In negotiating the ethical conflicts that arise in their work, archivists are guided by codes of ethics. The Society of American Archivists first adopted
code of ethics
in 1980;Horn, David E (1989).
The Development of Ethics in Archival Practice
" ''The American Archivist'', 2(1), p. 64-71. It was based on an earlier statement produced in training programs at the National Archives, under Archivist of the United States
Wayne C. Grover Wayne Clayton Grover (September 14, 1906 – June 8, 1970) served as Third Archivist of the United States. Career Grover joined the National Archives staff in 1935. During World War II he earned the Legion of Merit for the management of Army ...
, and published as
The Archivist's Code
(''American Archivist'', vol. 18, no. 4, p. 307-308).
the
International Council on Archives The International Council on Archives (ICA; French: ''Conseil international des archives'') is an international non-governmental organization which exists to promote international cooperation for archives and archivists. It was set up in 1948, wi ...
adopted one in 1996. Alongside their work in arranging and caring for collections, archivists assist users in interpreting materials and answering inquiries. This reference work can be a small part of an archivist's job in a smaller organization, or consist of most of their occupation in a larger archive where specific roles (such as processing archivist and reference archivist) may be delineated. Archivists work for a variety of organizations, including
government agencies A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administratio ...
, local authorities, museums, hospitals, historical societies, businesses, charities, corporations, colleges and universities, national parks and historic sites, and any institution whose records may potentially be valuable to researchers, exhibitors,
genealogist Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kins ...
s, or others. They can also work on the collections of a large family or even of an individual. Archivists are often educators as well; it is not unusual for an archivist employed at a university or college to lecture in a subject related to their collection. Archivists employed at cultural institutions or for local government frequently design educational or
outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...
programs to further the ability of archive users to understand and access information in their collections. This might include such varied activities as exhibitions, promotional events, community engagement, or even media coverage. The advent of Encoded Archival Description (EAD), along with increasing demand for materials to be made available online, has required archivists to become more tech-savvy in the past decade. Many archivists are now acquiring basic
XML Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language and file format for storing, transmitting, and reconstructing arbitrary data. It defines a set of rules for encoding documents in a format that is both human-readable and machine-readable ...
skills in order to make their finding aids available to researchers online.


Skills

Because of the varied nature of the job within different organizations and work environments, archivists need to have a wide range of
skills A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of w ...
: * Those who work in reference and access-oriented positions should have good customer services skills, to help patrons with their research. * A basic knowledge of conservation is needed to help extend the life of cultural artifacts. Many types of media (such as photographs, acidic papers, and unstable copy processes) can deteriorate if not stored and maintained properly. * Although many archival collections consist solely of paper records, increasingly archivists must confront the new challenges posed by the preservation of electronic records, so they need to be forward-looking and technologically proficient.


Educational preparation

The educational preparation for archivists varies from country to country.


Australia

The Australian Society of Archivists is the professional body for archivists, and is responsible for the accreditation of the various University courses. The first University to offer archival training was the
University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...
, starting in 1973. The course closed in 2000. As of 2017, courses are offered at Curtin University,
Charles Sturt University Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria. Established in 1989, it was named in honour of Captain Charles Napier Sturt, a British explore ...
,
Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...
and
University of South Australia The University of South Australia (UniSA) is a public research university in the Australian state of South Australia. It is a founding member of the Australian Technology Network of universities, and is the largest university in South Australi ...
at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The course at
Edith Cowan University Edith Cowan University (ECU) is a public university in Western Australia. It is named in honour of the first woman to be elected to an Australian parliament, Edith Cowan, and is the only Australian university named after a woman. Gaining unive ...
is being phased out.


Brazil

The profession has been regulated since 1978. Many universities in Brazil, such as the
Federal University of Santa Maria The Federal University of Santa Maria ( pt, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, UFSM) is a Brazilian public university located in Santa Maria, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, funded by the federal government of Brazil. It was founded in 1 ...
(UFSM), the
Federal University of Espírito Santo The Federal University of Espírito Santo ( pt, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, ''Ufes'') is a federal university with headquarters in the city of Vitória, capital of Espírito Santo state, in Brazil. It is the largest and most importa ...
(UFES), Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), and thirteen other universities, offer the degree in "archivology" which roughly translates to " archival science."


Canada

There are various institutions which offer an archival science degree. One of those institutions is the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...
.


Colombia

The
Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje The National Training Service ( es, Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje, SENA) is a Colombian public institution aimed to develop vocational training programs for the Colombian labor force as a means to increase the competitiveness of Colombia's ent ...
– SENA – in chain training with the Tecnológico de Antioquia Tecnológico de Antioquia offers an archival science degree.


France

In France, the oldest Archivist School is the '' École des chartes'', founded in 1821. This prestigious ''
grande école A ''grande école'' () is a specialised university that is separate from, but parallel and often connected to, the main framework of the French public university system. The grandes écoles offer teaching, research and professional training in s ...
'' (literally, "grand schools) offers a diploma in "Archivist-Paleography," created in 1849, after a three-year curriculum. Many graduates become curators in archives, museums, and libraries or become researchers in universities. Some universities, like
University of Angers The University of Angers (french: Université d'Angers; UA) is a public university in western France, with campuses in Angers, Cholet, and Saumur. It forms part of thAngers-Le Mans University Community History The University of Angers was init ...
, Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, and
Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (, ''UVSQ'') is a French public university created in 1991, located in the department of Yvelines and, since 2002, in Hauts-de-Seine. It is a constituent university of the federal Paris-Saclay Un ...
, offer a master's degree in Archival Science, while the Burgundy has a course for their
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
degree focusing on archives of 20th and 21st century Europe.


Ireland

In the Republic of Ireland, the School of History of the
University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
(UCD) offers a Masters of Arts degree in Archives and Records Management, providing the only recognized course in Ireland for the training of professional archivists, which is accredited by the Archives and Records Association. UCD also offers certificates in Archives Management and Records Management.


New Zealand

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...
is the only tertiary institution in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
that provides postgraduate archival courses. Victoria Information Studies qualifications with ARCR endorsement have been recognized by Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia. The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand has an undergraduate course in archives management.


United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, there are currently postgraduate courses in archives administration or management from Aberystwyth University,
University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...
,
University of Dundee , mottoeng = "My soul doth magnify the Lord" , established = 1967 – gained independent university status by Royal Charter1897 – Constituent college of the University of St Andrews1881 – University College , ...
,
University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...
,
University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
, and
University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...
which are recognised by the Archives and Records Association (United Kingdom and Ireland). Students are expected to have relevant paid or voluntary work experience before obtaining a place on the UK courses, while professional certification (after qualifying) can be pursued via the Registration Scheme offered by the Archives and Records Association.


United States

The most common types of advanced degrees held by archivists are in archival science, public history, history, library science, or library and information science. It is also possible for archivists to earn a doctorate in library and information science. Archivists with a PhD often work as teaching faculty, deans, or directors of archival programs. In 2002, the
Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the or ...
published Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies; it also promotes and disseminates a code of ethics, which has undergone several revisions since it was first adopted in 1980. The
Academy of Certified Archivists The Academy of Certified Archivists is an American independent, nonprofit organization of professional archivists founded in 1989. History The professional qualifications of archivists became an issue in the 1950s, when the Society of American Ar ...
offers supplemental archival training by means of a certification program. When first established in 1989, some critics of ACA certification objected to its annual membership fees, the theoretical versus practical nature of its tests, and the need for members to re-certify every five years. However, in the decades since, it has been agreed that such requirements are comparable with certification programs in other professions, and that certification strengthens professional standards and individual competencies. While some positions in archives require certification and many employers view certification as preferred, it is not required by all employers in the United States. Approximately 1,200+ archivists were certified by ACA, . A history of women in the archival professions detailed the Committee on the Status of Women in the political, social and cultural context of feminism and its lasting effect on the field.


Professional organizations and continuing education

Many archivists belong to a professional organization, such as the
Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the or ...
, the Association of Canadian Archivists, the Archives and Records Association (UK/Ireland), the Colombian College of Archivists - CCA, and the Australian Society of Archivists, as well as any number of local or regional associations. These organizations often provide ongoing educational opportunities to their members and other interested practitioners. In addition to formal degrees and or apprenticeships, many archivists take part in continuing education opportunities as available through professional associations and library school programs. New discoveries in the fields of
media preservation Preservation of documents, pictures, recordings, digital content, etc., is a major aspect of archival science. It is also an important consideration for people who are creating time capsules, family history, historical documents, scrapbooks and fam ...
and emerging technologies require continuing education as part of an archivist's job in order to stay current in the profession.


History of the profession

The first predecessors of archival science in the West are Jacob von Rammingen's manuals of 1571. and Baldassarre Bonifacio's ''De Archivis libris singularis'' of 1632. In 1883 French archivist Gabriel Richou published the first Western text on archival theory, entitled ''Traité théorique et pratique des archives publiques'' (''Treaty of Theory and Practice of the Public Archives''), in which he systematized the archival theory of the '' respect des fonds'', first published by
Natalis de Wailly Natalis de Wailly (10 May 1805, Mézières, Ardennes – 4 December 1886, Paris) was a French archivist, librarian and historian. In 1841, as head of the Administrative Section of the Royal Archives, he wrote a ministerial circular, issued by C ...
in 1841. In 1898, three Dutch archivists, Samuel Muller, Johan Feith, and Robert Fruin, published the ''Handleiding voor het ordenen en beschrijven van archieven'' (''Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives''). Produced for the Dutch Association of Archivists, it set out one hundred rules for archivists to base their work around. Notably, within these rules, the principle of preserving provenance and original order was first argued for as an essential trait of archival arrangement and description. In 1956, T. R. Schellenberg, known as the "Father of American Archival Appraisal", published ''Modern Archives''. Schellenberg's work was intended to be an academic textbook defining archival methodology and giving archivists specific technical instruction on workflow and arrangement. Moving away from Jenkinson's organic and passive approach to archival acquisition, where the administrator decided what was kept and what was destroyed, Schellenberg argued for a more active approach by archivists to appraisal. His primary (administrative) and secondary (research) value model for the management and appraisal of records and archives allowed government archivists greater control over the influx of material that they faced after the Second World War. As a result of the widespread adoption of Schellenberg's methods, especially in the United States of America, modern Records Management as a separate but related discipline was born. In 1972,
Ernst Posner Ernst Maximilian Posner (9 August 1892 – 18 April 1980) was a Prussian state archivist who fled to the United States during World War II where he served as the history department chairman, dean of the graduate school, and director of the School o ...
published ''Archives in the Ancient World''. Posner's work emphasized that archives were not new inventions, but had existed in many different societies throughout recorded history. Due to his role in the development of American
archival theory Archival science, or archival studies, is the study and theory of building and curating archives, which are collections of documents, recordings and data storage devices. To build and curate an archive, one must acquire and evaluate recorded ...
and practice, he was sometimes called "the Dean of American archivists." Norton promoted the establishment of archives as a profession separate from history or library science and developed the American archival tradition to emphasize an administrator/archivist rather than an historian/archivist. She encouraged learning through experimentation, practical usage, and community discussion. While editor of ''The American Archivist'' she emphasized technical rather than scholarly issues, believing that archival records were useful in ways other than scholarly research.


On the Internet


Archives 2.0

Archivists, like librarians, are taking advantage of
Web 2.0 Web 2.0 (also known as participative (or participatory) web and social web) refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, participatory culture and interoperability (i.e., compatibility with other products, systems, and ...
technologies such as blogs,
wiki A wiki ( ) is an online hypertext publication collaboratively edited and managed by its own audience, using a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages for the subjects or scope of the project, and could be either open to the pub ...
s, as well as open access and open source philosophies. Archives 2.0, by extension, is more of a participatory online repository than a true-to-form established entity, although it has fallen considerably behind Web 2.0 in overall acceptance by archivists themselves. While Archives 2.0 may refer to implementing new technologies, it is also a way of engaging with archives in an effort to promote openness and flexibility of archival materials. This can be achieved through community participation in archives, archivists actively engaging with their collections, and promoting archival benefits in the modern world. Kate Theimer writes that in order to understand Archives 2.0, it must be compared against Archives 1.0. She asserts that her representation of Archives 1.0 is by no means exhaustive or fully comprehensive of the breadth of archival experience. The following is a list of contrasts between 1.0 and 2.0. * "Open, not closed; * Transparent, not opaque; * User centered, not record centered; * Facilitator, not gatekeeper; * Attracting new users, not relying on users to find them; * Shared standards, not localized practice; * Metrics and measurement, not 'unmeasurable' results; * Iterative products, not 'perfect' products; * Innovation and flexibility, not adhering to tradition; * Technology savvy, not technology phobic; * Value doing, not knowing; * Confident about lobbying for resources, not hesitant beggars." The technological tools of Archives 2.0 provide the foundational platforms to help the change from 1.0 to 2.0. When working in an archives that is dedicated to upholding 2.0 standards, the focus has shifted onto the user experience at an archives.


Internet libraries

Some archivists operate public libraries that are accessible on the Internet. Examples include the illegal
shadow libraries A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, ...
Library Genesis – humanity's largest library of books – and Sci-Hub – humanity's largest public library of scientific articles. Proponents of these two libraries have made use of BitTorrent and IPFS technologies to make these sites decentralized and uncensorable. There are also other projects that for instance archive digital games and make them accessible via the Internet or that keep content of defunct websites accessible. The most comprehensive public archive on the Internet is the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
which provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites (via the
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...
), software applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and books. As of April 2021, the Internet Archive holds over 30 million books and texts, 8.9 million movies, videos and TV shows, 649,000 software programs, 13,225,000 audio files, 3.8 million images, and 580 billion web pages.


Notes


See also

* Archival science * List of archives *
List of archivists This is a list of archivists. An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. Some of the people list ...
* Howard Henry Peckham and
John Clement Fitzpatrick John Clement Fitzpatrick (August 10, 1876 – February 10, 1940) was an archivist and an early American historian, widely regarded as an authority on George Washington. He was noted for his groundbreaking work editing Washington's diaries and many ...
(archivists of early American history) * '' The Archivist'', novel


References


External links


Society of American Archivists website
{{Authority control Humanities occupations Social science occupations Archival science