Archivist
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. The records that are maintained by an archivist can consist of a variety of forms, including but not limited to letters, diaries, logs, other personal documents, government documents, sound or picture recordings, digital files, or other physical objects.
Description
As Richard Pearce-Moses 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 archives practices is called archival science.
The most common related occupations are librarians, museum curators, and records managers. 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 organizations. In general, the librarian tends to deal with published media, whereas the archivist deals with unpublished media. The Society of American Archivists 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 as with its informational content. In this sense, the archivist may have more in common with the museum curator 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.
The occupation of archivist is also frequently distinguished from that of records manager, 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. 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. 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 aids 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 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 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 a in 1980; the International Council on Archives 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 may be delineated.
Archivists work for a variety of organizations, including government agencies, 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, genealogists, 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 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, 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 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:- 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 preservation is needed to help extend the life of cultural artifacts. Many types of media 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
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, starting in 1973. The course closed in 2000.courses are offered at Curtin University, Charles Sturt University, Monash University and University of South Australia at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The course at Edith Cowan University 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 Espírito Santo, Federal University of Amazonas, 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.Colombia
The Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje – 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 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, Jean Moulin University Lyon 3, and Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University, offer a master's degree in Archival Science,
while the Burgundy has a course for their history degree focusing on archives of 20th and 21st century Europe.