Electronic Records in the Archival Curriculum

1. Electronic Records in the Archival Curriculum Jane Zhang, Catholic University of America SAA 2014 Research Forum Tuesday, August 12 Washington, DC

2. Introduction • Electronic records management (ERM) as a specialized course in NA archival curricula • Appeared in the early 1990s • 15 archival programs by 2013 • Content analysis of electronic records management courses • ERM course areas • ERM course topics • Correlations between them

3. Course Content Analysis • Researchfocused on course content analysis has been traditionally weak in archival education curriculum development. • Archival introductory courses • Timothy Ericson (1993) • James O’Toole (1997) • Bastian and Yakel (2006)

4. Research Data • 40 programs made available on the SAA Archival Education Directory • 15 programs offer ERM courses, 12 ERM course syllabi available online • 58%: 2013 versions • 42% : earlier versions (2009-2012) • 140 weekly topics collected from the 12 ERM syllabi

5. Course Area Analysis • Archival foundation courses • 40 programs • Record management (RM) • 21 programs • Electronic records management (ERM) • 15 programs • Digital preservation • 10 programs • Digital archives • 3 programs

6. Course Area Combination • Archival foundation + RM + ERM (3) • Archival foundation + ERM + digital preservation (5) • Archival foundation + RM + ERM + digital preservation (6) • Archival foundation + RM + ERM + digital archives (1)

7. Course Topic Distribution • Introduction: overview, key concepts, knowledge and skills (100% / 1.25) • Business and technology environments (42% / 1) • Requirements, standards, and best practices (67% / 1.38) • Legal, ethical, social, and compliance issues (42% / 2.2)

8. Course Topic Distribution • Electronic records management programs (42% / 1) • Records management processes and techniques (92% / 1.9) • Managing electronic records in various environments (50% / 1.8 ) • Managing specific types of electronic records (83% / 2)

9. Course Topic Distribution • System approaches and software solutions (50% / 1.3) • Records access and use (33% / 2) • Long-term preservation (58% / 2.1) • Electronic records and digital archives (42% / 2)

10. Course Topic Popularity • How can we decide which topic groups are popular choices among most programs and which are not? • If a topic group contains a higher number of topics • If a topic group has a higher percentage of program coverage • If a topic group has a higher topic distribution ratio

11. Top Range • Introduction, overview, key concepts, knowledge and skills • Records management processes and techniques • Managing specific types of electronic records • Long-term preservation

12. Middle Range • Requirements, standards, and best practices • Legal, ethical, social, and compliance issues • Managing electronic records in various environments • System approaches and software solutions • Electronic records and digital archives

13. Bottom Range • Business and technology environments • Electronic records management programs • Records access and use

14. Correlation: RM and ERM Courses • ERM topics strong in programs with regular RM courses • Business and technology environments • Legal, ethical, social, and compliance issues • Specific types of electronic records • System approaches and software solutions • ERM topics strong in programs that do not offer RM courses • Electronic records management programs • RM processes and techniques

15. Correlation: Digital Preservation and ERM Courses • If digital preservation is offered as a separate course, the program may not invest as many class hours for the same topic in its ERM course. • If the digital preservation course is not offered, the program then uses more time to cover the topic of digital preservation topic in its ERM syllabus.

16. Conclusion • The findings of this study highlight the role of electronic records in an integrated archival education. • What content to cover in an ERM course very much depends on how the course is structured in the archival curricula.

17. Bibliography • Bastian, J.A. & Yakel, E. (2006). Towards the development of an archival core curriculum: The United States and Canada. Archival Science 6, 133-150 • Cox, R. J. (1994). The first generation of electronic records archivists in the United States: A study in professionalization. New York: Haworth • Eastwood, T. (1996). Reforming the archival curriculum to meet contemporary needs. Archivaria 42, 80-88 • Ericson, T. L. (1993). ‘Abolish the recent’: The progress of archival education. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 34, 25-37 • Ericson, T. L. (1988). Professional associations and archival education: A different role, or a different theater? American Archivist 51, 298-311 • Gilliland-Swetland, J. A. (1993). From education to application and back: Archival literature and an electronic records curriculum. American Archivist 56, 532-544 • Gilliland-Swetland, J. A. (2000). Enduring paradigm, new opportunities: The value of the archival perspective in the digital environment. Council on Library and Information Resources • Hedstrom, M. (1993). Teaching archivists about electronic records and automated techniques: A needs assessment. American Archivist 56, 424-433 • Lee, C.A. & Tibbo, H. (2011). Where’s the archivist in digital curation? Exploring the possibilities through a matrix of knowledge and skills. Archivaria 72, 123-168 • O’Toole, J. M. (1997). The archival curriculum: Where are we now? Archival Issues 22 (2), 103-116 • Pearce-Moses, R. and Susan D. (2008). New skills for a digital era. Society of American Archivists

18. Archival Thank You Jane Zhang @ Catholic University of America zhangj@cua.edu