You will be able to see what the courses currently teach by
accessing their individual web sites. While a typical
applicant might have a degree in history this is not a
requirement: this year Liverpool students include law,
classics and languages graduates - and we would welcome
more (or indeed any) applications from scientists with
experience in record keeping.
Of course Resource is currently funding the University of
Sheffield to investigate precisely the issues raised, and
as you know, members of the profession are currently being
invited to contribute.
Caroline Williams
Chair,
Forum for Archives and Records Management Education
and Research (FARMER).
On Wed, 27 Nov 2002 10:33:55 +0000 James King
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >Whilst thinking over the issues raised over the last few days I have
> >been trying to think through just how the archive profession can start
> >to change itself to start to meet some of the challenges and changes
> >that we all seem to agree lay ahead (even if we disagree as to their
> >implications). For me the answer seems logically to lay with the
> >professional qualification that most take as entry to the profession.
> >Is it time to take a step back and assess whether the whole nature of
> >the current courses on offer is adequate for what the profession
> >actually needs? Is the 'usual' route of history degree + 1 years
> >pre-course training + Masters necessarily the best method of preparing
> >new archivists? Are the right things being taught or should we
> >question the importance of some of the elements that have previously
> >been taken for granted such as 'the administrative history of Great
> >Britain'.
>
> There are probably many things that need changing on the courses. Palaeography, for instance, while still useful to many archivists, is far less important to our profession than once it was. However, I would suggest that administrative history is one of those areas that should still be taught. I think we would find that many of those little pieces of information that most of us have stored in our heads, which we probably use every day and therefore take for granted, would in actual fact not be there if we had no understanding of administrative history. And if it was no longer taught, then I am sure that future generations of archivists would find their jobs more difficult, possibly without knowing why! Like it or not (and personally, having come in via the 'usual route', I have no problem with it), a knowledge of history is still central to many archives.
>
> James
>
> James King
> Assistant Archivist
> Modern Records Centre
> University of Warwick
> Coventry
> CV4 7AL
> Tel: +44 (0) 24 7652 4493
> Fax: +44 (0) 24 7652 4211
> [log in to unmask]
> http://www.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/
----------------------
[log in to unmask]
Caroline Williams, Director
Liverpool University Centre for Archive Studies
School of History
University of Liverpool
9 Abercromby Square
Liverpool L69 7WZ
tel +44(0)151 794 2390
fax +44(0)151 794 2366
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