I completely share Sarah's sentiments here, that between us all we have
very similar skill sets and 'information management' as a profession
does not benefit from being broken down into constituent parts. I have
worked in Information Services and Records Management roles and have
also observed that the main purposes of the roles require the same
skills.

Sorry to SoA members for forgetting to mention the SoA in my original
post, not really an expert on accreditation - I always rise to
criticisms of CILIP on this list because I am a Chartered member and
have never seen a problem with this as proof of my professional
qualification and ability, and in fact I undertook accreditation to
establish that proof. As an aside, I often feel that other Records
Managers denigrate CILIP in passing. It's not just for Librarians.

Cheers

Suzy
(member of RMS and CILIP)


Suzy Taylor
Records Manager
New College Durham
Framwellgate Moor
Durham
DH1 5ES

Tel: 0191 375 4422
E-mail: [log in to unmask]

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>>> M Sarah Wickham <[log in to unmask]> 11/09/2009 10:19 >>>
The Society of Archivists, despite the implications of its name, also
represents
records managers and archive conservators. The SoA has accredited
professional courses in archives & records management since 1985. The
Accreditation Team visits every programme in the UK and Ireland on a
quinquennial basis, and assesses them against a set of agreed criteria
which
are, in effect, the competency standards for the profession. Regular
articles
outlining the accreditation process and commenting on changes and
issues for
educators & the profession are published in the Journal of the Society
of
Archivists - most recently Turner, Margaret D.(2008)'Educational
Programmes
in Archives and Records Management in the UK and Ireland:An Overview,
1995-
2007' Journal of the Society of Archivists vol 29 issue 1, pages 73 —
82. May
be available via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00379810802499942 (but you
may
need to subscribe). The accreditation criteria can be seen at
http://www.archives.org.uk/careerdevelopment/startingout/postgraduatecours

es/revisedaccreditationcriteriaforpostgraduatecourses.html (or
http://tinyurl.com/krrse3).

Given the comparatively small numbers of people working in the
management
of records (by which I include archives) I wonder how long we can
sustain the
separate professional bodies all attempting to do similar things.
Personal
accreditation is a case in point: recently introduced by the Records
Management Society, the same accreditation of experience was begun by
the
SoA in 1987. The SoA's scheme ("registration") has since 1996 focussed
on
encouraging continuing professional development rather than the one-off

accreditation of experience bringing it in line with similar CPD
schemes offered
by chartered professional bodies including CILIP. Both the SoA and RMS
are
too small for chartered status at present.

Along similar lines to the accreditation of professional
qualifications, at present
the SoA is represented on the sector skills council Lifelong Learning
UK
(www.lluk.org) which includes records management in its footprint. The
sector
skills council is "the independent employer-led sector skills council
responsible
for the professional development of staff" working in the sector and is
charged
with the developments of competency and qualifications frameworks,
apprenticeship schemes etc.

I have worked both in archival and records management roles. I see no

distinction between the skills required and cannot understand why they
are
perceived to be two different, distinct professions. The SoA in
conjunction
with some of the smaller advocacy bodies in the sector are pursuing a
merger -
 see http://www.archives.org.uk/thesociety/archivesectorproposals.html

(http://tinyurl.com/lbbzec). The RMS, in common with some other
bodies, was
invited to join at an early stage but apparently declined to take
part.

Is it our professional background in classification that means that
people
working in recordkeeping like to distinguish themselves from one
another? My
concern is that if we continue to distinguish ourselves like this then
larger,
more visible bodies occupy the space we consider to be "ours", as
evidenced
by the BIS job advert posted yesterday. And the more we navel gaze and

distinguish ourselves by the details, the more likely we are to lose
sight of the
bigger, more strategic picture - and thus not be involved in the IT
related
discussions that affect recordkeeping and the organisations we try to
serve
(see previous discussions plus parallel discussion re listservs etc
etc)
 
Sarah
Registrar of the SoA, but also a personal member of the RMS, and who
currently is based in an IT department
writing in my personal capacity/expressing personal opinions...

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