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

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

Course Content Analysis  Research focused 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)

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 ( )  140 weekly topics collected from the 12 ERM syllabi

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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

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

Bottom Range  Business and technology environments  Electronic records management programs  Records access and use

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

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.

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.

Bibliography Bastian, J.A. & Yakel, E. (2006). Towards the development of an archival core curriculum: The United States and Canada. Archival Science 6, 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, Ericson, T. L. (1993). ‘Abolish the recent’: The progress of archival education. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 34, Ericson, T. L. (1988). Professional associations and archival education: A different role, or a different theater? American Archivist 51, Gilliland-Swetland, J. A. (1993). From education to application and back: Archival literature and an electronic records curriculum. American Archivist 56, 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, 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, O’Toole, J. M. (1997). The archival curriculum: Where are we now? Archival Issues 22 (2), Pearce-Moses, R. and Susan D. (2008). New skills for a digital era. Society of American Archivists

Archival Jane Catholic University of America Thank You