Course Rationale

The successful application of the archival functions of reference or access and advocacy is essential to the use of archival records and historical manuscripts and the adequate management (and health) of the programs caring for them.

Archival reference or access to archives and historical records is a fundamental and necessary function of the professional archivist and the archival repository. This archival function possesses significant differences from related functions in other information professions because of the nature of the records being serviced.

Archival advocacy, often called public programming or outreach, which archivists have adopted to build public support for their programs, is a closely related function. Advocacy is particularly important to archivists, manuscripts curators and other records professionals because of the many competing information sources and because of technological and other changes to the manner in which archives and historical records are made accessible.

Archival access and advocacy are the archival functions bridging the professional work of archivists and other records professionals to a variety of publics interested in the welfare of the documentary heritage. Archival access and advocacy depends on the quality of appraisal and descriptive work while also enhancing both the meaning and understanding of archives as a public good. These functions also highlight the value of records for evidence, information, societal and organizational memory, and accountability.

Given the nature of these archival functions, ones certainly not unique to the world of archives and records administration, it is logical that a considerable portion of the focus of this course will be on public policy and ethics issues as well. The archivist’s and records manager’s interest in and investment of energies in policy and ethical matters has increased dramatically in the past two decades, and this course will reflect these changes.

Course Goals

The purposes of this course are to introduce students to the theoretical foundations, principles, and practices of archival access and advocacy so that they are proficient in carrying out these crucial functions.

Students will learn about

§ how archival records series and manuscript collections are handled in the reference room setting

§ increasing use of online systems and the Internet/World Wide Web to provide both access to and advocacy on behalf of archives and historical manuscripts programs

§ factors supporting the importance of understanding actual and potential use of archival records

§ how use relates to archival advocacy

§ issues such as media coverage of archives and historical manuscripts, tensions between privacy and access, national security and the implications for records professionals, and intellectual property and copyright

§ influence of public policy and applied ethics on archival access and advocacy

§ other critical matters affecting the use of archives and historical records.

Course Outline

This course will consist of two sections:

§ detailed review of the basic principles and methodologies of archival reference and access

§ consideration of archival public programming, outreach, and advocacy, with a focus on particular case studies regarding the importance of records and archives.

Course Requirements and Grading: Masters Students.

There are a number of requirements for the course. Students will be expected to be able to discuss the reading assignments and to participate in class discussions. The class will generally be run like a seminar, with discussions focusing on the assigned readings; the instructor will provide formal introductory lectures on key aspects of archival arrangement, description, and reference throughout the course. Each student will be expected to complete one major assignment. Failure to complete this assignment will result in a failing grade in the course.

The major assignment can be an analysis of use of records in a particular archives or records repository, a review of a case study reflecting the value of records and archives in society, or a critical evaluation of the use by archives of Web homepages for providing access to their records (an examination of at least five to ten archives homepages on the World Wide Web). This assignment is due by session 14 (April 18, 2006) of the course.

The analysis of the archives homepages includes the writing of a critical evaluation of how the repositories are treating finding aids, the tools being offered for determining holdings, how the value of records are being described, and any other aspects the student believes are relevant to the topic of archival access and advocacy. Students deciding to do this assignment should use http://www.uidaho.edu/special-collections/Other.Repositories.html , which is a master web site for archives home pages. Students should use the home pages to contact the archivist or archivists involved in its design in order to write the evaluation. And, the students should consider the effectiveness, potential or real, of making traditional finding aids available over the Internet. This paper should be at least 15 pages. The paper needs to be a critical assessment, not merely a descriptive one.

In this assignment, students could focus on one repository homepage, compare three to five homepages of similar repository type (such as state government archives or regional historical societies), or compare and contrast three to five homepages of different types of repositories (such as contrasting municipal government to state government repositories or evaluating the differences and similarities of private local historical societies to publicly funded government records programs). For examples of such essays, students should read William Landis, “Archival Outreach on the World Wide Web,” Archival Issues 20, no. 2 (1995): 129-147, Jenni Davidson and Donna McRostie, “Webbed Feet: Navigating the Net,” Archives and Manuscripts 24 (November 1996), and David Wallace, “Archival Repositories on the World Wide Web: A Preliminary Survey and Analysis,” Archives and Museum Informatics 9, no. 2 (1995): 150-168 (bearing in mind that these are early explorations of the Web and its use). It is expected that students will carry out this evaluation by examining scholarly and other critical evaluation of the Web, the topical areas or programmatic types represented by the archival repositories, and other relevant literature necessary for producing a thoughtful and comprehensive analysis.

The review of the case study must focus on one particular incident, event, movement, or controversy that stresses the importance of records and archives in society. The case study should review the history and details of the particular case, consider how or if archivists and other records professionals were involved in the case, and summarize what the case adds to our understanding of the value of records in society. Examples of article length analyses of such case studies are David Bearman, "The Implications of Armstrong v. Executive Office of the President for the Archival Management of Electronic Records," American Archivist 56 (Fall 1993): 674-689 and Bruce P. Montgomery, "Nixon's Legal Legacy: White House Papers and the Constitution," American Archivist 56 (Fall 1993): 586-613. Students should also review the various essays in Richard J. Cox and David A. Wallace, eds., Archives and the Public Good: Accountability and Records in Modern Society (Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books, 2002). This syllabus also includes many other examples of case studies, mostly treated in book-length monographs (but their topics will suggest the kinds of case studies students can consider in their own work).

The analysis of use of records in a particular archives or records repository must result in a detailed description of use in a particular archives or records repository, based either on three days of observation of reference interactions or an analysis of user records the archives or records repository maintains. The student is responsible for contacting and working out arrangements for conducting the user analysis. The student needs to determine a particular methodology for the study, such as David Bearman, "User Presentation Language in Archives," Archives and Museum Informatics 3 (Winter 1989-90): 3-7, and follow this particular methodology, producing a comparison of findings.

Students who are expanding on papers completed in LIS 2220, Records and Knowledge Management, should be more specific in their written paper proposal handed in on session four (February 1, 2005). Students continuing to work on such papers must demonstrate a considerably wider range of reading of the appropriate professional literature and/or a more sophisticated research methodology (as well as demonstrating a connection with the topics being treated in this course). In order to receive a passing grade the student will have to present a paper that must reflect deeper thinking about the topic and a greater grasp of the nuances of professional debate, theory, methodology, and practice. It is also expected that these papers will be longer than the 20-25 pages length because of this fuller treatment by the student. The final version of this paper is also due week 14 (April 19, 2005) of this course.

The final grade for Masters students will be based on the following:

Class participation and discussion 40%

Project or Research Paper 60%

Whatever major writing activity the student is undertaking must be described in a page-long statement handed in on week 4 (January 31, 2006) of this course.

Course Requirements and Grading: Doctoral Students

The primary assignment for doctoral students taking this course is a major, publishable paper of 25-35 pages on any aspect of archival access, reference, or advocacy that the student is interested in or that relates to the student's ongoing dissertation research.

This paper should show a wide reading of the existing literature and can look at the topic from a theoretical or applied perspective. Broad examples of topics for this paper are as follows:

§ citation analysis and the implications for archival reference services and access

§ impact of electronic records and other new information technologies on archival reference and access

§ implications of media coverage of archives and records matters (such as Holocaust survivors’ assets, tobacco industry litigation, or the Enola Gay exhibition controversy) for archival access and advocacy

§ implications of issues like intellectual property, privacy, and government secrecy for archival access and advocacy

Students should hand in a one page description of what they intend to look at and write about in this paper by the fourth class session (January 31, 2006). The paper is due the last week of the course (April 25, 2006).

Doctoral students working in, or who have worked in, archival repositories are encouraged to select topics for this longer assignment relating to these institutional settings and repositories. Students interested in pursuing this kind of focused assignment should plan to make prior arrangements with the Instructor.

In writing this paper students are required to have mastered the readings in this syllabus, and they should be able to demonstrate that they have examined relevant literature and studies in related fields such as library and information science and historical studies. Doctoral students who go beyond the archival literature in their background reading will do better on these papers, producing something with potential for publication.

The final grade for Doctoral students will be based on the following:

§ Class participation and discussion (30%)

§ Research paper (70%)

Course Requirements and Grading: Style Manual

Students should adhere to the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style in the preparation of their papers. Students should acquire, if they do not have a copy already, the latest edition of Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations published by the University of Chicago Press; this is a short hand version of the more comprehensive Chicago Manual of Style.

Any paper submitted not meeting the standards of this style manual will lose one letter grade for the particular assignment.

Course Requirements and Grading: Class Participation and Discussion

Class participation and discussion, as the final grade weighing reflects, are extremely essential for this course's success and the student's educational experience:

Each student will be expected to participate fully and regularly in class discussions about the readings, session topics, and other matters related to archival science.

Each student will be expected to meet at least once during the course with the Instructor in order to discuss his or her progress and work on the assignments.

Students who do not fully participate in class discussions will receive no higher than a "B" for this course.

The Instructor will take into account the possibility of a larger class size affecting class participation when considering the grade for the course.

Each student also will be expected to read the daily national edition (seven day coverage) of the New York Times, making note of news and other coverage of stories with implications for archives and records management. Students will be expected to bring to class relevant articles for discussion and analysis. A portion of the beginning of each class will be devoted to these discussions. Students should check into the availability of a subscription to this newspaper, or make arrangements with a local bookstore or newsstand for reserving a daily copy of this newspaper for purchase. Students also can read the newspaper online, but the online version is different from the print edition and provides a different experience.

Course Requirements and Grading: Incompletes

If students need to take an incomplete, they must request permission to do so from the Instructor by Week 14 (April 18). Students, unless there are extremely adverse or emergency situations, will have until May 15, 2006 to complete all of their assignments and other course requirements.

Course Requirements: Book Purchases

Each week includes a set of required readings. Students should read the required essays and books and be prepared to discuss them in class and to draw on them for their writing assignments. The reading list is not intended to be comprehensive, but it is rather intended to introduce students to the classic writings and most important texts on the topic of archival access and advocacy.

A number of books are recommended for purchase through the Society of American Archivists, including

Mary Jo Pugh, Providing Reference Services for Archives and Manuscripts (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005)

Elsie Freeman Finch, ed., Advocating Archives: An Introduction to Public Relations for Archivists (Metuchen, New Jersey: Society of American Archivists and the Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994).

Karen Benedict, Ethics and the Archival Profession: Introduction and Case Studies (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2003).

Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt and Peter J. Wosh, eds., Privacy and Confidentiality Perspectives: Archivists and Archival Records (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005).

Other volumes should be purchased through any online or other bookstore of the student's choice (some of these volumes also may be available for purchase through the Society of American Archivists); the required volumes include:

Joyce Appleby, Lynn Hunt, Margaret Jacob, Telling the Truth About History (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1994).

Erna Paris, Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History (New York: Bloomsbury, 2001).

Deborah Lipstadt, History on Trial: My Day in Court with David Irving (New York: ECC, 2005).

Richard J. Evans, Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial (New York: Basic Books, 2001).

Athan G. Theoharis, ed., A Culture of Secrecy: The Government Versus the People’s Right to Know (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1998).

Timothy W. Luke, Museum Politics: Power Plays at the Exhibition (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002).

Barbie Zelizer, Covering the Body: The Kennedy Assassination, the Media, and the Shaping of Collective Memory (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992).

Janna Malamud Smith, Private Matters: In Defense of the Personal Life (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., Inc., 1997).

Edwin Black, IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America’s Most Powerful Corporation (New York: Crown Publishers, 2001).

Richard J. Cox and David A. Wallace, eds., Archives and the Public Good: Accountability and Records in Modern Society (Westport, Conn.: Quorum Books, 2002).

Richard J. Cox, Flowers After the Funeral: Reflections on the Post-9/11 Digital Age (Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press, 2003)

The books are available at the University of Pittsburgh Bookstore. All required books and copies of the “required” articles will be on electronic reserve as well.

Course Schedule

INTRODUCTION

Session 1 (January 10, 2006)

Introduction to Course and Course Requirements

Lecture: “Reading, Writing, and the Larger World of Archival Studies”