Teaching and Scholarship: Preparing the Next Generation of Archivists and Archival Faculty
I teach both masters and doctoral courses in archives and records management. My main emphasis in the MLIS specialization has been in teaching the courses on appraisal and archival access, advocacy, and ethics. My teaching in the doctoral program has been on academic culture and practice, historical research methods, and various specialized topics in archival studies. Current syllabi can be found on the SIS Website.
My primary aim in teaching is to ground the students in the knowledge supporting the archives and records management field. By knowledge I mean theory, methodology, and practice, and this requires placing a heavy emphasis on reading broadly and deeply in the professional, research, and scholarly literature regarding the nature of records, the history of recordkeeping systems, and the administration of records. My conviction is that this one-year program is the only opportunity that most students preparing for archives and records management careers will have to be immersed in the philosophical and theoretical dimensions of the records professions, while they will have a career to build on this knowledge with practical experience, or where they will be safely able to wrestle with challenging issues with no fear of failing (although maybe the fear of failure). However, I am committed to the notion that whatever the practical dimensions of records work, archivists and records managers must have a theoretical framework for approaching their responsibilities – and that this theoretical foundation is provided by rigorous graduate education.
I also see students’ preparation of research papers, and in some cases with publication as the end result, as a critical aspect of the learning process and preparation for subsequent careers. This has led to some collaborative publication, such as "Machines in the Archives: Technology and the Coming Transformation of Archival Reference," First Monday, 12 (November 2007), available here and special journal issues of Library & Archival Security, vol. 22, no 1 (2009), and a special double issue of the Journal of Information Ethics, “Archival Ethics: New Views,” 19 (Spring 2010): 20-195, featuring ten student papers.
While we have been producing more than an adequate supply of working archivists, we have been witnessing a shortage of archival faculty. Thirty years ago there were few such faculty and equally few such positions. Since then we have seen a tremendous growth in the number of academics teaching in this area, but usually more openings than candidates. Now, we are seeing the start of retirements of the pioneering generation of academics, compounding the problem.
Preparing new archival faculty is both a personal priority and a priority of our program. To date, graduates from here have assumed posts at the University of Michigan, Simmons, University of South Carolina, and the University of Toronto. We have been involved in the recent IMLS-supported Archival Education Research Institute, intended to strengthen our presence in the research university. My present students are working on a variety of important research projects on documentary editing, appraisal, secret police archives, cultural heritage and archives, and other similar topics.
I never miss the opportunity for a teachable moment (but I don't have that shirt anymore!), here discussing issues with state archivists, Ca. 1990