An archivist surveying an unprocessed collection of materials. Surveying is commonly done to determine priorities for preservation and/or conservation of materials before an archivist begins arrangement and description.

An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media (photographs, video or sound recordings, letters, documents, electronic records, etc.). As Richard Pearce-Moses wrote, "Archivists keep records that have enduring value as reliable memories of the past, and they help people find and understand the information they need in those records."^[1]

Determining what records have enduring value can be challenging. Archivists must also select records valuable enough to justify the costs of storage and preservation, plus the labor intensive expenses of arrangement, description, and reference service.^[2] The theory and scholarly work underpinning archives practices is called archival science.

Duties and work environment[link]

Archivists' duties include acquiring and appraising new collections, arranging and describing records, providing reference service, and preserving materials. In arranging records, archivists apply two important principles: provenance and original order, sometimes referred to as respect des fonds. Provenance refers to the origin of records, essentially who created them. Many entities create records, including government, businesses, universities, and personal collections of individuals. The idea of respect des fonds is applied by keeping records in their original order as established and maintained by the creator(s). This also means that records from one corporate body should not be mixed with records from another. There are two aspects to arrangement: intellectual and physical. Both aspects follow the principle of original order. Archivists process the records physically by placing them in folders and boxes, usually acid free to ensure their long-term survival. They also process the records intellectually, by determining what the records consist of, how they are organized, and what – if any – finding aids need to be created. Finding aids can be box lists or descriptive inventories, or indexes. If the original arrangement is unclear or even unhelpful in terms of accessing the collection, it is not usually rearranged to something that makes more sense. This is because preserving the original order answers the most questions about the collection. It shows how the creator of the records functioned, why the records were created, and how he went about arranging them. If the archivist rearranged them, the records would lose the ability to answer these questions. It would also lose all significance, as the provenance and authenticity of the records may be lost.^[3] However, original order is not always the best way to maintain some collections and archivists must use their own experience and current best practices to determine the correct way to keep collections of mixed media or those lacking a clear original arrangement.^[4]

American archivists are also guided in their work by a code of ethics.^[5] Alongside their work behind the scenes arranging and caring for collections, archivists assist users in interpreting collections and answering inquiries. This reference work can be just part of an archivist's job in a smaller organization, or consist of most of their occupation in a larger archive where specific roles (such as processing archivist and reference archivist) may be delineated.^[6]

Archivists work for a variety of organizations, including government agencies, local authorities, museums, hospitals, historical societies, businesses, charities, corporations, colleges and universities, and any institution whose records may potentially be valuable to researchers, exhibitors, genealogists, or others. Alternatively, they could also work on the collections of a large family or even of an individual. Applicants for archives jobs usually outnumber positions available.^[7]

Archivists are often educators as well; it is not unusual for an archivist employed at a university or college to lecture in a subject related to their collection. Archivists employed at cultural institutions or for local government frequently design educational or outreach programs to further the ability of archive users to understand and access information in their collections. This might include such varied activities as exhibitions, promotional events or even media coverage.^[8]

The advent of Encoded Archival Description, along with increasing demand for materials to be made available online, has required archivists to become more tech-savvy in the past decade. Many archivists are now acquiring basic XML skills in order to make their finding aids available to researchers online.^[9]

Skills[link]

Because of the varied nature of the job and organisations and work environment, archivists need to have a wide range of skills:

• Those who work in reference and access-oriented positions need to be good with people, so that they are able to help them with their research.
• An ability to apply some basic knowledge of conservation is needed to help extend the useful life of cultural artifacts. Many different types of media (such as photographs, acidic papers, and unstable copy processes) can deteriorate if not stored and maintained properly.^[10]
• Although many archival collections consist solely of paper records, increasingly archivists must confront the new challenges posed by the preservation of electronic records, so they need to be forward-looking and technologically proficient.^[11]
• Because of the amount of sorting and listing, they need to be very logical and organised and be able to pay attention to detail.
• When cataloging records, or when assisting users, archivists need to have some research skills.
• Archivists are occasionally called upon to comment or provide some context for the records in their collection and so should know as much about their collection as possible.

Educational preparation[link]

The educational preparation for archivists varies from country to country.

Colombia[link]

In Colombia, the Universidad de La Salle offers the degree of Professional in Information Systems, Library and Archival Sciences. It is a vocational training program, within existing legal standards aimed at providing knowledge, skills and abilities required for the design and management of information systems and documentation of various sorts. Its projection for the future is based on the application of new information technologies and communications for the management of information services economically viable. The program was created in 1971.

Other institutions that offers a degree in Archival Science are:

• Universidad del Quindío – Professional degree: Professional in Information and Documentation, Library and Archival Sciences.
• Universidad de Antioquia, Escuela Interamericana de Bibliotecología – Technological degree: Technologist in Archival Science.
• Universidad Católica de Manizales – Technological degree: Technologist in Documentation and Archival Science.
• Servicio Nacional de Aprendizaje – SENA – in chain training with the Tecnológico de Antioquia [http//:www.plataforma.unipamplona.edu.co/tda Tecnológico de Antioquia] – Technical degree: Professional Technical in Archives, Technological degree: Technologist in Documentation and Archival Science.

France[link]

In France the oldest Archivist School is the École des chartes, founded in 1821. This prestigious grande école offers a diploma in "Archivist-Paleography" after a three-year curriculum. A part of its alumni pursue to a State archivist career after a 18 month formation at the Institut national du patrimoine. Most positions are reserved for European citizens.

Some universities offer Master's degree in Archival Science : Angers, Caen, Dijon, Lille III, Lyon III, Mulhouse, Versailles Saint-Quentin,

Republic of Ireland[link]

In Republic of Ireland, the University College Dublin School of History and Archives offers a Masters of Arts degree in Archives and Records Management, recognised by the Society of Archivists.

United Kingdom[link]

In the United Kingdom, there are currently five full- or part-time postgraduate courses in archives administration or management which are recognised by the Archives and Records Association (United Kingdom and Ireland), formerly the Society of Archivists. Students are expected to have relevant paid or voluntary work experience before obtaining a place on the UK courses; many undertake a year's traineeship. Also, professional certification (after qualifying) can be pursued via the Registration Scheme offered by the Society of Archivists.

United States[link]

According to the most recent professional census of American Archivists published, most of those in the United States have earned a Masters degree.^[12] However, the exact type of degree can vary; the most common sorts of advanced degrees held by archivists are in archival science, public history, history, library science, or library and information science. It is also possible for archivists to earn a doctorate in library, or library and information, science. Archivists with a PhD often work at a teaching faculty or deans and directors of archival programs.^[13] In 2002, the Society of American Archivists published Guidelines for a Graduate Program in Archival Studies,^[14] as well as a code of ethics.^[15]

Also in the United States, the Academy of Certified Archivists offers supplemental archival training by means of a certification program.^[16] When first established in 1989, some critics of ACA certification objected to its annual membership fees, the theoretical versus practical nature of its tests, and the need for members to re-certify every five years. However, in the decades since, it has been agreed that such requirements are comparable with certification programs in other professions, and that certification strengthens professional standards and individual competencies. While some positions in archives require certification and many employers view certification as preferred, it is not required by all employers in the United States. Approximately 1,100 archivists were certified by ACA, as of 30 June 2011.

Professional organizations and continuing education[link]

Many archivists belong to a professional organization, such as the Society of American Archivists, the Association of Canadian Archivists, the Archives and Records Association (UK/Ireland), the Colombian College of Archivists - CCA and the Australian Society of Archivists, as well as any number of local or regional associations. These organizations often provide ongoing educational opportunities to their members and other interested practitioners. In addition to formal degrees and or apprenticeships, many archivists take part in continuing education opportunities as available through professional associations and library school programs. New discoveries in the fields of media preservation and emerging technologies require continuing education as part of an archivist's job in order to stay current in the profession.^[17]

History of the profession[link]

In 1898 three Dutch archivists, Samuel Muller, Johan Feith, and Robert Fruin, published the first Western text on archival theory entitled "Manual for the Arrangement and Description of Archives". Produced for the Dutch Association of Archivists, it set out one hundred rules for archivists to base their work around. Notably within these rules the principle of preserving provenance and original order was first argued for as an essential trait of archival arrangement and description.^[18]

The next major text was written in 1922 by Sir Hilary Jenkinson, the then Deputy Keeper of the British Public Records Office, entitled "Manual of Archive Administration". In this work Jenkinson states that archives are evidence and that the moral and physical defence of this evidential value is the central tenet of archival work. He further outlines his ideas of what an Archive should be and how it should operate.

In 1956, T. R. Schellenberg, who is known as the "Father of American Archival Appraisal",^{[citation needed]} published "Modern Archives". Schellenberg's work was intended to be an academic textbook defining archival methodology and giving archivists specific technical instruction on workflow and arrangement. Moving away from Jenkinson's organic and passive approach to archival acquisition, where the administrator decided what was kept and what was destroyed, Schellenberg argued for a more active approach by archivists to appraisal. His primary (administrative) and secondary (research) value model for the management and appraisal of records and archives allowed government archivists greater control over the influx of material that they faced after the Second World War. As a result of the widespread adoption of Schellenberg's methods, especially in the United States of America, modern Records Management as a separate but related discipline was born.^[19]

In 1972, Ernst Posner published "Archives in the Ancient World". Posner's work emphasized that archives were not new inventions, but had existed in many different societies throughout recorded history.

In 1975, essays by Margaret Cross Norton were collected under the title of "Norton on Archives: The Writings of Margaret Cross Norton on Archival and Records Management". Norton was one of the founders of the Society of American Archivists, and wrote essays based on her decades of experience working in the Illinois State Archives.

Notable archivists[link]

See category archivists.

Archives 2.0[link]

Archivists, like librarians, are taking advantage of Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs, wikis, as well as open access and open source philosophies.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Society of American Archivists website

Him Mark Lai (麥禮謙) (November 11, 1925 San Francisco – May 21, 2009) was an American historian. He was known as the “Dean of Chinese American History”^[1] by his academic peers, despite the fact that he was professionally trained as a mechanical engineer with no advanced training in the academic field of History.

Life[link]

Him Mark Lai co-taught the first college course on Chinese American history with Philip Choy at San Francisco State University in 1969, and also taught the same course at UC Berkeley’s Ethnic Studies Department in the 1970s.

Him Mark Lai’s most well-known work is “Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910–1940”,^[2] written in conjunction with Judy Yung and Genny Lim. These three formed the History of Chinese Detained on Island Project (HOC-DOI) to translate the Chinese poetry found on the walls of the Angel Island Immigration Station and to collect oral histories of detainees on Angel Island, based on the specific restrictions of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Their resulting manuscript was independently published in 1980, and published by University of Washington Press in 1991. Lai joked to a newspaper reporter that “that book is the only one that makes [him] any money.”^[3]

In 1991 Him Mark Lai and Albert Cheng created the In Search of Roots Program through a partnership with the Chinese Historical Society of America, Chinese Culture Foundation, and the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office from Guangdong Province, China. This year-long program trains a dozen Chinese American youths how to research their family history through National Archives and Records Administration documents and oral history during the Spring. Each Summer, the students visit their ancestral villages in the Pearl River Delta region of China. Upon their return, the students create a visual display of their genealogy and display it at the Chinese Culture Center during Lunar New Year.

In 2003, the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley announced their “Him Mark Lai Collection,” over 200 feet (61 m) of Lai’s private research material, which he donated to the library for use by other scholars.^[4]

In 2007, Him Mark Lai was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer, yet he continued his research and writing.^[5] Lai died at his home on May 21, 2009.^[6]

The UCLA Asian American Center Press announced plans to publish his autobiography in 2009 or 2010, co-edited by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, Judy Yung, and Russell C. Leong.^[7] In 2010 the San Francisco Public Library Commission voted to rename its Chinatown branch after Lai.^[8]

Organizations[link]

Him Mark Lai was what Albert Lowe calls a "stealth organizer," who was involved in progressive organizations throughout his life, strategically disguised as an interested researcher and scholar, and did not face the same community popularity or governmental scrutiny as higher profile Asian American activists of his era, such as Grace Lee Boggs and Yuri Kochiyama. Nevertheless, he was investigated by the FBI for his activities in Min Qing, as depicted in the 1991 film, The Chinatown Files.^[9]

• Chinese League for Peace and Democracy, San Francisco Chapter
• Chung Sai Yat Po newspaper, volunteer (1949)
• Min Qing (Mun Ching), (Chinese American Democratic Youth League/Chinese American Youth Club), President (1951–1959)
• Chinese Historical Society of America (CHSA) (1963–2009)
• East/West: The Chinese American weekly (1967)
• Chinese Culture Center (CCC)
• Chinese for Affirmative Action
• In Search of Roots Program (1991–2009)

Publications[link]

Articles

• “A Historical Survey of Organizations of the Left Among the Chinese in America,” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (Fall 1972)
• “Chinese on the Continental U.S.,” Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups
• Encyclopedia of Chinese Overseas and Huaquiao Huaren baike quanshu [Encyclopedia of Chinese and people of Chinese descent overseas]

Manuscripts

• A History of the Chinese in California: A Syllabus (1969)
• Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910–1940” (1980)
• A History Reclaimed: An Annotated Bibliography of Chinese Language Materials on the Chinese of America (1986)
• From Overseas Chinese to Chinese American: History of Development of Chinese American Society during the Twentieth Century (1992, written in Chinese)
• Becoming Chinese American: A History of Communities and Institutions (2004)
• Autobiography (forthcoming)

Editor

• Amerasia Journal, editorial committee.
• Chinese America: History & Perspectives, Editor (1987–2009)

Education[link]

• Nam Kue School, San Francisco Chinatown
• Commodore Stockton Elementary School
• Francisco Junior High School
• Galileo High School
• 1945 Class Valedictorian City College of San Francisco
• 1947 BS in Mechanical Engineering UC Berkeley

Filmography[link]

• The Chinatown Files (2001) (http://www.filmakers.com/index.php?a=filmDetail&filmID=1094)
• Him Mark Lai: The People’s Historian (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Him Mark Lai Digital Archive Project (http://himmarklai.org), established on October 28, 2007 by the Chinese Historical Society of America
• Finding Aid to the Him Mark Lai Papers (http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt7r29q3gq/) retrieved 3/24/2008
• Him Mark Lai Heritage Fund (http://www.c-c-c.org/support/hmlheritagefund/) retrieved 6/17/2009

David Ferriero
Archivist of the United States
Incumbent
Assumed office November 6, 2009
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Adrienne Thomas (Acting)
Personal details
Born	(1945-12-31) December 31, 1945 (age 66) Beverly, Massachusetts, U.S.
Alma mater	Northeastern University Simmons College

David Sean Ferriero (pronounced /ˈfɛrioʊ/;^[1] born December 31, 1945) is a librarian, library administrator, and the 10th Archivist of the United States. He was Director of the New York Public Library;^[2] and before that, he was the University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University.^[3] Prior to his Duke position, he worked for 31 years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology library.^[4] Ferriero is the first librarian to serve as Archivist of the United States.^[5]

Education and Personal Life[link]

Ferriero grew up in Beverly, Massachusetts, and graduated from Beverly High School.

He earned a Bachelor's degree and a Master's degree in English Literature from Northeastern University.^[6]

His education was interrupted by service in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He served as a Navy hospital corpsman assigned to a Marine unit in Danang, Vietnam, and on a hospital ship, the USS Sanctuary, in Vietnamese waters.^[7] After the war, Ferriero approached his studies differently. Ferriero believes that he was "much more focused at that point."^[6]

Following his military service, Ferriero earned an additional Master's Degree in Library and Information Science from Simmons College.^[8]

Marriage and family[link]

Ferriero married Gail Zimmermann, the daughter of MIT Professor Emeritus Henry Zimmermann.^[9] She has developed an independent career in broadcasting as Associate General Manager of UNC-TV in Durham, North Carolina.^[10] Before moving to North Carolina, she worked with WGBH-TV in Boston.^[7]

Career[link]

MIT Libraries[link]

Ferriero was Associate Director of Public Services at MIT Libraries.^[11] His MIT library career spanned 31 years.^[12]

Duke University Library[link]

Ferriero was the Rita DiGiallonardo Holloway University Librarian and Vice Provost for Library Affairs at Duke University from 1996 through 2004.^[13] Ferriero was the first Duke university librarian to address the members of the university's Board of Trustees in person.^[14] He was actively involved in the evolution of North Carolina's Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN).^[15]

New York Public Library[link]

Ferriero was the Andrew W. Mellon Director and Chief Executive of the Research Libraries at the New York Public Library (NYPL) from 2004.^[16] In 2007 his role expanded with additional responsibilities as director of New York Public Library's (NYPL) Branch Libraries.^[2] He was responsible for the management and operations of NYPL's Research Libraries since 2005^[3] and the Branch Libraries since 2007.^[2] He presided over a major restructuring, which was accompanied by elimination of some positions and the creation of new ones.^[17] Ferriero argued that transformation was imperative as NYPL adapted to the profound cultural and societal developments affecting the future of libraries.^[18] His initiatives at NYPL engaged the nascent disciplines of digital asset management.^[19]

Ferriero prioritized staff recruitment, retention, training, development, and compensation;^[20] and he made it a point to try to visit the main reading room every day, assessing the varied needs of NYPL patrons.^[21]

Cataloging[link]

Ferriero was the NYPL's Partner Representative^[22] in OCLC (Online Computer Library Center), which with its member libraries co-operatively produces and maintains WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog.^[23] During Ferriero's tenure, the library stopped using the unique "Billings classification system" for its reference books in the Rose Reading Room (main reading room) (the classification system is named for John Shaw Billings, the former NYPL librarian who devised and introduced it in the nineteenth century).^[24][25]

Google digitization partnership[link]

The NYPL joined the Google Books Library Project during Ferriero's tenure.^[26][27] Google and major international libraries have agreed to making collections of public domain books available for scanning to be offered to the public online, without charge.^[27][28]

National Archives and Records Administration[link]

Ferriero speaks at Wikipedia 10 in Washington, D.C. in 2011.

On July 28, 2009, President Obama nominated him to be 10th Archivist of the United States.^[29]

An early October confirmation hearing was scheduled by a subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. According to the subcommittee chairman, Senator Thomas Carper of Delaware, Ferriero's quick confirmation by the Senate was never in doubt.^[30]

Ferriero used the public occasion to express his view that the National Archives is at a "defining moment with regard to our existing electronic records, social media communications, and emerging technologies being used throughout government offices." He also noted "issues of collection security, the future of the Presidential Library system, backlogs in processing, staff job satisfaction, stakeholder relationships, preservation and storage needs."^[31]

He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 6, 2009;^[32] and he was sworn in to his new office on November 13, 2009.^[33]

President Obama appointed Ferriero to simultaneously head the new National Declassification Center, which "has been given four years to go through 400 million pages of federal documents that remain top secret. They date to World War I."^[34]

Affiliations[link]

• PLUS Coalition (Picture Licensing Universal System), Board of Directors.^[35]
• Association of Research Libraries (ARL).^[35]
• Council on Library and Information Resources/Association of American Publishers, Joint Working Group on Scholarly Communication.^[35]
• Early English Books Online (EEBO), editorial advisory board.^[35]
• Center for Research Libraries.^[35]
• Research Libraries Group.^[35]
• Research Collections and Preservation Consortium (ReCAP), Board of Directors

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Hagel, John and John Seely Brown. (2005). The Only Sustainable Edge: Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization. Cambridge: Harvard Business Press. 10-ISBN 1-59139-720-0/13-ISBN 978-1-59139-720-5; OCLC 57641452
• Kovaleski, Serge F. "New York Library Officials’ Pay? Shhh." New York Times. November 19, 2006.
• Riding, Alan. "France Detects a Cultural Threat in Google" New York Times. April 11, 2005.
• US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Governmental Affairs subcommittee hearing, October 1, 2009: Nomination of David S. Ferriero to be Archivist of the United States National Archives and Records Administration

External links[link]

• AOTUS: Collector in Chief, David Ferriero's Blog as Archivist of the United States
• Biography of David Ferriero, by the National Archives and Records Administration
• State of the Archives address, by David S. Ferriero
• "Meet the new Archivist of the United States", video by The Washington Post
• Victim Impact Statement, re: theft of NYPL maps, 2006.