Description, Origin and Objectives

What is the Section for Archival Education and Training?

The Section for Archival Education and Training is an organ of the International Council on Archives (ICA) which is the international non-governmental organisation representing the interests of archives and archivists. The ICA Section for Archival Education and Training aims to establish closer contacts among teachers of archival science and to work towards the development of methodology and preparation of tools to assist them in their teaching tasks and in their contributions to the development of the profession. Archival education and training institutions and teachers of archival science have a crucial role to play in pursuing the establishment of a discipline of archival science which is scientifically and intellectually autonomous, administratively effective, and recognised by society. Teaching and research are principal ways in which to reach these objectives.

The Section for Archival Education and Training was formed after decisions taken at the XIth International Congress in Paris in 1988. In 1990 it succeeded the ICA Committee on Professional Training (ICA/CPT) which had been founded in 1979.

• To promote co-operation between archival training institutions and all those who are responsible for the education and training of archivists, and of other archives professionals
• to assist in the development of archival research and the definition of standards, methods and qualifications for archival education
• to gather and disseminate information about programmes of training institutions and other training activities and evaluate them
• to co-operate with other bodies of the ICA in the preparation of training activities, training programmes and teaching for the various fields of archival work

Training institutions or persons engaged in or responsible for archival training, who are institutional or personal members (Category C or D) of ICA or work with a member institution. There are more than 100 members of the Section. It is the Sectionıs goal to achieve the participation of all archival schools that exist world-wide and all those who are teaching in the field of archival science.

Responsibility for the work of the Section is entrusted to a Steering Committee which is elected at the Plenary Assembly of the Section. The Steering Committee has an annual meeting. Four of these members, the officers, form the Bureau which takes care of current affairs.

• meetings and symposia:

  Concurrent with annual meetings, Committee and Section have organised international symposia:

  • 1988 Paris (France): "The Teaching of Archival Science".
  • 1989 Milano (Italy): "Archival Training Programmes".
  • 1990 the Hague (Netherlands): "Manuals and Textbooks on Archives".
  • 1991 Beijing (China): "Symposium on Archival Training in Asia and Oceania", followed by a series of lectures and discussion meetings at Chinese teaching institutions.
  • 1992 Montreal (Canada): "Archives: From On-the-job Training to University Education".
  • 1993 Piraeus (Greece): "The Role of Technical Aspects in Teaching Archival Science".
  • 1994 Ljubljana (Slovenia): "The Impact of Political Changes in Central and Eastern Europe on Archival Science and Archival Training".
  • 1995 Austin (Texas, United States): "Is Teaching all there is to it? Archival Educators and Advocacy".
  • 1996 Beijing (China): "Distance Education".
  • 1998 Salamanca (Spain): "Continuing Education"
• Publications:
  • Directory of Schools and Courses of Professional Training for Archivists has been published by Paule Rene-Bazin as ICA Studies no 6, Autumn 1992, 402 pp.
  • What students in Archival Science Learn. A Bibliography for Teachers, by Theo HPM Thomassen, the Hague, August 1996

To make the results of its symposia available to the profession, the Section secured the speedy publication of its proceedings distributed free to its members:

• Proceedings of the First International Colloquium on Archival Education and Training (Paris, August 1988), in: ICA Studies no 4, Paris 1989, 108 pp.
• The Second Colloquium of the Committee on Professional Education and Training (Milano, 1989), in: JANUS 1990.1 pp 21-52.
• Proceedings: Third International Colloquium on Archival Training, the Hague 1990: "Manuals and Textbooks on Archives", and Symposium on Archive Training in Asia and Oceania, Beijing 1991, in JANUS 1991.2 pp 10-64 & 65-110.
• Proceedings of the Regional Colloquium on Consequences of Political Changes in Eastern and Central Europe in Archival Education and Training (Ljubljana, Slovenia, October 1994), in ICA Studies no 7, Paris 1995, 97 pp.
• In connection with the Third International Symposium, UNESCO published in 1992 a RAMP Study on Manuals and Textbooks for Training in Archives Education and Records Management prepared by a Committee member Pirkko Rastas.
• Proceedings of the Fourth International Colloquium on Archival Education and Training: "Archives: From On-the-job Training to University Education" (Montreal 1992), in Archivum, vol XXXIX, pp 485-532
• Papers of the Piraeus Symposium have been published in: JANUS 1993.2 pp 95-12
• Papers of the Seventh International Symposium in Austin were published in: Janus 1997.1 pp 7-50

A series of audio-visual supports for archival training has also been started. Each set of slides is accompanied by explanatory texts on cassette and in printed form (French/English):

• Archival Buildings by Michel Duchein
• Seals by Stefiana Ricci and Aldo Martini

Current projects in the Sectionıs Fifth Medium-Range Plan fall into the following categories:

• Archival research, archival literature and archival education
• International curriculum development
• The organisation of archival education programs
• Teaching aids and teaching methods

The products will include updating the bibliography of literature on archival education, a report on the status of research into archival education internationally, and evaluative reports on curriculum development and archival education programs.

The workplan includes two colloquia in Spain: one in Salamanca in 1998 on continuing education, and one in Seville in 2000 called "Archival Education: the State of the Art". The latter will pull together the four main areas of focus of the work of the Section and Committee.

The Sectionıs listserv is a forum for disseminating information about curricula and current issues in the field of archival education, and for professional debate and exchange. Subscribe by sending the message: subscribe icaeds firstname lastname to the address: listproc@mcfeeley.cc.utexas.edu. The message must be in the message text area, and the subject field must be left blank.

How to participate in the activities of the Section?

Become a member of the International Council on Archives. Requests should be addressed to:

Secretariat of the International Council on Archives
60 Rue des Francs-Bourgeois
F-75003 Paris
France

For more detailed information on the Section or for publications, please contact:

Theo Thomassen, Chairman ICA/SAE
Archiefschool
National Institute for Archival Education and Research
Weesperzijde 190
1097 DZ Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS
tel: 31 20 595 19 00
fax: 31 20 595 19 20
email: arschool@eoronet.nl

or: