SYLLABUS

(Final Online Version/ Revised: 24 July 2005)
[LIS 652] Introduction to Archives Management

3 Credits
Summer 2005
Library & Information Science Program Information & Computer Sciences Department, University of Hawai'i – Manoa
Instructor:  Andrew (Drew) B. Wertheimer, Assistant Professor
Contact Information:
  • 305F POST Building
  • 1680 East-West Road
  • Honolulu HI 96822    
TEL: 808/ 956. 3494  FAX: 808/ 956.3548     
e-mail:      wertheim at hawaii.edu
  • Please put LIS 652 in the message line.  
Course Homepage: http://www2.hawaii.edu/~wertheim/652SS04.html

OFFICE HOURS:  

Please check online for updates.

  • Monday-Friday:     3:30-4:30
  • or by appointment
Classroom 

Kuykendall Hall, Room 310

Schedule:   Monday-Friday: 5:00 - 7:40 PM

Course Catalog Description (from the LIS Program home page):

LIS 652:  Introduction to Archives Management

Study of archival principles and management theories applicable to all types of archives. Includes policy, appraisal, computer and micrographic applications, ethical and legal issues.  Prerequisites: None

Program Learning Objectives

This introductory survey course addresses the following objectives of the LIS Program, enabling students to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the philosophy, principles, policies and ethics of [archival practice] library and information science and technology;

3. Apply basic competencies and knowledge that are essential for providing, managing, and designing information services in a variety of information environments;

5. Demonstrate theoretical understanding of and basic competencies in evaluating, selecting and organizing information sources;

7. Demonstrate an understanding of the principles of administration applicable in libraries and information centers;

8. Demonstrate basic competencies required for program development in particular information environments;

9. Demonstrate an understanding of research techniques and methods of applying new knowledge as it becomes available;

10. Demonstrate the professional attitudes and the interpersonal and interdisciplinary skills needed to communicate and collaborate with colleagues and information users;

11. Demonstrate basic competency in the latest specialized information technologies;

12. Demonstrate an understanding of the above goals within the perspective of prevailing technologies.

[Numbers and text refer to the

2004 Revised UH LIS Program Mission and Goals.]

 

Course Learning Objectives:

This is an introductory course on archives management, enabling students to:

Teaching Method

Primary emphasis is on reading, group discussion, and critical analysis. Oral and written assignments are designed to promote these activities. The assignment due dates are on the course schedule. Attendance and constructive participation are required.

Grading:

I hope that you will focus more on learning and experience than your grade in this course. Your grade will be determined on the following basis.

Archival Research Paper and Presentation/ Archival Pioneer Presentation 45%
Journal/ Presentation on Reading 15%
Final Exam 15%
Participation

10%

Midterm Exam 10%
Archive du Jour 05%

Grading Scale:   

100-98 A+ 97-94 A 93-90 A
89 - 87 B+ 86-83 B 82-80 B-
79 - 77 C+ 76-73 C 72-70 C-
69 - 67 D+ 66-63 D 62-60 D-
Course/ Teaching Philosophy

My personal and professional ambition is to facilitate your learning, so I welcome specific or rough proposals for alternative learning experiences to assignments. 

I reserve the right to reject or make counterproposals, but encourage you to consult me about this.  If you want to pursue this, please talk with me well in advance of the deadline of the assignment you want to replace.  

Class participation is based on:

This includes coming to class on time and for the entire period.

If you were late or absent because of illness or another emergency, please submit evidence. Please notify me in advance of any excused absences.

Important Dates:

N/A Last day to withdraw from class without a “W.”
N/A 

Last day to add the class, change grading option or to receive a 100% tuition refund for the course.

N/A Last day to receive a 50% refund for the course.

Required Readings:

T. R. Schellenberg, Modern Archives: Principles and Techniques (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1956; reprint: Washington, DC: National Archives, 2004). (One copy on reserve) (Any edition will suffice). [The instructor has 25 copies available from the National Archives, available in class for $15 cost]

Additional Required Readings:

Additional required readings are specified in the list of Course schedule readings. 

>> The following books are also on reserve at the Sinclair Library.

Maygene F. Daniels and Timothy Walch, eds., A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings On Archival Theory and Practice (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1984).

Gregory S. Hunter. Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives: A How-to-do-it Manual (New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2003).

Additional Reference Works

You will find the following reference work of great help as you take this class:

Lewis J. Bellardo and Lynn Lady Bellardo, A Glossary for Archivists, Manuscript Curators, and Records Managers  (Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 1992). [Hamilton Reference CD945 .G56 1992]

You also should explore some of the following journals:

The Following Journals May be Available via ILL or online:

And other language readers can consider:

Because there are so many students in this class and time in this 3-week class is so tight, please re-shelve archive journals so others can also use them. Thanks!

 

 Course Schedule (subject to change)

SECTION I:

Introducing Archival Traditions and Terminology

 

Monday 25 July (Day 1)
 

(a) Archive du Jour:

(b) Review the syllabus

(c) Types of Archival Collections

(d) Archival Journals and Associations 

 

Readings:  None.
DUE:     Nothing.

 

Tuesday 26 July

(Day 2)

We will meet at the Hawaii State Archives Kekauluohi Building, Iolani Palace Grounds [Map, Parking & Bus info. link]

 

Guest Speaker: Susan Shaner, State Archivist

(a) Archive du Jour: Hawaii State Archives

(b) The Social Function of Archives

(c) Archive Users
Readings: 

Schellenberg pages xxxv-xxvi, 3-79.

DUE:     Nothing.

 

Wednesday 27 July (Day 3)
 

(a) Archive du Jour: Archives Nationale du                                       France (ABW)

(b) The European Tradition of Archives

(c) European Archival Terminology

Readings: 

Schellenberg Chapters 5-8; and skim 9.

DUE:     Nothing.

 

Thursday 28 July

(Day 4)
 

(a) Archive du Jour: National Archives &  Records Administration (NARA) (ABW)

(b) The American Archival Tradition

(c) American Archival Terminology

Readings: 

Virginia R. Stewart, “A Primer on Manuscript Field Work,” in Maygene F. Daniels and Timothy Walch, eds, A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings On Archival Theory and Practice (Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, 1984, reprinted 2004): 124-138.

DUE:     Nothing.

 

Friday

29 July

(Day 5)
 

(a) Archive du Jour

(b) The Acquisitions Process

(c) Archival Public Services (Reference, Exhibits, Instruction, Special Users)

Readings: 

Trudy Huskamp Peterson, “The Gift & the Deed,” in Daniels & Walch, Modern Archives Reader, 139-45.

DUE:     Nothing.

SECTION II:

Records Management & Special Collections

 

Monday 1 August (Day 6)
 

(a) Archive du Jour:

(b) Midterm Exam

(c) Records Management

Readings:  None.
DUE:     Midterm Exam

 

Tuesday 2 August (Day 7)
 

a) Archive du Jour:

(b) Special Collections

(c) Preservation and Conservation

Readings:  TBA
DUE:     Nothing.

 

SECTION III:

Processing Archival Collections

 

Wednesday 3 August (Day 8)
 

(a) Archive du Jour:

(b) Processing Collections

(c) The Finding Aid     

Readings:  Schellenberg Chapters 10-16.
DUE:     Nothing.

 

Thursday 4 August (Day 9)
 

(a) Archive du Jour:

(b) In-class Processing Exercise

Readings:  Elizabeth Yakel, and Deborah A Torres, “AI: Archival Intelligence and User Expertise.”  The American Archivist. 66 (2003): 51-78.
DUE:     Nothing.

 

SECTION IV:

Digital Aspects

 

Friday

5 August

(Day 10)
 

(a) Archive du Jour:

(b) EAD and Other Standards

(c) Preserving Electronic Records

Readings: 

James M. Roth, “Serving Up EAD: An Exploratory Study on the Deployment and Utilization of Encoded Archival Description Finding Aids.” The American Archivist. 64 (2001): 214-237.

and skim:

Gregory S. Hunter. Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives: A How-to-do-it Manual (New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2003),

Chapter 10: Digital Records.

DUE:     Nothing.

 

SECTION V:

Research, Ethics, Exam, & Wrap-up

 

 

Monday 8 August (Day 11)
 

(a) Research Presentations

Readings:  None
DUE:     Research Paper

 

Tuesday 9 August (Day 12) We will meet at the University Archives Hamilton Library, New Wing, 5th Floor.
 

Guest Speaker: James F. Cartwright, University Archivist, UHM

(a) Archive du Jour: University Achives, UHM (Tour)

(b) Professional Elements:

Associations (JFC), Certification(JFC), Ethics (JFC),

Employment (AW), Education (AW).

(c) Review for the Final Exam

 

Readings: 

SAA “Code of Ethics for Archivists” 

DUE:     None.

 

Wednesday 10 August (Day 13)
 

(a) The Future of Archives and Historical Research

(b) Review for the Final Exam    
Readings:  None.
DUE:     Nothing.

 

Thursday 11 August

(Day 14)
 

Class attendance is optional this day. The exam will be sent to you via your UH e-mail address. It will be due by class time (5:00 PM) on Friday.

Readings:  None.
DUE:     Nothing.

 

Friday

12 August

(Day 15)
 

(a) Course Wrap-Up/ The Future of Archives

(b) Course Evaluations

(c) Certificates

Readings:  None.
DUE:     Final Exam. (Due at the start of class).

 
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENTS

Assignments

Research Paper and Presentation (45%)

The major project for this class is a 8 to 12 double-spaced page research paper on one aspect of archival studies. There are two options for this assignment.   

This project may be done individually or in groups of up to four members. You should use at least 4 secondary sources besides readings assigned for class. You are encouraged to consider also doing an interview with an archivist to gain further understanding, although this is not expected due to the time limitations of this summer course.

You are also to do a presentation to the class on your subject to the class. The presentation should be:

You are encouraged to use PowerPoint or other original audio/video materials to creative an original and professional presentation.

[Option 1]; Research Paper

Sample topics include: electronic records, School Archives, Privacy, Presidential archives (or a deeper study of one archive such as the Nixon Presidential Archive). In other words, the topic may be a deeper study on a type of archive, a specific archive, or a research question that interests you.

Your professor is always happy to respond to inquiries. Stuck: Skim recent issues of archival studies journals for possible ideas.

There will be a sign-up sheet for topics so as to avoid duplication of topics.

[Option 2]; Oral History Interview with a Pioneer in Hawaii Archives

The alternative option for this project is to conduct an oral history interview with one of Hawaii’s pioneering archivists.

STEP 1: To prepare for the interview you should skim Donald Richie’s guide to oral history, and then read as much as you can about the archives and archivist.

STEP 2: You should talk with the current director of the archives and share your questions with her/ him for feedback. You should hand in your list of questions.

STEP 3: Conduct the interview. You should secure a written permission form, and record the interview.

This interview will be deposited at the AHA Papers at BYU-Hawaii Archives.

STEP 4: You should create a rough 10-page outline of the questions and answers, and hand this in along with your recording and permissions form.

EXTRA CREDIT: Hand in a typed transcript of the interview.

Evaluation

The paper will be worth 35% of your semester grade, and the presentation will be worth another 10% of your semester grade. The paper will be evaluated in terms of the following aspects: Summary of Thesis and Research, Quality of Writing, Quality of research, Evaluation and Critical Discussion, and clear explanation as to the importance of your topic to archival studies.

The Presentation is evaluated separately in terms of concision, following time constraints, creativity, use of archival terminology, and your ability to explain the significance of your findings to the practice and/ or theory of archives. I will also be evaluating for creativity, humor, persuasiveness or other elements of public speaking. 

POINTS WILL BE TAKEN AWAY FOR

Journal/ Presentation on Reading ("Article Critique") (15%)

In order to encourage you to explore and share recent research from archival studies, you are to select one journal article from within the past 10 years of issues of the archival journals listed in this syllabus. This article/ book chapter may not be one already mentioned in the syllabus. If you want to select an article or book chapter from another source, please confirm it with the instructor. Only two people may select the same article.

     The assignment is to (a) write a 4 to 5 page (double-spaced) paper on the article on your own, and to (b) make a brief 4 to 5 minute presentation summarizing the article and your findings.

     On the first day of class (and each day thereafter), I will have a sign-up sheet to reserve days for each person to present their article critique.  Groups of two may collaborate on the same presentation if they examined the same article. Groups should take 6-10 minutes, and both members should cooperate on all aspects of the presentation.

     You will be evaluated on the following basis:

(a) Paper (10% of semester grade):

Example: Cox’s summary of research on provenance of e-mail suggested the following problems… (636).

 (b) Presentation (5% of semester grade)

Archive du Jour (5%)

This assignment does not require a written component, but consists of a 4 to 5-minute in-class presentation introducing a major archival depository in the United States or abroad.

You are encouraged to locate information on the archive from articles, websites, and telephone interviews.

The presentation should focus on the archives’ history and collection emphasis. It would be idea to present a PowerPoint show with photographs of the archive and useful information,

Students will be able to sign up for selected archives from a list in class or suggest a different archive.

Exams

Midterm Exam (10%)

The midterm exam will be done in class without notes. It will consist of multiple choice questions as well as short answers to questions covered in the first half of the class. Please pay careful attention the instructions as you may have some choices. The primary purpose is to demonstrate your understanding of archival terminology and approaches, which differ from librarianship and museums.

 

Final Exam (15%)

The final exam will be a take-home open book exam in response to readings and lectures discussed during the entire course. You will be able to select from among several long and short essay questions. Please pay careful attention the instructions, as you will have some choices.

You will have 24 hours to respond to the questions. The final should be word-processed, and proofread. It should be handed in at the start of class on the final day at 5:00 PM. You will be penalized for handing this in late.

You are encouraged to study for the exam in groups, but your writing should be your own. You may use short references to refer to items read in class, but should provide sources for all other citations.

In order to receive an A, you should properly use archival terminology and demonstrate a critical understanding of archival theory. I am looking for writing that integrates readings, lecture notes. I will especially recognize independent thinking, and responses to additional readings.

EXPECTATIONS FOR ALL ASSIGNMENTS

** Plagiarism, if caught, will result in failing the class. It also will be reported to the administration for appropriate disciplinary action. Please don’t do it. 

As a review, any time you use more than four or five words from one source those words should either be placed in quotation marks. Long quotes (more than two sentences) do not need quotation marks, but instead should be place in block quotes, which are single spaced and indented with about one inch on the left and right margins. You should also cite information paraphrased from other sources unless it is common knowledge.

You may use any recognized citation style (Chicago/ Turabian, APA, MLA) to cite sources of quotations or other information as long as you are consistent in doing so. If you will be citing the same source (such as in the article critique), then I suggest you use parenthetical references such as the MLA style. For example, you can write (Daniels 1995, 15), or (Daniels 15) if you have only one citation by Daniels, or (15) if you only cite one article. For papers using parenthetical references, you need to submit a bibliography of works cited. You do not need a bibliography, however, if you use complete citations in the footnotes.  Information from personal conversations, letters, and the Internet should also be cited with the date (and URL and author for the Internet).   

Please use 12-point Times (or comparable) font and double-space your written assignments and leave a 1-inch margin. Papers should also be stapled. You are discouraged from using a cover page per se, but should include your name, the date, Prof. Wertheimer, and the assignment name on the first page of all materials. Following pages only need the page number in the header or footer. I strongly urge you to create a title for each paper as this often helps writers to establish a focused theme.  

Papers should be spell-checked and proofread. My interest is to see that you follow the instructions and are able to develop a logical, analytical paper, and provide evidence for your observations.

Papers should be written in a near-publishable, formal style. Your article critique should use a complete citation of the article as a title. Papers are due during class. Late assignments will be docked by 10%.  No overdue assignments or extra credit projects will be accepted after the end of class.

If you need reasonable accommodations because of the impact of a disability, please [1] contact the Kokua Program (V/T) at 956-7511 or 956-7612 in room 013 of the QLSS; [2] Speak with me privately to discuss your specific needs. I will be happy to work with you and the KOKUA Program to meet your access needs related to your documented disability.

I am afraid that there are no SAMPLE PAPERS for this class, as previous classes had other instructors and different assignments.

If you write an exceptional paper, I might ask you to submit your paper to my samples homepage. If so, I would appreciate if you would try to follow up on some of the corrections/ suggestions I made, and then e-mail me your paper as a Word/ HTML/ PDF file attachment. 

     I give some extra credit to reward this extra effort.  Future students also thank you. Please remove your name from the paper if you want to be anonymous.

GENERAL GRADING CRITERIA

Specific grading criteria are mentioned in the instructions for all assignments, but in general I like to reward papers that are well-written, well-researched, creative, and show me that you are integrating questions from this class and your real life experiences.

Part of demonstrating professionalism includes using archival terminology when appropriate. I also am happy if you can tie theoretical issues to the larger world as long as this supplements your archival readings (not in lieu of). I also value critical thinking. Do not take everything you read or hear as truth.

FYI: My pet peeves in terms of writing include problems with quotations (block quotes) and sloppy citations. In addition to learning how to quote materials, I encourage you to use quotes sparingly. Don’t simply use other peoples’ words to make your point. 

Reminder: Plagiarism is more than a side issue. It can get you into serious trouble. I encourage you to skim my writing guide. Librarians and archivists especially are held up to high standards in terms of writing and citing.