won - like the school in Marburg - a still larger autonomy, although financed by the Cultural Ministry. From that time, the training did not take place in the Archie/school itself, but rather in the two colleges, which "bought" these services from the Archie/school. The education was provided not only just for archivists as it did up to 1995 but was integrated at both colleges in wider disciplines and thus in related subjects. At the Universiteit van Amsterdam, archival education became part of the "Faculty of Arts", as "Chair Group of Book, Archival and Information Sciences", while at the Hogeschool it became part of the "Institute for Media and Information Management". With these changes, archival education in the Netherlands left the old way in two respects. The relationship between practical and theoretical education was reversed totally and the integration into the field of information sciences led to a new focus with regard to the content. When Theo Thomassen wrote in 1992 about the old system "the combination of theory and practise all in all was welcomed by the students as well as by the archives"20, he expressed the idea that the implementation of the theoretical part into the field gave the students the possibility to regularly compare the theory with the daily practice. But the high practical component of this education led to the impression that archival education in the Netherlands was something like a learning-by-doing system and this kind of education always has a reputation for being unprofessional. When, in the late 80s, the Archiefschool could not expand the number of lessons without shortening the practical component, this was the moment to think about implementing archival education into the Dutch university system. By doing this the practical education could only play a limited role in form of a practical semester, but not more. So, the decision to professionalize the Dutch archival education by integrating it into the university [higher education] system at the same time led to a bigger distance from the field. With the integration of archival education into information science the Archiefschool tried to open the education to a wider range of fields like records management or archives of the private sector. This expansion was a reaction to the Dutch discussion about the job description of archivists. The focal point was the question of whether archives and archivists are more a part of the cultural heritage sector or more of the administrative sector. This discussion was still continuing when the reforms took place and the staff had to decide which way would be the best. They decided to play the records management card. Therefore, the new curricula in Amsterdam pushed the idea of breaking down the walls between archivists and records managers.21 This means a paradigm shift from the historian archivist to an information specialist and opened a lot of new sectors for students to work in after their examination. KARSTEN UHDE TIMES ARE CHANGING 17 The whole curriculum of 1999 is published in English in: Karsten Uhde: 'New Education in Old Europe' in: Archival Science 6, 2006, p. 193-303, here p. 201. The current curriculum is available only in German under: http://www.archivschule.de/ausbildung/kurrikulum-hoeherer-archivdienst/kurrikulum-hoeherer- archivdienst-liste.html (as at 04.20.2010). 18 http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0007376/geldigheidsdatum_05-02-2010 (as at 04.02.2010). 19 http://www.st-ab.nl/wettennr01/0036-001_Archiefbesluit_1995.htm (as at 04.02.2010). 20 Theo Thomassen: 'Aus- und Fortbildung der Archivare in den Niederlanden' in: Erstes Deutsch- Niederlandisch-Belgisches Archivsymposion (=Miscellanea archivistica studia 18), Brüssel 1992, p. 97. 21 About this discussion and the conclusion of the Archiefschool staff see: Theo Thomassen: 'Looking into the future - Visions on the position and challenges of archivists and archives' in: Archivpflege in Westfalen- Lippe, 70, 2009, p. 15-22. 193

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Jaarboeken Stichting Archiefpublicaties | 2010 | | pagina 195