opportunity to learn in a workplace setting by alternating practical, paid work
experience in various fields of interest with their academic studies.23
Advantages
The advantages of a graduate program for records professionals whose
curriculum is organized in streams are several. First, such a program is flexible
and adaptable to various needs as they develop over time without requiring
drastic changes to the curriculum, and to different cultural contexts and legal-
administrative requirements. In fact, depending on the country, university,
school/department and on who is served by it, the streams can be completely
different from those suggested in my example (e.g. countries like Italy and
Germany might like to offer a medieval archivist stream, with all the philological
disciplines as stream core,24 while others might be interested in offering an
information specialist stream, with information science disciplines as stream
core Second, such a program would issue a graduate degree with indication of
a specialization, and this fact would satisfy the professions that are demanding
their name on the title of their degrees, such as records managers and records
forensics experts. Third, such a program can still issue a generalist degree if a
student decides not to select a stream but to take courses across streams. Fourth,
it would foster interdisciplinary collaborations with other faculties and programs
on campus (e.g. computer science, law, business administration, criminology and
in general law enforcement programs) through course sharing, and with other
universities through students exchange, whereby students of one university take
clusters of courses for one semester in another university (e.g. students of an
archival program in Canada could take a semester of courses on digital forensics
in the United States). Fifth, such a program could provide either a strictly
professional degree or a more academically focused degree leading to a doctorate,
depending on the emphasis chosen by the individual student. Sixth, if a student
wished to do so, such a program could allow taking more than one stream and
issue a graduate degree with multiple specializations; indeed, if a student were
willing to spend four years in it, this program could form the extreme records
professional, a hyper-educated individual who can function in any possible role a
record specialist could possibly be called to fill.
To conclude with
This proposal results from several factors. As a researcher on digital records and
on their management from creation to permanent preservation, I have given
much thought to the competences needed to deal with the challenges presented
by contemporary records and the professional profiles that can respond to
them, and I have arrived at the conclusion that, although such competences
are and must be specific, and such profiles must include much technological
PROFESSIONALITEIT
23 At the University of British Columbia, the archival program offers this kind of work education. Its web site
states: "Students may elect to take a term of work lasting either four months or eight months, or may do
two different four month work terms. Work terms are to be completed before the student begins his or her
last term of study at SLAIS. Students are paid for their work according to industry standards which will vary
according to the type of library, archival or information organization. Students do not receive academic
credit for their work, but participation in the Co-op work program is noted on transcripts. A student while
on a co-op placement may enrol in no more than 3 credits of course work (including audit) per co-op
term." See http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/co-op.htm (last accessed January 24, 2010).
206