Preamble

These specifications for the certified archivist examination delineate the major domains of archival practice.  Within each domain a series of tasks and related knowledge statements are defined.  Together these elements encompass commonly accepted duties and responsibilities that professional archivists perform in the course of their work.  This document assumes that individuals seeking certification recognize that (a) their professional practice is performed within the context of an institutional mission and is directed to the achievement of goals consistent with that mission, and (b) their professional practice has an ongoing effect on the emergence and evolution of that overall mission and its associated goals, as well as the development of the archival profession.

In addition, although those seeking certification do not necessarily control how archival policies are set that relate to activities such as acquisition, access, preservation, and security, it is assumed that archivists understand that the elements contained in such policies are important in carrying out in a professional manner the tasks specified below. 
Each of the seven major domains is comprised of task statements which outline the duties included within each domain, as well as knowledge statements that describe generally what archivists need to know in order to complete each of the tasks.  Preceding the domains is a listing of General Knowledge Statements applicable to several or all of the seven areas.

The ACA Role Delineation Statement uses the definitions and distinctions found in A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology, edited by Richard Pearce-Moses, published as part of the Society of American Archivists Fundamental Series II, 2005:
Archival records and materials are defined as

“Materials created by a person, family, or organization, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs that are preserved because of the enduring value contained in the information they contain or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator.  Archival records may be in any format, including text on paper or in electronic formats, photographs, motion pictures, videos, sound records.  The phrase ‘archival records’ is sometimes used as an expanded form of archives to distinguish the holdings from the program.”  ‘Materials’ means “an encompassing, generic term to describe the broad variety of items that an archives might collect, regardless of medium, format or type. It is used to avoid connotations carried by terms such as record, document or object.”