 |
ACADEMY OF CERTIFIED ARCHIVISTS
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Main Entry: urban legend
urban myth orig. U.S., a sensational but apocryphal story which through repetition in varying versions has acquired the status of folklore, esp. one lent plausibility by its contemporary setting, or by the purported involvement of someone known to the teller.
The founding president of the Academy was an archival educator, and of the Academy's eleven presidents, five have been archival educators.
The archival certification examination is peer produced by a committee of working archivists and archival educators.
The certification examination is the archival profession’s most important self-evaluation tool.
Certification Maintenance by Petition rewards archivists' efforts to stay current and contribute to the development of the archival profession. It is the profession’s only system for recognizing development and service activities.
The Role Delineation is unique in being an independent and objective description of what archivists need to know and be able to do to perform archival work.
Such independence is not true of all certifying bodies. |
FACT: Few myths about the Academy depart further from reality. From its inception, archival certification was intended and designed to foster archival education and complement graduate degree programs. The Academy’s support of archival education is so strong that, except in rare cases, a graduate degree is required to take the exam. That is, the Academy has done more than just talk about the need to support graduate education; after all, talk is cheap. It has gone further and done something specific and concrete by writing graduate education into the exam qualifications. To learn more about the requirements applicants must meet to take the examination, review the Academy's handbook. Among the Academy's elected positions, archival educators have been represented at a far higher degree than in the general archival population. For example, the founding president of the Academy was an archival educator, and of the Academy's twelve presidents, five have been archival educators. Strengthening support for graduate archival education was one reason the Academy was founded, and it informs and motivates every Academy program and discussion.
“Passing the archival certification examination is all one needs to become a Certified Archivist.” FACT: Passing the exam is only one of the steps in the process of becoming a Certified Archivist. Candidates must also meet educational requirements and have earned the requisite work experience.
“The Academy claims that certification should be the sole deciding factor in hiring.” FACT: The Academy has always maintained that employers should use certification as one part of a larger search process that includes interviews, references, resumes, and other standard hiring practices. Archival certification is neither a panacea nor an end in itself, but when used as part of a larger search strategy, it can be an important tool for evaluating archival knowledge, personal initiative, and professional commitment.
“The archival certification examination is created by a secret committee.” FACT: The test is peer produced by a committee of working archivists and archival educators. An elected Regent for Examination Development leads the committee’s work, with advice from a professional psychometrician (a psychologist who specializes in testing and test evaluation. The Academy’s psychometrician is a psychologist with the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York). The committee’s members reflect the profession’s full spectrum of institutional type, specialty, and diversity. During the past twelve years many dozens of experienced archivists from every type of archives as well as prominent archival educators have written all of the questions that appear on the exam. Dedicated professional archivists also constantly revise and update the test and the item bank to reflect new archival developments and current archival practice. To bring more archivists into the process of test creation, in 2001 the Academy inaugurated a series of item-writing workshops in which volunteers learn the procedures and technical requirements for writing questions for the test and submit potential questions for the examination. It is a difficult and strenuous process, but participants have universally declared it to be one of their more rewarding professional experiences. To learn how you can participate, contact the Academy's Regent for Examination Development.
“The certification examination tests only a small portion of the work archivists perform.” FACT: The Academy tests subjects derived from the Role Delineation. Created by a team of archivists and archival educators, the Role Delineation is a series of test specifications describing the seven major “domains” (or areas) of archival practice. Each domain contains a series of tasks and related knowledge statements. Together, these elements encompass more than one hundred commonly accepted duties and responsibilities that professional archivists perform in the course of their work. The Academy reviews and revises the Role Delineation as needed to ensure it conforms to current practice. Many archivists work in archives that require, in addition to archival knowledge, a subject specialty like music, archaeology, or local history. Does the archival certification examination test knowledge of those fields? Of course not. It is not a music or archaeology exam. Because it is an archival certification examination, it tests only archival knowledge as defined by the Role Delineation. While written by archivists and archival educators, the Academy's Role Delineation is the only description of archival work whose creation was overseen by experts from outside the archival field. These outside experts imposed a rigorous, professional, systematic, validated process, free of political influence and personal bias. The Role Delineation is unique in being an independent and objective description of what archivists need to know and be able to do to perform archival work. To learn more about it and to read the Role Delineation's text, go to Section 3 of the Handbook for Archival Certification.
“The archival certification examination only tests theory.” FACT: While some questions do test archival theory and history, most questions are practice-based and test how well someone can apply their knowledge to real life situations.
“One hundred multiple-choice questions are inadequate for measuring professional knowledge.” FACT: The Academy uses the best information available from the discipline of psychometrics in creating every year’s test. One issue, considered at the outset, was what kinds of questions to use on the exam. The choices were among what are known as “limited response” questions, which include multiple choice, matching, and true-false questions; and “constructed response” questions, which include essay, short-answer, and oral questions. Nearly all certification/ licensure exams include multiple-choice questions; it is very common that they contain only this type of question. Multiple-choice questions are widely used for a number of reasons:
The test has been meticulously constructed. The Academy is convinced it accurately and fairly tests a fundamental knowledge of archival theory and practice as defined by the Role Delineation.
“The only reason to take the exam is to become a Certified Archivist.” FACT: Persons also take the examination for self-evaluation. The certification examination is the archival profession’s most important self-evaluation tool. Simply taking the test, seeing how it has changed since you last took it, reading new questions and thinking about what changes in technology, theory, or practice motivated those questions, reviewing your score report and learning in which areas you were stronger, all of those are invaluable self-evaluation opportunities. Few professions have strong self-evaluation tools. Archivists are fortunate to have one based on consistent standards and created according to a systematic, professional, validated process.
“To maintain your certification after the initial five-year certification period, you must retake the test.” FACT: While you may choose to recertify by taking the test if you prefer, most Certified Archivists maintain their certification by petition. “Certification Maintenance by Petition” rewards your efforts to stay current in the field and contribute to the growth and development of the archival profession. It is the archival profession’s only system for recognizing such personal development and service activities.
“There’s no point to taking the test again to recertify. It only recertifies what you’ve already certified.” FACT: This myth confuses several different issues. First, the test is constantly updated to reflect changes and advances in the field. Passing the test for Certification Maintenance therefore demonstrates that a Certified Archivist keeps current with archival theory and practice.Second, instead of taking the exam, Certified Archivists may opt to maintain their certification by petition. Many archivists choose to recertify by exam, however, because:
There are many reasons for retaking the test during your career, and self-evaluation is among the more important. Having the choice to retake it is one of the benefits of being a Certified Archivist.
“I don’t need to become a Certified Archivist because it's obvious I'm a professional.” FACT: Well…yes…but a professional what? Many persons on the fringes of our own profession confuse “archivist” and “curator.” Others use the word “archivist” to denote a generic keeper of “dead files.” Some persons use “archivist” to describe a computer analyst, while to others an “archivist” is the oldest member of a religious order, or a librarian taking on a new responsibility. There is probably no disrespect intended by these new “archivists” and their institutions, but the fact is, there is a great deal of public ignorance about what an archivist is—and knows. The designation “CA” tells the world, not just peers, that your knowledge of fundamental archival theory and practice has been put to the test, and that you have acquitted yourself.
“Certification is only for university - corporate - government - religious - historical society - special collections - etc. archivists.” FACT: A review of the Academy’s membership rolls reveals Certified Archivists are employed in all types of institutions, perform the full range of archival work, and encompass all archival specialties.
“The Academy of Certified Archivists is not an independent organization but is the puppet of another association.” FACT: The Academy of Certified Archivists has always been an independent organization. Confusion over this point may have resulted from the fact that the Society of American Archivists was instrumental in founding the Academy. During its initial years, the ACA even shared office staff with SAA. However, the agreement creating the Academy stipulated that it had to repay SAA for all costs associated with creating the Academy. Furthermore, the sharing of office staff was on a “for hire” contractual basis; that is, the Academy paid SAA for the use of its space and the work done for ACA by its staff. Even when sharing office staff, however, SAA had no legal or financial control or influence over the Academy. In 1995 the Academy terminated its agreement with SAA and transferred its management contract to Capitol Hill Management Services in Albany, New York. Such independence is not true of all certifying bodies. Some professional associations require membership for a number of years prior to certifying, which confuses certification with membership recruitment. Professional advocacy organizations also have policies and programs to support and defend that can create the appearance of a conflict of interest (for example, would they certify someone who opposes their policies?). The independence of the Academy of Certified Archivists assures archivists that archival certification is free of such biases and conflicts. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ACADEMY
OF CERTIFIED ARCHIVISTS |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Please let us know of updates, corrections, and potential improvements to our web site. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
