| Recertification Definitions, Special Instructions and Templates |
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This page includes definitions, special instructions and a template that will help you complete your petition for certification maintenance in the Academy of Certified Archivists. For more information on the recertification process and to download the current recertification packet, visit the Certification Maintenance page. Petitioners due for certification maintenance in 2010 will be credited for qualifying professional activity that occurred between January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009 and the petition for recertification must be postmarked by June 1, 2010.
Qualifying Archival Experience Template We suggest that you download and use this template when formatting the detailed qualifying archival experience portion of your petition. The template is available for download as a Word document. Note that this template corresponds to pages Pet-6 through Pet-9 of the certification maintenance packet.
Definitions and Special Instructions General notes and tips:
Section A: Qualifying Professional Employment Petitioners seeking credit for professional archival employment must provide:
If your title does not fully reflect the archival content of your work please submit, as part of your qualifying archival experience, a job description that details the professional archival nature of your job duties. Or you can submit a brief narrative that outlines the mission and responsibilities of your archival program. (Professional employment from which a candidate has been dismissed for unsatisfactory performance or malfeasance will not be considered for certification maintenance.) A.1. Full-time professional archival employment Full-time employment is considered as 35 hours a week, for 50 weeks/year, totaling at least 1750 hours per year. Round fractions up to the nearest whole number. A.2. Part-time professional archival employment If employed part time, provide number of hours per week. Calculate credits earned on a pro-rated basis based on a full-time level of 1750 hours per year. Round fractions up to the nearest whole number. A.3. Employment with partial archival responsibilities If partial archival responsibilities, give estimate of % of time. Calculate credits earned on a pro-rated basis based on a full-time level of 1750 hours per year. Round fractions up to the nearest whole number. A.5. Part-time archival consulting If consulting part-time, provide number of hours per week. If working on a per-project basis, provide specific dates and total number of hours spent on each project. Then calculate credits earned on a pro-rated basis based on a full-time level of 1750 hours per year. Round fractions up to the nearest whole number. Definitions: Qualifying professional employment: Employment as a professional archivist or as an archival educator actively exercising responsibility for or teaching about one or more of the following: the acquisition, preservation management, reference, or control of archival materials. Qualifying professional employment should require understanding of basic archival principles and the ability to apply or implement them while executing these functions. Managing the work of archivists or administering an archival repository will be considered qualifying professional experience if successful performance of the duties of the position requires substantial knowledge of archival principles and practices, including the identification, preservation, or use of historical materials. Pro-rated professional employment: Positions that include a mixture of archival and other professional duties will be counted as qualifying experience on a pro-rated basis. For example a position consisting of 50% archival work held for one year would be equivalent to one-half year qualifying professional employment. Part-time employment also is credited on a pro-rated basis. Professional archival consulting: Independent employment providing advice to organizations or individuals by contract agreement. Ordinarily consulting consists of activities such as advising organizations concerning archival management of historical materials or independently performing archival functions as described above. Consulting that involves a mixture of subjects and part-time consulting will be pro-rated on the same basis as other forms of professional employment. Section B: Education Petitioners should list only archival education. While a general management or technology education might be useful to you in your job, credit is only allowed for educational activities that directly relate to the archival domains. Numbers 1, 2, 3: Individual courses for which credits are claimed must be in the domains of archival practice. Graduate archival education is defined as that outlined by the Society of American Archivists in the 1987 Guidelines for Graduate Education. Graduate education, because of its emphasis on inquiry, research and explication, is of value inherent to the work of archivists, even when not directly related to archival practice. Graduate degrees claimed can be in any discipline. Seminars, workshops, institutes, and meetings claimed for credit must all be firmly within the archival domains. General management or non-archival classes, seminars, workshops, and institutes cannot be credited. Number 4: Attendance must be at an archival meeting or conference, or at another meeting related to the domains of archival practice. Petitioners should be careful to claim credits for only the educational portion of the meetings. Credit is not allowed for time spent attending receptions or tours. Attendance at monthly, semi-monthly, or quarterly meetings of local archival groups that have a professional archival program component of approximately one hour will be credited. If the meeting is more in the nature of a social gathering for archivists around a meal or other event that does not have an instruction/educational component, the meeting cannot be credited toward recertification. Definitions: Archival courses: Formal classroom work relating to any of the domains of archival practice as defined by the Role Delineation for Archivists: selection of documents; arrangement and description of documents; reference services and access to documents; preservation and protection of documents; outreach, advocacy, and promotion of documentary collections and archival repositories; managing archival programs; and professional ethical and legal responsibilities. Graduate archival education is defined as that outlined by the Society of American Archivists in the 1987 Guidelines for Graduate Education (for a copy of these domains, please refer to the ACA website [www.certifiedarchivists.org]).
Graduate degree: A graduate degree conferred by an accredited institution of higher learning during the petition period. Archival seminars, workshops, institutes: Short courses, ordinarily sponsored by organizations of professional archivists, colleges or universities, or archival institutions, relating to any of the areas or domains of archival practice defined by the role delineation for archivists (see Archival courses above). Section C: Professional Participation and Outreach Number 1 (a, b, and c): Paper given or panel/session chaired, must be on an archival topic. See Definitions "Panelist or chair/commentator." Number 2 (a, b): Workshops must be on archival theory, method or practice. See Definitions "Archival courses" and "Archival seminars, workshops, institutes" in Section B above. If a workshop is co-taught, both teachers claim equal credit. If the title of the workshop/seminar/institute/conference you attended, the name of the course you completed, the paper you presented, the talk you gave, the committee on which you served, the publication you prepared, or the type of pro bono work you conducted, fail to clearly show archival significance, please provide, as part of your qualifying archival experience, specific information that demonstrates the relevance of the class or seminar to the archival domains. It should also be added that the dates and locations for conferences are not to be overlooked as extraneous details and that meetings/programs attended should be documented with as much care as possible. Credits are accepted for membership and activities in foreign archival organizations. Credits are also accepted in some areas for archival work in non-archival settings, as long as credits are also claimed for activities within the archival profession. Credit cannot be given for providing institutional promotion or user instruction when they are part of the petitioner's official or assigned job duties and responsibilities. Definitions: Professional meetings: Periodic meetings sponsored by international, national, regional or local organizations of professional archivists or other meetings relating to the domains of archival practice. A day of attendance will consist of attending both morning and afternoon sessions. A half-day of attendance will consist of attending either morning or afternoon sessions. The attendance at monthly, semi-monthly or quarterly meetings of local archival groups can account for no more than 30 points or one-half of the total points allowed under Section B for the recertification cycle. Professional paper: Preparation and presentation of a professional paper relating to any aspect of archives administration as defined by the role delineation for archivists. The paper should be presented in an organized forum, such as a professional meeting of archivists or other professionals, and ordinarily must be presented from a written paper, notes or outline. Panelist or chair/commentator: Participation as a panelist or chair and/or commentator at an organized program session on any aspect of archives administration as defined by the role delineation for archivists. Institute, workshop or seminar leader: Service as director, coordinator, or instructor of any archival seminar, workshop, or institute as defined above. Section D: Professional Service Numbers 1-3. See Definitions "Archival Leadership," "Membership," and "Contributed Service." Definitions: Archival Leadership: A variety of forms of participation in any organization of professional archivists, including the Academy of Certified Archivists, as set out in Section IV, 1 a-e on the Credits Form. Membership: Individual membership, per year, in any international, national, regional or local archival organization that has regular meetings or publications and formal membership roles, except that membership in the Academy of Certified Archivists itself does not confer any credit. A maximum of five (5) points per year may claimed for a maximum of 25 for a five-year petition. Contributed Service: An aspect of professional service, contributed service consists of any form of uncompensated activity on behalf of the archival community or to promote the preservation of historical records elsewhere in society. You can include under the "other" category any service related archival activities not covered by existing categories. For example, mentoring younger archivists, providing archival training outside the scope of your job duties, assuming responsibilities above and beyond your role as a member of an archival committee, task force, or roundtable, or any other contribution that falls under the aegis of Professional Service. Section E: Writing, Publishing, Editing. Numbers 1-5: Co-authors claim the same credits as single authors. This section is divided into those books and articles which undergo peer review before being accepted for publication (most books and professional journals), and those which do not. If in doubt, call the editor or publisher. There is also a division into publications on topics in the archival domains and those more general topics that are still related to archives or archival collections. Credit cannot be given for publishing, editing, or writing for a publication issued by the archivist's employing institution. These activities are considered work duties and are already credited under "Section A: Qualifying Professional Employment," of the petition form. Thus, editing or writing for an institutional newsletter, journal, promotional material or creating a finding aid to materials within the institutional holdings is not considered creditable under this section. Articles, chapters books, written and submitted during the eligible time period will earn credit even if the actual publication date extends beyond the five-year time frame. Definition: Archival writing, publishing and editing: Publications resulting from these activities must be on subjects relating to the domains of archival knowledge defined by the role delineation for archivists.
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