| Recertification Definitions and Special Instructions |
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Recertification Definitions and Special Instructions This page includes definitions and special instructions 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 2012 will be credited for qualifying professional activity that occurred between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2011, and the petition for recertification must be postmarked by June 1, 2012. Definitions and Special Instructions General notes and tips:
Section A: Qualifying Professional Employment Petitioners seeking credit for professional archival employment must provide the following information for each job claimed in the five year recertification period:
If your title does not fully reflect the archival content of your work please include a brief job description that details the professional archival nature of your job duties. You can also 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 worked per week. Calculate credits earned on a pro-rated basis based on a full-time level of 1750 hours per year. Pro-rate part-time work at 218.75 hours of work per year per credit. Example: if you work half-time (875 hours per year), give yourself 4 credits per year worked. Round fractions up to the nearest whole number. A.3. Employment with partial archival responsibilities If claiming 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. Example: if you have a full-time position and spend half of it in the archives and half of it doing library work, you can claim 4 credits per year of work. Round fractions up to the nearest whole number. A.5. Part-time archival consulting If consulting part-time, provide number of hours worked 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. Pro-rate part-time work at 218.75 hours of work per year per credit. Example: if you work half-time (875 hours per year), give yourself 4 credits per year worked. 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 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. Numbers 1, 2, 3: Individual courses for which credits are claimed must be in the domains of archival practice. 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. Seminars, workshops, institutes, webinars, 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. An exception is given to graduate degrees earned during the period of the petition. 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. 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 Statement: 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.
Graduate degree: A graduate degree conferred by an accredited institution of higher learning during the petition period. Archival seminars, workshops, institutes, webinars: 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 statement, taken either in-person or online (see Archival courses above). Section C: Professional Participation and Outreach Number 1 (a, b, c, and d): Paper given, poster presented, or panel/session chaired, must be on an archival topic. See the definition for "Panelist or chair/commentator" below. Number 2 (a, b): Workshops must be on archival theory, method, or practice. See the 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 specific information that demonstrates the relevance of the class or seminar to the archival domains. The dates and locations for conferences, meetings, workshops, and programs 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 statement. 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 statement. 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. 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. When claiming credit as the primary author of a regularly updated blog or web site, include the URL for the site(s) in your qualifying archival experiences document. Note: web work that is part of your job responsibilities does not count for credit here. 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. Thus, editing or writing for an institutional newsletter, journal, or promotional material or creating a finding aid to materials within the institutional holdings is not considered creditable under this section. Articles, chapters, or 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 statement.
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