North America Research
Agenda in an Academic
Setting: A View of the
Landscape
Wendy Duff
November 19, 2004
FIS, University of Toronto
The Agenda
The past
The present
Trends
The challenges
Research framework
Why should practitioners care?
Disclaimer
Not comprehensive
Research being conducted by archival researchers,
PhD students and archival institutions
No attempt to cover related research, e.g. metadata,
records management, knowledge management
I am an academic and my thoughts and conclusions
are influenced by that viewpoint
The Past
Most research historical
Archivists not trained in social science
methods
Calls for research and some research
agendas set – little research
The Present
Historical
History of the National Archives of Canada –
detailed case study analysis of the formation of
national identity and memory; the nature of
cultural politics; the history-archives relationship,
archival choices; and cross-fertilization being
influenced by societal, intellectual, bureaucratic an
organizational trends and theories. Evolution of
archival theory (Terry Cook, U of Manitoba)
“Twenty-five people who shook the world”
development of descriptive standards in the
United States (Susan Davis, U of Maryland)”
Functions -Appraisal
Survey of Canadian Archivists – to reveal the
anatomy of Canadian archivists’ experience in doing
appraisal (Barbara Craig, U of Toronto)
Case study of appraisal in a feminist archives (Thea
Miller, PhD student, U of T)
Study of appraisal. (Tom Nesmith, U of Manitoba)
Comparative Study on National Appraisal Strategy
(Jennifer Marshall, PhD student, Pittsburgh)
Description
“Archival Description and the Apparatus of
Authenticity”. Historical origins and theoretical
foundation of the relationship; analysis of descriptive
instruments, impact of current trends in theory and
methodology; and identify strengths and weaknesses
of current practice (Heather McNeil, UBC) –
The content note in national and international
descriptive standards and content analysis of existing
content notes (Marcel Caya, UQAM) –
Implementation of EAD in the U.S. (Beth Yakel, U of
Michigan).
Education
Information technology and policy curricula (Anne
Gilliland-Swetland, UCLA)
Archival education in North American history
departments and library schools (Elizabeth Yakel U.
Michigan and Jeannette Bastian, Simmons)
ACENSUS (Society of American Archivists)
"Evaluating master's programs in information studies“
(Wendy Duff, Joan Cherry and Nalini Singh, U of
Toronto) – Multi-year, and hopefully involving several
educational institutions
Preservation
Evaluation of the Canadian Council of Archives’
preservation program. (Helene Carbonneau PhD
student, U of T) –
Electronic records
NARA
• Persistent Object Preservation
• Presidential Electronic Records Pilot Operations System
(PERPOS) – Georgia Institute of Technology – design
software tools to support accession, preservation,
arrangement, review and description
• Distributed Object Computation Testbed (DOCT) infrastructure to test advanced technologies for
preservation of electronic records
Preservation: Electronic Records
Margaret Hedstrom (U. of Michigan)
Documenting the History of Internet
2.
CAMiLEON
Evaluation of NARA's Access to
Archival Databases.
Proposed - Incentives for data
producers to create "archive-ready"
data sets.
The desktop of researchers and
administrators (Helen Tibbo, U of
Preservation: Electronic Records
“Virtual Remote Control” (Cornell University)
“a methodology and compilation of tools for
monitoring and identifying potential risks of loss of
Web-based information.”
InterPares II – (UBC, LAC, NARA,UCLA,+ ..)
“develop a theoretical understanding of the
records generated by interactive, dynamic, and
experimental systems and potential use in
scientific, government and artistic sectors”
Access
User-based assessment of EAD finding aids
(Elizabeth Yakel, U. of Michigan)
Expertise in archival reference service (Wendy
Duff, U of Toronto)
Ax-snet (Wendy Duff, Toronto, Beth Yakel,
Michigan, Helen Tibbo, North Carolina… and
practitioners and institutions)
• Generic user-based evaluation tools – improve services
and systems and evaluate impact of archival services
Access
Development of user-based evaluation tools
(Wendy Duff, Joan Cherry, - Jean Dryden, research
assistant) (U of Toronto)
The searching skills and know-how of reference
archivists (Denise Anthony – U. of Michigan)
Information seeking behaviour of historians (Helen
Tibbo, U. of North Carolina)
Why – measure impact, make the case to
your funding body that you are effective,
improve systems and services
Mellon grant to hold a three day meeting of
researchers and practitioners
Literature review and environmental scan of
current data collecting methods
Meeting began with 5 papers to set the scene
Publish papers presented at the meeting
How it might work
Modular – descriptions, exhibits, reference, education
Criteria for evaluating systems and services – practitioners
and researchers
Identify methodology – who, when, how we evaluate –
practitioners and researchers
Develop research instruments and guidelines– researchers
Test research instruments – practitioners
Revise research instruments – researchers
Use research instruments – practitioners
Data added to research database – researchers – will be
able to compare across institutions and also across time
Develop guidelines for designing interfaces, etc
Doctoral Work
Policies for the management of electronic records
(Lisa Daulby – PhD student – U of T)
Copyright (Jean Dryden, PhD student – U of T)
Notions of "archives as ritual," modernism and postmodernism as they relate to the post-colonial South
Pacific (and the Cook Islands in particular) (Melissa
Taitano – PhD student- UCLA)
Language preservation project among one local
native American community (Ruth Bayhylle - UCLA)
PhD research
How children are socialised into recordkeeping
(Ciaran Trace – PhD thesis, UCLA)
The development and adoption of the Reference
Model for an Open Archival Information System
(OAIS) (Christopher Lee – U. of Michigan)
The adoption of IT in order to improve access to
archival materials, and the factors that help or
hinder (Jihyun Kim - U of Michigan)
Trends
Research has increased over the last 10- years
Research to understand and improve current practice
– appraisal, description and reference
Research to understand impact of our current
practice on creators and/or users
Research to understand our past, and to identify
factors that influence theory, standards, and practice
Trends
Interesting PhD research
Development of technological solutions
(especially for electronic records), practical
tools and guidelines (involving institutions
and practitioners)
Collaboration - multi-institutional studies,
research across domains
Networks
Involving academic researchers,
practitioners and institutions
InterPares - International
Ax-snet – Currently North American but
hopefully evolving to include other
countries
The challenges
Researchers involved in numerous often unrelated
research areas – spread too thin
One oft projects in isolation do not necessarily build
knowledge
Large monolithic projects draw in a massive
resources but can answer larger question. Need both
large and small projects, which use different
methodologies and from different points of view.
Need to listen to the different voices
Researchers and practitioners –
different goals and objectives
Archival researchers
Conduct original research; work on interesting questions;
based on a conceptual framework; add to the body of
knowledge; discover something new; get published.
Sometimes ideas proven wrong – this is acceptable.
Research findings do not need to result in practical solutions.
Archival practitioners
Practical solutions, cost-effective, efficient
methods. Improve practice.
Interest in the past, want discover something new,
perhaps wish to publish.
Challenges
If we focus only on immediate problems
will not lay the ground work needed to
answer larger questions
If we only address theoretical questions
research not seen as useful
Challenges
Research takes time. Time to conduct
the research but even more time to
analyze the data and discover the
trends.
Funds. Difficult to come by in sufficient
amounts.
Challenges
Interdisciplinary research necessary for
electronic records research but difficult
to work on interdisciplinary teams
Research framework
“a research framework can provide the
structure for a series of smaller, practical
projects that build on each other’s results,
contribute to an understanding of broader
issues, and yield cumulative results from what
might otherwise be disparate efforts.”[1]
[1] Margaret Hedstrom, “Understanding Electronic Incunabula” A
Framework for Research on Electronic Records,” American Archivists
54(Summer 1991): 339.
Why should practitioners conduct
research?
Measure impact, improve services etc.
Solutions to electronic records problems
Understand what works and what does not
Understand our theories, our practice, our
profession, our institutions, and ourselves
Why?
Its fun!!!