Educating the Extreme Archivist: an interview with Luciana Duranti
During her presentation called “Educating the Extreme Archivist: Is it Possible?” Luciana Duranti spoke of the challenges involved in designing a program that responds to demands placed the “extreme archivist,” the archivist of the 21st century.
These new demands include being present at the beginning of the information lifecycle, assessing the authenticity of information and monitoring it over time, identifying records for preservation, developing preservation standards, understanding intellectual property issues and developing appropriate policies, in addition to performing description, access and dissemination functions. She also emphasized the importance of research and development divisions in institutions.
Most graduates of North American archival programs today will not get jobs as a typical archivist, Prof. Duranti explained. More and more employers are calling for professionals qualified to work in specialized domains like medical and financial recordkeeping, digital preservation, etc. The extreme archivist therefore must have a solid grounding in archival principles, but should also be given the opportunity to specialize in order to respond to this growing demand.
I spoke with Prof. Duranti afterwards to follow up on her ideas for the extreme archivist entering the workforce today.
What is the demand for the extreme archivist?
There is an enormous demand, it’s unbelievable! Looking at job postings today it’s amazing how specific they are. For example, one posting from the World Bank asked that the applicant have taken courses in financial records, so we added one to our program.
How can a program respond to the needs both for specialization and flexibility, given that professionals today will likely have more than 10 jobs in a career?
Flexibility and specialization aren’t incompatible. The model of the University of British Columbia allows for this by combining core requirements, electives, and a specialization. It also gives students the possibility to pursue a dual degree.
You spoke about the importance of communicating with fields outside archives, and mentioned that archivists should raise awareness for their profession by writing in the journals of other professions. What are some other ways we might do so?
It’s important to get students involved in research, to attend and present at conferences and to hold trans-disciplinary colloquia, as the Association of Canadian Archivists Student Chapter at UBC has done. The key is research that spans fields.
