I have
been contemplating this issue as well. I was finishing up my MLS
degree when certification was just beginning, but I was opposed to taking
the exam. My view point at the time was that I had just spent two
years of my life earning a degree - working in jobs and internships preparing
for my career as an archivist - and now I have to take an exam to prove I
am a real archivist through certification. I wasn't going to do
that.
I
recently was asked to take the certification exam by my employer in an effort to
standardize and raise the professional standard at our institution. I
agreed to take the exam for those reasons alone - because our institution does
not require a masters degree - and I thought the standardization of
certification would help the entire agency. As an agency, we were able to
conduct study sessions which I think were extremely helpful to everyone and
provided an outlet for discussion about the operation of our archives.
Studying for the exam also cemented many things I had learned through my
archives classes. Since I wasn't a practicing archivist when I was in
school, the ideas discussed in the literature were more abstract. Reading
the books now, as a professional, helped me realize the fundamental aspects of
the work I do every day.
Having
taken the exam (and passed), I am still *mostly* opposed to it for several
reasons. I do not believe it really tests experience or knowledge. I
did worst on the sections in which I have - by far - the most
experience and I did best on the section in which I have the least
experience. Having studied at least four hours a week for 8 months, I
do not believe anything I learned directly helped me on the
test. While I value the things I learned or relearned in
the time I spent studying, I don't think it helped me on the test at
all.
In a
perfect world, I think it would be most meaningful for an archives
organization to certify a series of masters degree programs - AND offer the
test. In this world, people could go to school in specific pre-approved
archivally certified areas at certified schools - and archivists
who have been in the field for a long time could also become certified through
some kind of exam and some formula based on their years of experience,
knowledge base, etc... I worry that the archives community is focusing too
much attention on this test, and not enough on formal education. As it
stands now, I feel that programs offering archival education classes
are essential, but they are not receiving the respect they deserve.
The education can -- and is -- being replaced with a test.
I also worry that people who are hiring archivists (people who are not familiar
with the field) rely only on certification rather than education and breadth and
depth of experience.
Val
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