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Re: Certification Discussion



I am not a certified archivists and I have never felt it necessary to become a certified archivist or encourage anyone else to take the exam to be a certified archivist.  In spite of this, I am a very self confident person who is active and involved in professional activities and who is shown respect and dignity by my fellow archivists and by those with whom I work on this campus.  I regularly apply for and am often given grant funds to do projects; I serve on state and national committees; and my Archives has grown a huge amount under my leadership. I am even fairly well paid by an administration that continuously encourages and praises my efforts.

With this said I find it difficult to believe that anyone would think that one exam would "(1) it shows you have the self-confidence to test your knowledge against a consensus national standard; and (2) it shows that you give a damn."

I give a damn about what I do and about my professional reputation.  When I present at conferences I am expressing an opinion that I do not mind being challenged because I think it lives up to national standards. I simply have not been given any clear reason to take an exam which tests a very small portion of my work and which would do nothing to help me in this work. I know the stuff. I show I know the stuff by running an archives efficiently. I have degrees. I have taken a lot of exams. One more exam won't help me and has not thus far done much for the profession.

If some people want to take the exam and apply for a job at this archives, it will be given consideration as another indicator of interest. But frankly when I'm seeking to fill a position at this archives I would rather have someone with an MLS, to understand the technology needed, and a MA in History to understand the work we do.  When the exam can test not only on how to memorize a limited amount of theory on how to file things, but also a person's ability to work in the subject matter of the archives where they hope to work (in my case, History) then I will consider it worth taking and considering.

Thank you.

Cecilia Aros Hunter
Archivist
Texas A&M University-Kingsville
South Texas Archives & Special Collections
James C. Jernigan Library
MSC 197
Kingsville, TX 78363
phone: 361-593-4154 or 361-593-2776
fax; 361-593-2240
e-mail: kacah00@tamuk.edu

Lee Miller wrote:

In the interest of full disclosure, I?m president of the Academy of Certified Archivists, but this is not an official Academy response to the recent listserv postings. These are my own ramblings. I don?t want to respond to every point, but two issues arose that are interests of mine and I?d like to briefly offer my perspective on those.

First, why take the archival certification examination? For reasons I won?t bore you with here (but that involve the Academy spending a great deal of time and money with a professional psychometrician statistically analyzing not only every year?s test, and not only every question on every year?s test, but every option of every question on every year?s test), I?m convinced the test is a solid certification examination. It?s not doctoral comps. It?s not an end of semester exam. It?s not a pop quiz. It is a certification examination, which has a different mission, a different purpose, and a different methodology based on long accepted systematic practices, both professional and legal, in the testing field.

But even though the Academy can prove that every year?s exam accurately and fairly tests for what it was intended to test, to me, that is not the most important reason to take it. I think more important reasons for taking the exam are: (1) it shows you have the self-confidence to test your knowledge against a consensus national standard; and (2) it shows that you give a damn. That is, it shows that you have the personal initiative to fill out the aggravating paperwork, catch up on your reading, travel to an exam site (often at significant personal expense), sit down in a room full of strangers and put your knowledge on the line. The opportunity at a professional level to express, in such a concrete way, that kind of initiative, self-confidence, and faith in your own abilities, and to do so in a forum governed by the highest professional psychometric and testing standards, is very rare. I see no benefit in letting it pass by.

The other question was why pass the test, and then take it again several years later? Because the certification examination is the archival profession?s most important self-evaluation tool. As someone explained, you don?t have to take the test again to recertify. You can choose instead to recertify by petition, which is the archival profession?s only system for recognizing your participation in activities that help you keep up with the field. 

But instead of dealing with the petition paperwork, you can opt to take the test again, and that is what I encourage people to do. Simply taking the test, seeing how it has changed since you last took it, reading new questions and thinking about what changes in technology, theory, or practice motivated those questions, reviewing your score report and learning in which areas you were stronger, all of those are invaluable self-evaluation opportunities.

Few professions have strong self-evaluation tools. Archivists are fortunate to have one based on consistent standards and created according to a systematic, professional, validated process. I see no benefit in letting it pass by.

For information about the Academy, including how the test is constructed, how to qualify to take it, how to hold the examination in your hometown, you are welcome to visit the Academy?s web site at www.certifiedarchivists.org

Lee

==--00--==

Leon C. Miller, Manuscripts Librarian

Special Collections, Jones Hall, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library

Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118

Ph: 504-865-5685, Fx: 504-865-5761

Leon.Miller@tulane.edu

http://specialcollections.tulane.edu

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