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Re: CA and Jobs



1/15/02

Dean--

      I had promised myself that I would let the CA discussion/thread go, I just had to respond to your CA and jobs message.  Thanks for your comment regarding hiring archivists.  While your point about the restraints on the job search process is a very good one--i.e. recruiting archivists through existing employment channels often prevents employers from specifying "CA only," that was not the point that I was trying to make.  My observation was simply that the CA designation is neither mentioned nor requested as a desirable qualification--not that it is listed as "CA only."

        If the designation is valued at all, wouldn't employers just promote it in their listings as desirable?  I am familiar with SAA job listings over the past 2 years because I have listed a position in my department and have reviewed similar positions nationwide.  As I have mentioned before, from the job listings I have reviewed in the past couple of years, nearly 99% of archival jobs listed both in SAA's Employment Bulletin or on the archives listserv do not mention or ask for CA as a desirable qualification.

       (p.s.The "Colin Powell does not have a Ph.d" analogy for a university president job search is really sobering reminder to our profession. We all know that the Archivist of the U.S. and the Librarian of Congress are usually political appointees and are not trained archivists or trained librarians.  I am only pointing this out because as many, many others have pointed out over the years--what does *that* say about our struggles for professionalism or status and prestige in both the archives and library professions if the most prestigious institutions in our respective fields do not require our educational qualifying credentials??)          
                                                             Lucinda

Lucinda Manning
UFT Archives & Records Center
United Federation of Teachers
260 Park Ave. South
NY, NY   10010
212-598-9213