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Article in Chronicle of Higher Ed



I think this article requires careful reading.  My take is that the author
took a (salaried/support) staff/non professional position in an academic
setting; not a professional position.  Though she seems to have engaged in
outreach activities and has advanced academic degrees, she doesn't seem to
have been given administrative/managerial responsibilities for a full blown
archival program.  There are many professional status jobs for archivists in
academic settings that require the same career advancement, professional
development, and peer review for promotion processes demanded of teaching
faculty.

Sounds to me like the redhot sensitive issue of professional vs.
"non-professional" status for workers in libraries.

The job titles and repository jargon sound very confused:
"A library archives at a neighboring university was looking for a curator to
manage its historical photograph collection, in addition to some
accessioning and bibliographic work. "

"During my orientation to the job, the head of the archives had walked me
through the cavernous basement, explaining day-to-day operations and my role
in the department."

"But after a year in the position, I still had no idea how the archives
functioned at its most basic level. When, what, and how archival materials
were acquired (other than donations) and who goes out into the field to get
them were secrets to which I was not privy."

" I don't really know what the archive's professors do all day long. Library
administrators minimized collegiality and interaction between faculty and
staff members by maintaining separate lunch hours and break times for each
group."

The woman says her previous work experience was summer jobs between college
and the brief teaching stint.  I think she doesn't understand job
descriptions.

--
L. Rebecca Johnson Melvin
Special Collections
University of Delaware Library
Newark, DE  19717-5267
(302) 831-6089
(302) 831-1046 FAX
lrjm@udel.edu

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