Dear Ray, Natasha, Glenn and all
I think it is worthwhile mentioning that Australia has done considerable
work on the development of competencies, which have been completed and
in the public domain for some time. In fact, there are several
documents which have been produced which are of interest in this area.
Glenn has referred to these.
Firstly, there is a draft proposal for educational competencies,
developed by the RMAA and the ASA. It is pretty comprehensive.
In addition, there is a suite of competences that was developed by the
VET (Vocational Education and Training) sector here, which are available
from the Innovation and Business Skills Australia website
(http://www.bsitab.org/) These are being used by the RTOs (Registered
Training Organisations) in this country.
It would seem to me to be a duplication of work if ARMA were to develop
an entirely separate set of competencies: I would be extremely surprised
if this would differ substantially between the two countries, in my
experience, with the exception of laws that affect RM.
However, what concerns me most is that ARMA has not made a distinction
between training and education. A clear distinction must be made
between training in competencies (a skills-based, introductory,
technician level); education in RIM (a first professional qualification,
which outlines the professional responsibilities which respond to social
and organizational needs), continuing education (keeping up to date with
what is happening in theory and practice), and the CRM, which seems
essentially to recognize experience and training that people have got on
the job (something like an apprenticeship model, rather than formal
education).
I see a role for ARMA in the first and last of these categories: I
believe that the middle one belongs properly to accredited educational
institutions such as universities and colleges. I also understand that
the role of the CRM, as it is based on practical experience, is a useful
complement to the first task, even though it is really only recognized
in the US and Canada. Having said that, it may well have continuing
value in Majority World countries, where there is an absence of
opportunity for formal training or education in RIM, and recognition of
experience is important.
Further, ARMA should make a clear distinction between educational
offerings that provide first professional education and training (and
thus 'qualify' a person to be a RIM); continuing professional education,
such as seminars etc.,
In order to raise the educational profile of RIM as a profession at
university level, we are going to have to convince academia that RIM has
in fact emerged as a discipline in its own right. This means that there
needs to be clear identification of a body of theory that supports the
practice of RIM; that body of theory must be based on research. This is
not going to be an easy task, as I believe that there is a dearth of
research in our area at the moment.
With all due respect, the majority of articles in our core journals -
Informaa, Records Management Quarterly and our own Information
Management Journal - are largely based on practice and opinion. There
are, interestingly, a scattering of RIM research reports in other
journals.
There are several things that ARMA could do in order to encourage the
development of a theoretical base: (a) have a session/stream at
conference which addresses theoretical/educational issues; (b) publish a
'recent research' column in IMJ; (c) award a prize for a valuable
piece of research conducted by an ARMA member; (e) develop a modest
research grant, for which people could apply on perhaps an annual basis.
For this latter task, ARMA members who are already professors at a
university or college could initially assist in designing a research
proposal and guide candidates through the research process.
As a corollary to the above, a core body of knowledge (rather than
skills, or competencies) should be identified. There is no doubt that
RIM is becoming more complex; there is equally no doubt that it is an
interdisciplinary field; with the continuum theory, there is increased
recognition of the field's links with archives, in particular, but it
also draws on information science, information categorization and
access, database construction, user studies, information seeking
behaviour, systems analysis, information representation, corporate
information management, business taxonomy development, knowledge
management, competitive intelligence, and digital preservation, to name
a few.
RIM has certainly moved a long way - and has the potential to move a lot
further - from the execution of manual, carefully defined tasks such as
filing, to answering its much broader social and organizational
responsibilities. Part of the work of ARMA, as I see it, is to educate
its members in the broadest way to enable members to realize this.
Daily practitioners are, generally, often too caught up with immediate
problems to be able to step back to see the bigger picture. ARMA could
assist in this: its focus should be on continuing professional
association, rather than providing introductory classes, in my view.
In order to ensure that ARMA is recognized as an International authority
in the area of recognition of RIM educational programs, we must, from
the very beginning, ensure that not only US or Canadian programs receive
this imprimatur. A copy of the recognition criteria as defined by the
RMAA can be found on their website (www.rmaa.org.au); the ALIA web page
(www.alia.org.au) also outlines recognition procedures. You will find
the URL of the people who sell copies of the Australian competencies in
the former.
Sorry this is so long. Comments welcome.
All the best
Sue
Sue Myburgh
School of Communication, Information and New Media
University of South Australia
St Bernard's Road
Magill SA 5076
ADELAIDE
P: 618 8302 4421
F: 618 8302 4745
E; [log in to unmask]
To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for
happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.
Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880)
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Cunningham, Ray
Sent: Monday, 17 October 2005 11:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Competencies for Records and Information Professionals - Links
As some of you are aware ARMA has been working on core competencies for
RIM professionals and I have assembled some links on RIM competencies
below.
I would like to hear from those who have other similar documents,
particularly those from other countries.
The ISO standards (15489 and 23081) are also helpful.
Do any of you have any other similar documents?
Thanks to everyone for an incredible four days working on this. I know I
enjoyed it. I have always wondered what would happen if you locked up 40
records managers in a room for four days. We can finally take a needed
rest from that marathon "brain dump."
Raymond K. Cunningham, Jr. CRM, CA
Manager of Records Services
University of Illinois Foundation
Urbana IL
Special Libraries Association Competencies for Information Professionals
http://www.sla.org/content/learn/comp2003/index.cfm
Government of Canada
CDAWG Competency Development and Accreditation Working Group
http://www.imforumgi.gc.ca/products/comp/comprofile3_e.html
Canadian Libraries Association
Competencies for Information Resources Management Specialists
http://www.cla.ca/resources/competency.pdf
Knowledge and Information Management Competencies
TFPL UK firm
http://www.cla.ca/resources/competency.pdf
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