Peter Kurilecz said:

>conversely there is no requirement that the Librarian of Congress hold an
>MLS or have any experience running a library in order to hold that
>position.

Just as with the Librarian of Congress, the Archivist position has no
requirement to have experience in archives or records management either.

Mr. Weinstein is a research historian.  Guess which group uses NARA's
facitilies more than any other (beside geneologists); historians.  Next to
the Citizen, research historians are the most important customer of NARA;
Mr. Weinstein understands that side.

Some will argue that the position shouldn't be politisized.  Unfortunately,
that's not very realistic.  The Archivist needs to have political experience
in order to deal with Congress (money and relationships), the President,
famalies of presidents (the Libraries) and the miriad of other constituants
that he or she has to deal with. One of Mr. Carlin's greatest qualities was
that he understood the political landscape within D.C. and dealt with it.

Where NARA needs the experience archivists and records managers is at the
senior/mid-level positions within the organization; the Assistant
Archivists, Regional Administrators, Asst Reg Administrators, etc.

Bruce L. White, CRM, PMP

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