Very interesting.  Thank you Peter for bringing this to a space for greater depth of discussion.

I fell into the RIM/Archives professions with almost no training/experience - beyond having been forced into being a departmental records coordinator six years prior.  I figured I had a basic understanding of what RM was and applied for a job as a municipal records administrator/archivist.  That was 1996 and I am happy that I chose a career change then.  There was no impediment to entry and acceptance into the fields that I experienced.

I attended NARA's Modern Archives Institute to gain knowledge and skills in the archives field, joined MARAC and attended numerous conferences, joined ARMA, and actively participated in activities put on by the Library of Virginia (they administer/guide the regulation of municipal records management and archival programs in the Commonwealth).  Many archivist I spoke with at times found it interesting when I told of helping dispose of hundreds of boxes of records the day before heading to an archival conference.

I have since moved on to roles mostly in records and information management and information governance consulting, but have great appreciation for the role archivists play in private and public entities.  There should be less of a, if not no, demarcation between the programs.  All should cooperate to form a cradle to grave (or archive) lifecycle of all records and information (and data).  There are some special needs for skills, such as long-term digital preservation, but overall the fields are not as far apart as some believe.

If one plans to move up in the fields, additional training and certification (note I have taken this path) are very useful, as is continuing education.

Tod Chernikoff, CRM, IGP, CIP
Silver Spring MD 
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www.twitter.com/tchernik 

>>> These comments are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my family, friends, employer or any other organization I am associated with. <<<

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