Hugh, I agree with some of the things you suggest and challenge.  However,
regarding the ICRM; the purpose of the ICRM is to:

<snip>

The Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM) is an international
certifying organization of and for professional records and information
managers. The ICRM was incorporated in 1975 to meet the requirement to have
a standard by which persons involved in records and information management
could be measured, accredited and recognized according to criteria of
experience and capability established by their peers.

The primary mission of the ICRM is to develop and administer the
professional certification of Records and Information Managers including
the relevant examinations and certification maintenance program.
<snip>


The ICRM has stuck very close to their core mission.  I support that.  If
one goes back to the origins of the ICRM it is very clear why the ICRM
sticks very close to their primary mission.    Here is the history: (the
author is an extremely intelligent and articulate dude; handsome too)


<snip>

To understand why the Institute of Certified Records Managers was
established, we must first learn about the early records-related
professional associations.



The Warren Filing Association was founded in Chicago in 1917 during World
War I.  The

Chicago Filing Association was established in 1932.  Several of the
chapters consisted primarily of file personnel.  The Records Management
Association of Chicago was incorporated in 1952.  In 1957, the Records
Management Association of Chicago was reincorporated as the Chicago Chapter
of the American Records Management Association.



The Filing Association of New York was founded in 1920 in New York City.  In
the early 1950s the organization was renamed as the Records Management
Association of New York, which was incorporated in 1955.



Twelve records managers in New York formed the Association of Records
Executives and Administrators (AREA) in 1955.  At that time, some believed
that the other records-related organizations were centered too much on
filing and retrievals, and not enough on the management aspects of records.
AREA membership increased steadily, and other chapters were chartered in
the mid 1960s.



The American Records Management Association (original ARMA) was established
by Jack Britt, records manager of Ford Motor Company.  Mr. Britt organized
the original ARMA by bringing together a number of chapters from the
Records Management Association of Chicago, and from the Records Management
Association of New York.



In 1972 the original ARMA produced and distributed a brochure announcing
that a certification program by examination would be established.  The
principal motivation for certification was to establish a strong
professional standing, raise the professional level, and to recognize that
a person certified as a records manager had broad professional experience
in the field.



An ARMA committee was established to develop the certification process.  Olive
Surgen was chair, and Charles Garrison, David Goodman, and Mary Robek were
some of the original members.  The first examination was given in the Fall
of 1974, with disastrous results.  None of the candidates taking the
examination passed.



Some Association of Records Executives and Administrators (AREA) members
felt that the certification would be limited to members of ARMA.  A
decision was made to develop a separate and completely independent
certification organization to represent both ARMA and AREA.  The American
Records Management Association and the Association of Records Executives
and Administrators each appointed five members to the unnamed certification
organization.  Thornton Mitchell, Stanley Gordon, Bill Benedon, Mary Robek,
and Bill Rofes were appointed as representatives by the American Records
Management Association.  Joe Pomrenze, Ruth Thomas, Kay Mutchler, Dudley
Judd, and Mark Koenig were named to represent the Association of Records
Executives and Administrators.



Bill Benedon and Thornton Mitchell were assigned the task of drafting
by-laws for consideration by the Board.  Thornton reported that Bill
developed the draft.  The committee members, plus Ben Oliver, Charles
Garrison, and David Goodman met for the first time in New York on January 6
and 7, 1975.  AREA President Ben Oliver presided at the meeting.  ARMA
President Gerry Brown was supposed to co-preside at the meeting, but was
not able to attend.  The group examined the Benedon draft by-laws almost
word for word.  Ruth Thomas had been designated secretary pro-tem and both
she and Bill Benedon took notes.  Thornton Mitchell also took notes. Ruth
and Bill met until late in the evening (about 2 AM) to develop a version of
the by-laws upon which the Board could take final action on the next day.  On
several occasions that evening, Thornton Mitchell was called upon to come
meet with them.  Ruth then developed a “final” draft version of the
by-laws.



On January 7, the Board met again, reviewed and approved the by-laws with
some modifications, and established fees and annual dues.  Officers were
elected.  Bill Benedon was nominated for President but declined because he
had been asked to serve as Program Chair for the next annual ARMA
meeting.  Bill
Rofes was then elected President, Joe Pomrenze was elected Vice President,
Ruth Thomas was elected Secretary, and Thornton Mitchell was elected
Treasurer. The original by-laws called for the leader’s title to be
Chairman, but Mary Robek objected that the title was sexist.  Thornton
Mitchell objected to using the term Chairperson to designate the leader of
the ICRM, so the title on his motion was changed to President.



Joe Pomrenze suggested naming the organization the Institute of Certified
Records Managers.  It is believed that the Board referred to themselves as
“Regents” because both ARMA and AREA had Boards of  “Directors.”



There were no major disagreements among members of the group.  An early
agreement was that there would be two initial means of certification–by
examination and ‘by review’, which was the term applied to certification on
the basis of review of the candidate’s education and specific professional
experience.  The draft by-laws proposed that candidates by examination and
review would be required to have a college degree.  There was some
disagreement on this point.  The U.S. Civil Service standards at that time
both for archivists and analysts permitted the substitution of two years
experience for one year of college, and eight years of professional
experience was considered the equivalent of a degree.  After considerable
discussion, the Board agreed on either a degree or eight years of
professional records management experience as a requirement.  The Board had
no difficulty in agreeing on three years of professional experience as a
prerequisite to take the examinations.  The board also agreed that the
experience had to be gained in multiple areas of records management, and
that clerical work was not qualifying experience.



The Board had no significant disagreement on certification by review. It
was believed that to establish credibility the organization had to include
the best in the records management profession.  It was established that the
certification by review would have the most stringent requirement.
Certification by review required ten years of high-standard professional
experience, an appropriate college degree or eight additional years of
experience, and for the candidate to have published.   This is a normal
process for new certification organizations.  The certification by review
was open for two years. Over three hundred candidates applied for
certification by review, and each one was individually considered.   Two
hundred forty seven candidates were approved by review.



The original agreement between The American Records Management Association
and the Association of Records Executives and Administrators provided that
the first ten Regents, Benedon, Rofes, Mitchell, Pomrenze, Thomas, Gordon,
Koenig, Robek, Mutchler, and Judd would be automatically certified.  The
ten Regents agreed, in order to avoid criticism, that they would each
qualify for certification by review.



The ICRM Board of Regents met for the second time in Washington D.C. in
March of 1975.  At that time the first certifications by review were
approved.  One early disagreement involved certifications by review for
Records Management educators.  The disagreements were resolved by requiring
submissions of course outlines and syllabi. The first CRM examinations were
administered in the fall of 1975.   It is reported that when Bill Benedon
became Vice-President, the ICRM Board turned their full attention to
improving the contents of the examinations.

The ICRM Board voted to incorporate in North Carolina.  Thornton Mitchell
managed the process and was helped by friends who worked in the Office of
the NC Secretary of State.  The total cost of incorporation was $28,
including recording fees.  Thornton continued on the Board as the ICRM
Treasurer until the end of 1978.



The American Records Management Association and the Association of Records
Executives and Administrators merged in 1975 and became the Association of
Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA), as it is still known today.  The
need for a records management professional standard and a certification
organization brought two professional associations together, as well as
establishing the ICRM.

<snip>


--
Best regards, Steve
Steven D. Whitaker, CRM
On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 2:43 PM, Hugh Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> In my opinion............
>
> <snip>
> I thought the ICRM could play a role but their only role is to promote
> people becoming a CRM??  What is the point if there are no effective
> Standards that define the core principles.
> <snip>
> <snip>
> The ICRM should have some core mission; other than to solicit more
> members. They should stand for something.  Imagine the bully pulpit if
> Press Releases came out stating that: “The ICRM reiterated their core
> position that records in storage must comply with the effective design
> standards (NFPA 232, NFPA 1600, NFPA etc) and these standards define that
> records in storage must stored in a manner: 1)  that allows effective
> searches for records 2) with a guaranteed success assured in finding any
> record collection classified; and 3) systems that will maintain these
> associated records for their required retention period. Furthermore these
> records should be stored in environmental conditions that will certify that
> the records will retain their evidentiary quality for their required life
> span. Claims by those who state that records need not be protected
> adequately because others in similar industries do not provide protection
> is a ridiculous statement given the many standards which e!
>  xist defining appropriate records management procedure.”
>
> <snip> ICRM is really the only hope for a credible voice.  It is where you
> best knowledge base resides. Also if you took this role, it would encourage
> more RM’s to become CRM’s because you would be joining the
> Brotherhood/Sisterhood of accurate records management technology.
> <snip>
>
>
>
> Your thoughts?
>
>
> Hugh Smith
> FIRELOCK Fireproof Modular Vaults
> [log in to unmask]
>
> List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
> Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
> To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already
> present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the
> message.
> mailto:[log in to unmask]
>

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]