Hello everyone,
I have been intrigued by the discussion about a peer reviewed journal in
records management. As a library and archives graduate student, and one of
this year's recipients of the AIEF scholarship, I think a peer reviewed
publication is very much needed. From a student's perspective, it has been
difficult to find in-depth resources on the RM issues. While it is true that
there is currently a lack of academic programs entirely dedicated to records
management, there are many academic courses offered at graduate level on
this discipline, and I do not think this should be used as an argument
against a peer reviewed publication. Indeed, it has been my experience that
fellow students (including the one who has just graduated with the first PhD
thesis on RM and who has won a tenure track professorship to teach RM at
Toronto), professors, and professionals in the field have much to discuss
that needs an academic journal as a forum and would subscribe and contribute
to such a journal. Further, although RM has been considered the archival or
library step-child, I see the field growing at an exponential rate and can
attest to the fact that the archival and library graduates who have focused
on RM are in great demand. How can an academic program in RM flourish
without scholarly literature supporting it?
In terms of logistics, I think that it is ARMA's responsibility to spearhead
this process. If ARMA is looking to the next generation as future members
and leaders in the association, then ARMA must provide a forum where the
theoretical and the practical issues can be critically discussed and
debated. RM already has a community of thinkers and prolific writers, but
their writings are dispersed among a very large number of peer-reviewed
journals in several allied disciplines. The way I see it, the only thing
stopping us from coming together and publishing in a peer reviewed RM
journal is us. The choice is ours to make, and as a future professional, I
hope the current generation of leaders will see beyond the practical
challenges of publishing and continue to push the RM towards a higher level
of professionalism.
Thanks for reading,
Jenny
Jennifer Borland
MAS/MLIS Candidate
School of Library, Archival and Information Studies
University of British Columbia, Canada
-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
Of J. Michael Pemberton
Sent: December-02-09 7:17 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Professional RM journals
After 32 years of professoring, 10 years as executive editor of IMJ, and 10
years as Contributing Editor of Records Management Quarterly. Also chair of
Education and of Publications Committees of ARMA.
First, ARMA per se should not field a peer review journal because there is
inadequate scholarly structure and rationale to support it. To even be
considered the journal requires several steps to taken *before* the journal:
1. An adequate number of undergraduates and masters students majoring in RM
(not business administration or archives management with a group of 3-4
courses) and a full-dress focused program with 35 to 42 course hours, not
3-4 classes. Then, doctoral programs in records management will rise across
the land.
2. Then, an adequate number of Ph.D.-carrying RM scholars (name one) are
looking for places to publish their research.
3. Departments; a number of them with good enrollment and multiple levels of
degrees.
I've never seen one scintilla of evidence that readers without doctoral
degrees care about scholarly writing (meaning research); and, by the way,
how many RM PhDs are there (name one)?
A peer-reviewed journal does not sui generis create academic programs; it is
created from programs as above that precede it. Name one other discipline
without significant academic presence. First, then, there must be enough
existing Ph.D. professors of records management.
It is not ARMA that must create and own the peer-review journal. It might
be a large supporter, but the program and journal will more likely be housed
in a large prestigious records management department (name one). They also
run the journal processes. And most peer review journals carry little or no
advertising--who's going to pay for this?
IMJ, by the way, published more articles by professors than did RMQ, but
that's what came in over the transom.
Best,
Mike
J. Michael Pemberton, MLS, Ph.D., CRM, FAI
Certifed Records Manager
Professor Emeritus
Information Management Associates, Inc.
10515 Raven Court
Knoxville, TN 37922
865-919-5878 (Cell)
865-693-8907 Fax
[log in to unmask]
http://www.theimpros.com
http://www.linkedin/in/jmichaelpemberton
Putting Records Straight (SM)
https://www.sis.utk.edu/user/131
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