GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE

SIMMONS COLLEGE

LIS 442: ESTABLISHING ARCHIVES AND MANUSCRIPTS PROGRAMS

Spring 2009

Jeannette A. Bastian. LIS 442. Mon. 6-9 pm

Office Hours : Thursday 1-3 pm. and by appointment

Phone, email: (617) 521-2808 ; bastian@simmons.edu

Purpose of the Course: Developing a knowledge base that encompasses a variety of management competencies around sustaining an archives is vital for archivists who often work in small one or two person repositories and who face the challenges of establishing new repositories. This course is designed to acquaint students with the basic management functions of planning, organizing, staffing, and directing in the context of an archival facility. In addition to analyzing the management needs of archival facilities, the course is intended to help provide understanding of human interactions in the workplace and develop the practical problem-solving skills needed to handle managerial problems professionally. It will focus on understanding management theories, developing strategic plans, locating and pursuing sources of funding, marketing and outreach, understanding the physical and intellectual resources of an archival facility and sustaining program growth. The class will examine these issues within the context of different types of archives (i.e. government, academic, historical societies).

Learning Outcomes:

• Analyze, synthesize, & communicate information and knowledge in a variety of formats.
• Recognize existing & potential problems in a workplace & devise strategies to resolve them.
• Apply relevant research studies to tasks requiring problem solving & critical thinking.
• Demonstrate leadership abilities.
• Respond to diversity among individuals & communities through policies, collections, & services.

Additional Course Outcomes:

· Understand the elements in developing and maintaining a viable archives or manuscripts program specifically in the areas of leadership, human resource management, financial management, policy formulation and resource allocation.

· Be able to analyze weaknesses and strengths of archival programs.

· Go through a strategic planning process for an archival institution

Students must satisfactorily meet all the requirements described in the syllabus. Extenuating circumstances or other valid reasons for not making up the course assignments will be considered by the instructor, but the student will be required to provide evidence of the severity of the circumstances preventing the student from completing the assignments. Unexcused late submissions of assignments will lead to a half reduction in your grade each day the assignment is late.

The Academic Support Center (ASC) at http://my.simmons.edu/academics/asc/ offers writing tutors and will help students with learning challenges. Reasonable accommodations will be provided for students with documented physical, sensory, systemic, cognitive learning and psychiatric disabilities. If you have a disability and anticipate that you will need a reasonable accommodation in this class, it is important that you contact the Director of the Academic Support Center at 617-521-2471 early in the semester. Students with disabilities are also encouraged to contact their instructors to discuss their individual needs for accommodations.

Students should be aware that Simmons follows a College Honor Code. It can be found at http://my.simmons.edu/gslis/resources/student-info/honor-code.shtml

Assignments:

1. Grant writing: Final Due April 27.

Students will write a grant for a project at an institution of their choice utilizing the grant forms and guidelines from the National Historical Publication and Records Commission. Class time and class assistance will be given to this project. Drafts of the grants will be presented to the class and will be reviewed and critiqued by fellow students on April 13. The final grant will be due on April 27.

2. Management Study: Due April 6.

Conduct a Management Study of an Archive that fits into a specific category (i.e. Academic/Institutional Archives; Academic/Special Collection; Historical Society; Government; Corporate; Museum Archives; Public Library/Special Collection; Institutional/Other). The study should include an interview with the Archivist as well as an interview with the Archivist’s supervisor if the Archives is part of a larger unit (for example, if the Archives is in a Library, then both the Archivist and the Library Director should be interviewed.

Prepare a paper that analyzes the management attributes of this Archives as well as the leadership philosophy and management style of the Archivist and if appropriate, of the Archivist’s supervisor. A Management Study is an analysis of the archives management; it requires an assessment of leadership and management practices (possibly in the context of theories and best practices) with supporting examples, conclusions, rationale. The style of this written assignment is a formal and professional business management report, not a research paper.

Select an Archives of your choice and an alternative; obtain the concurrence of your instructor for your study of one of these archives. Contact the Archivist to obtain his/her willingness and permission for your study and an interview. Start by collecting information about the archives infrastructure that will provide background for your analysis, preferably before the interviews. You will need to identify the materials that will assist you in understanding and analyzing the archives; these may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Description of the Archives e.g., collections, physical plant (square feet, number of seats, etc); technology, types of access and other services etc.
• Description of the Archives governance and reporting structure; How does it relate to its parent institution.
• Information about the Archive’s environmental context; e.g., clientele, users, geo-political area, institutional size, etc.
• Mission, strategic plan and goals;
• Organizational chart, staffing, some of the job descriptions and staff competencies
• Financial resources and support
• Outreach activities
• Other?

Your analysis of the management infrastructure of the selected archives should be the main body of your written report/paper. Your Management Study should include focused information, based on the materials you collected above, and your analysis of:

• A brief descriptive overview of the Archives for the uninformed reader
• Description and analysis of Archives planning
• Description and analysis of Archives governance, reporting, and organization
• Description of Archives staffing and analysis of at least one aspect of Archives human resources
• Additionally, include your perspective on any other topics that we are addressing in class that are of particular interest to you or are particularly significant in the archives you are studying, such as organizational culture, how the archives is managing change and the current economic climate, decision-making, group processes, financing, assessment and measurement, collaboration, communicating, marketing, advocacy, etc.

Be sure to include examples and references to appended material when illustrating points of your analysis; Appendices should be used for primary and supporting materials. This is a business analysis, not a research paper; however, it is very appropriate to cite theories and literature that we have studied in class (please limit yourself to our class literature; do not conduct a literature search).

Prior to the interview with the Archivist and, if appropriate, the Archivist’s supervisor develop a list of questions designed to elicit the director’s leadership philosophy and management style (the instructor will review your questions in advance, upon request); attach the questions as an appendix to the report/paper. For archives that are part of a parent organization, questions should include how each unit manages the relationship and what the difficulties may be.. Your Management Study should include your analysis of the Archivist’s leadership philosophy and management style.

Evaluative Criteria:

• The selection of background documents and data that describe the organization
• The quality of the interview questions
• The analysis – your assessment of the organization and the director’s leadership philosophy and management style
• Your conclusions on how your study of this organization and its leader may guide the manner in which you might manage in your career
• The professional quality of the report.

You will present a condensed version of your report to the class as part of a series of panel and will hand in the complete version after the presentation.

Grading:

Grant: 30%

Management Study and Presentation: 40%

Class Participation: 30%

Required Reading: This item is on Reserve and may also be purchased from SAA.

Michael J. Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories (Chicago: SAA, 2003).

Class Schedule:

Week 1. January 26. Introduction. Managing an Archives or Manuscripts Program. Self Assessment http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

Film. “The Abilene Paradox

Week 2. February 2. Leadership and the Archival Profession

Michael J. Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, Ch. 1. and 2.

Davis, Susan E. 2006. Part 7. A*CENSUS: Report on archival leadership. American Archivist 69, (2) (Sep 2006-Dec): 407-418

What Makes a Leader?” Harvard Business Review 82: 92-102, November/December, 1998.

Ferguson, Chris,” Whose Vision? Whose Values? On Leading Information Services in an Era of Persistent Change,” in Reflecting on Leadership, http://www.clir.org/pubs/reports/pub123/contents.html

Week 3. February 9. Grant Writing

Guest Lecturer: Jon Kimball, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs, Simmons College

Michael J. Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, pp. 209-220

February 16. Holiday. Presidents Day

Week 4. February 23. Planning, Starting An Archival Repository

Michael J. Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, Ch. 3 and 5.

Jeffrey Mifflin, "Starting a Hospital Archives and Records Management Program: A  Case Study," Records and Information Management Report, 21, (10). pp. 1-12.

Keeping Archives, 3d. edition ch. 2.

In Class: CONDUCTING STRATEGIC PLANNING. Environmental Scan and SWOT analysis http://www.mapnp.org/library/plan_dec/str_plan/str_plan.htm

: Group Strategic Planning : Greenwood University

Week 5. March 2. Human Resource Management.

Michael J. Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, Ch. 8.

“Coaching and the Art of Management, ”Organizational Dynamics 18(2): 16 – 33, Autumn, 1989

“What Every Leader Needs to Know About Followers” Harvard Business Review 85(12): 84 – 91, December, 2007

Case Studies in class

Greenwood Case cont: Staffing

March 9. Spring Break

Week 6. March 16. Human Resource Management: Lone Arrangers, Interns, Volunteers

Susan Pevar, "Success as a Lone Arranger: Setting Priorities and Getting the Job Done" Journal of Archival Organization, v. 3(1) 2005, pp. 51-60.
Richard Cox, Archives and Archivists in the Information Age, Ch. 3, and 4.
 
 
 

Guest Speakers: Jessica Steytler, Archivist, Congregational Library, Alyssa Pacy, Archivist, Leslie University

Week 7. March 23. Financial Resources. Budgets, Fund raising.

Michael Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories , Ch. 11.

Tamar Chute, “Selling the college and university archives: current outreach perspectives,” Archival Issues , 25 no. 1/2 (2000): 33-48

Paul Ericksen and Robert Shuster, “Beneficial Shocks: The Place of Processing-Cost analysis in Archival Administration,” American Archivist 58 : 32-52.

Herbert Hartsook, “By fair means if you can: a case study of raising private monies to support archival programs,” Archival Issues. 25 no. 1/2 (2000) p. 49-56.

Greenwood Case cont: Budgeting

Week 8. March 30. Outreach, Communication, Consulting

Michael J. Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories, ch. 9. 13.

C. Weir, The marketing context. Outreach: luxury or necessity? Journal of the Society of Archivists, 25 (April 2004),71-77.

Richard Cox, Richard Cox, Archives and Archivists in the Information Age ( New York: Neal Schuman, 2005), Chapter Two, “Why Organizations Need Archival Consultants”

Week 9. April 6. Types of Repositories. Management Study Due

Student Panels

Week 10. April 13. Types of Repositories contd.

April 20. Holiday. Patriots Day (Email Draft Grant to Bastian and Kimball)

Week 11. April 27. Grant Writing Reviews and Project Management

Michael J. Kurtz, Managing Archival and Manuscript Repositories Ch. 6.

Review Draft Grants with Jon Kimball

Week 12. May 4 Decision-Making, Ethics. Final Grant Submissions

Michael Cook, ”Professional ethics and practice in archives and records management in a human rights context”, Journal of the Society of Archivists, 27 (April 2006),1-15

Richard J. Cox, Barbara Meister, “Teaching About Records, Ethics, and Accountability: Three Cases,” Records and information management report, 9 (2005):2