Articles

Graduate Archival Education and the Professional Market: Perspectives on Data and Data Gathering

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Abstract

In recent years, the United States archival community has been striving to build a rigorous and recognized interdisciplinary foundation for graduate archival programs that is also responsive to emerging aspects of archival theory and practice. Such efforts have failed to achieve optimal results, however, because they have lacked the knowledge that can be constructed by employing a systems perspective and strategically gathered data. This paper examines data published over the past decade relating to the state of archival placement and the educational base of members of the archival profession, together with previously unpublished data gathered from a survey of archival educators and recent graduates of archival education programs. The author finds that these data, while suggestive, are able to provide little more than static, decontextualized snapshots. She suggests how a systems approach might be applied to identify and understand the complexity of the systems of which archival education is a part, thus yielding knowledge that could be used in the strategic development of archival education.

How to Cite:

Gilliland-Swetland, A. J., (1998) “Graduate Archival Education and the Professional Market: Perspectives on Data and Data Gathering”, Archival Issues 23(2), 91–115. doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/archivalissues.10868