Brief description of the CLIS program in archives, records and information management
Our approach at CLIS is to affirm the value of traditional archives & records management concepts and methods while also borrowing insights and techniques from other information professions, suitable for the rapidly changing record-keeping environments our students will encounter in their careers.
Here are a few key themes articulated at a conference, organized by Dr. Bruce Dearstyne in Nov. 1997, of experts in the field which guided the development of our new curriculum:
* Archives, records management, and related information fields are changing and evolving rapidly. Boundaries between formerly distinct fields are blurring or dissolving. Professional fields are converging. It's impossible to totally separate the education of archivists from the education of other information professionals because of common issues and common needs.
* Information technology, electronic information systems, and electronic records are central transformational forces. They are raising issues of transcending importance that practically every archivist, records manager, and related information professional will need to deal with in the future. In fact, because of their importance and critical nature, they tend to overshadow other, more traditional archival and records management concerns.
* Leadership, administration, and supervisory skills are essential for professionals in this field, even if they work in small to modest sized institutions. They need to understand how to develop policy, set direction, make plans, respond to changing needs, supervise people, and generally move the enterprise along. "Management" was one of the central themes of the conference.
* Our educational offerings also need to provide a grounding in communication, analytical, coping, and practical management skills. Students need an understanding of how to analyze problems, assess alternatives and options, make reasoned judgements, work with other people, take team approaches, and generally how to get things done in complex institutions and organizations. The conference attendees frequently used terms like "real life", "real world", "getting things done", and "business approach" to convey this sense.
My research interests: user requirements for electronic recordkeeping systems; social informatics & recordkeeping; management of accountability in organizations; computer-based personal information management.