Accreditation Discussion is Happening - the Beginning

The discussion is continuing and a new beginning is upon us in the journey for the possible accreditation of archival graduate education programs by the archival profession. Some background . . .

Earlier this week those of us who signed the petition to SAA Council calling for a task force to be appointed to study the issue of the accreditation of archival graduate education programs by SAA were emailing and someone asked something to the effect of "what is this subcommittee doing." See, some of the petitioners were upset that we had heard nothing about this subcommittee of the Committee on Education and were worried the issue was just going to die in committee. So I took it upon myself to make the bold move of contacting committee chair Donna McCrea and ask her about the committees intentions and timeline. This afternoon we had a very nice phone conversation and these are my notes from that conversation.

Members of subcommittee: Katie Salzmann (chair), Donna McCrea, Patricia Galloway, Amy Cooper-Cary. Note here: I'm surprised my newly adopted state has two members. Ha!!!

What is the committee going to be doing and what is the timeline: From now until November the committee will be gathering all kinds of information to get a handle on what accreditation is, how it is done in other professions, how much it costs, and how the processes are changing in the present. Then from November to February the committee is planning on putting together a preliminary proposal to make to the Committee on Education at is February meeting. The committee (if it agrees or adopts this proposal) will then work together to put together a formal proposal to make to Council for their early summer (May/June) meeting and then Council will decide whether to place the item before the membership or do whatever.

I have to admit that Donna McCrea is a peacemaker, something we need at times in our profession. She has converted me. After speaking with her for nearly an hour, I am sure that she is the right person to lead this investigation (though she is not subcommittee chair) and she has promised (and I believe her) that she will be publicizing the committee's efforts. This will be unlike some other committees and task forces in SAAs past, most notably the one that produced the report that created the big Brew-ha-ha about saving the history of the A&A listserv (note: that task force was secret in membership and made its decision without publicizing what they were doing).

The accreditation subcommittee will probably have a blog or wiki or something like that for placing its deliberations, documents they find and are given and produce, and generally letting the membership know what is going on. For those of us who are concerned about this issue, on whatever side, need to give this subcommittee some slack and let them do their job while we watch over them from a discreet distance.

Right now the subcommittee is looking for documents and stories (anecdotal or scientific) on why accreditation is warranted or not warranted, why it will be useful or not useful to archivists, and who will benefit or not and why if accreditation takes place. I want to call upon my readers to comment on this blog about such things. Do you have a story you want to share about a job you did not get because you have an MA in history but no MLS and were told an accredited MLS was the only way to get a job as an archivist (I have one of those)? If so, or any story or anecdote that will help or hurt accreditation, please share it here.

Although there are only four members of this subcommittee, they want input from everyone who is willing to give it. Please give that input. Anything you share here or to the subcommittee is welcomed. I was told this and I believe it.