iSchools building on the strengths found in the convergence of librarianship, archival, and museum studies to improve the education of managing digital collections

Abstract

The half day workshop will explore ways iSchools can participate in research and education relevant to the employment of information professionals in libraries, archives, and museums to provide access to and preservation of the collections held by these institutions. Presently, the education of information professionals for each of these institutions has primarily separate and diverse tracks and traditions. While some schools educating librarians do offer courses that include discussion of the application of library and information science skills to archival and museum collections, few offer full specializations in this area. Archival education has traditionally been based on degrees in history, but as the archival collections have utilized more digitalization to provide preservation and expand access to the content of collections, the need for staff with more knowledge of skills related to the preservation and expansion of access to archival collections has been recognized. Similar recognition of the importance of information profession skills is being recognized in museum studies, an area that in the past has depended on specialized subject discipline education coupled with an internship/apprenticeship-based training.