• Course Description
• Course Objectives
• Course Requirements and Grading
• Calendar of Topics
• Key Dates & Deadlines
• Essay Topics
• Weekly Readings
• Useful Resources

Course Description

This course is designed to introduce students to the professional principles and practices that guide professional archival work. Class sessions will primarily be lecture driven. Weekly readings will acquaint students with the scholarly and professional literature. Students will gain a solid grounding in the history of the profession, an understanding of basic archival terminology, principles, theory, as well as an appreciation of current practices and how digital technologies have impacted both archival management and public programming. 

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Course Objectives

1. To understand the nature of archival documents, as recorded information;
2. To understand the principles of archival science in contrast to those of related disciplines;
3. To explore how archivists acquire, appraise, arrange, describe, preserve and promote archival materials and make them available for use;
4. To consider the management issues involved in implementing archival principles and practices in an institution.

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Course Requirements and Grading

Required Assignments:

Students must submit one major essay over the course of the term, 13-15 pages (excluding bibliography and title page), double-spaced and worth 35% of their overall grade. On the first day of class (May 9) you will be given a choice of essay topics. The essay is due no later than June 27. Please refer to Essay Topics link for further details.

Students are given the task of finding an exceptional institutional archive engaged in outreach and submitting a critique (8-10 pages). Students are encouraged to discuss their choice with the instructor. The critique is worth 20% of the overall grade. Instructions on this assignment will be given on Week 1 (May 9) and the assignment is due on Week 12 (August 1).

Students will be given three practice-based exercises, each worth 15%.  Exercise 1 (handout May 30; due June 13) is based on applying learned principles of archival appraisal; Exercise 2 (handout June 6; due June 20) is based on applying learned principles of arrangement/description; Exercise 3 (handout June 20; due July 11) is based on applying learned principles of reference service.

Late assignments will be penalized at a rate of 2% per day.

Attendance at Classes (excerpt from FIMS Graduate Intranet)

"As there are generally no formal written examinations in the MLIS program, attendance at and participation in classes are essential parts of the learning experience and provides part of the basis for academic assessment of a student's knowledge. Students should therefore notify the instructor if they need to be absent from class due to inclement weather, conference attendance, serious illness, family emergencies or co-op or other job interviews. If the situation involves more than one absence, particularly in more than one course, the student should contact FIMS Graduate Services at 519-661-2111 Ext. 88494 or email bborman @ uwo.ca.  Attendance requirements also include punctual arrival at classes. Late arrivals are discourteous, disruptive and unprofessional.

Missing a class, or repeated late arrivals of 10 minutes or more, may require the student to complete a special assignment to verify coverage of the course material."

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Calendar of Topics

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Statement on Academic Offences

Scholastic offences are taken seriously and students are directed to read the appropriate policy, specifically, the definition of what constitutes a Scholastic Offence, at the following Web site: http://www.uwo.ca/univsec/pdf/academic_policies/appeals/scholastic_discipline_grad.pdf

All required papers may be subject to submission for textual similarity review to the commercial plagiarism-detection software under license to the University for the detection of plagiarism. All papers submitted for such checking will be included as source documents in the reference database for the purpose of detecting plagiarism of papers subsequently submitted to the system. Use of the service is subject to the licensing agreement, currently between The University of Western Ontario and Turnitin.com (http://www.turnitin.com).

Please Note: This is a graduate program and the process of writing (ie. a good and proper essay) is such that it helps in developing critical thinking skills, writing skills, and analytical skills. AI tools like ChatGPT can be helpful for providing exemplars of different writing genres. They can therefore provide some support for students learning new genres of writing and/or working in English as a foreign language. Information literacy around digital resources and tools such as ChatGPT is an important competency for information professionals. If you choose to use ChatGPT or another AI tool in preparing an assignment, I encourage you use it for the earliest stages and to reflect critically on the prompt you use and the quality, trustworthiness, and appropriateness of the content the engine returns. If you use an AI tool for any aspect of assignment preparation, you must submit your prompt and the AI content along with your assignment. Assignment wording should be your own: If you use any of the AI content directly in your assignment, you must acknowledge that content fully and clearly to avoid a scholastic offence.

Support Services

Students who are in emotional/mental distress should refer to Mental Health@Western http://www.uwo.ca/uwocom/mentalhealth/ for a complete list of options about how to obtain help.