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11/6/02

671

The International Round Table Conference on Archives (CITRA), consisting of national archivists of International Council of Archives member countries meets in Marseilles, November 13-16, 2002. The theme for the meeting is "How does society perceive archives?" Although this survey has not been requested or underwritten by any organization, its purpose is to solicit views of professionals and provide feedback that hopefully will be of some use to the principals of the CITRA meeting. No personal information will be provided in the results of this survey – only aggregate results – except where participants may wish to insert such information into the final “Other general comments” section, but that section requires no personally identifying information. Completing the survey will take approximately 5-10 minutes of your time, yet if enough people respond to make the results worthy of serious attention, it will provide valuable tabulated results for the world’s archival leaders who will be leaving for the meeting over the weekend or early next week. To achieve this result, please complete the survey within the next 24 hours or in any case by the end of the day, Friday, 8 November. There are only 9 questions plus a place to make any other comments you may choose, and a couple of demographic questions to help sort the results by professional field, country and time in profession. This will provide much more useful information for the results at national levels. Thank you for your time and responses. Results will be posted at mybestdocs.com. If you have questions please contact the survey organizer, Rick Barry, directly at survey@mybestdocs.com

1.

1. Do you think society in general (“most people”) PERCEIVES archives/records centers and the people who operate them in relation to the public’s needs?

Very poorly

38
6%

Poorly 104 16%

Most people don't have an opinion 462 70%

Well 47 7%

Very well 12 2%

663 100%

2.

2. Do you think society in general VALUES archives/records centers and the people who operate them in relation to the public’s needs? Most people feel they are of great value for

1
Strongly Disagree 2
Disagree 3
Agree 4
Strongly Agree

1.  a. Most people have no opinion on the subject 2%
(14) 13%
(84) 63%
(414) 22%
(143)

2.  b. Enabling government by the rule of law 9%
(55) 43%
(273) 45%
(282) 3%
(21)

3.  c. Protecting human rights 10%
(63) 52%
(325) 34%
(216) 4%
(26)

4.  d. Enabling democracy through public accountability of officials 7%
(47) 34%
(217) 49%
(309) 9%
(56)

5.  e. Creating/maintaining public confidence in government 7%
(46) 52%
(323) 37%
(234) 4%
(24)

6.  f. Support of government operations 6%
(39) 33%
(210) 53%
(331) 8%
(50)

7.  g. Genealogical research 2%
(14) 4%
(28) 36%
(232) 57%
(366)

8.  h. Underpinning national/regional collective memory and group identity 3%
(20) 28%
(174) 55%
(342) 14%
(90)

9.  i. Enabling historical, heritage, and cultural activities 2%
(10) 10%
(65) 59%
(370) 29%
(184)

10.  j. Other secondary information/research/historical purposes (environmental, legal, medical, etc.) 3%
(16) 21%
(131) 61%
(382) 15%
(96)

11.  k. Other reasons (specify) 13%
(17) 43%
(58) 39%
(52) 6%
(8)

3.

3. Do you think society sees a greater need for changing its understanding of archival resources and issues? Most people see the need for:

a. Little or no greater understanding

364
55%

b. Some better understanding 222 34%

c. Much greater understanding 73 11%

659 100%

4.

4. Do you think that there is a significant gap between society’s understanding of the changing demands on archives/records centers and reality?

a. No significant gap

15
2%

b. Some gap 123 19%

c. A great gap 523 79%

661 100%

5.

5. Do you think that society sees a need to change its perception of archives/records centers and the people who operate them?

a. Most people see no need for significant change

429
65%

b. Some changes seen required 136 21%

c. Substantial changes seen required 93 14%

658 100%

6.

6. How can improvements be made in society’s perceptions and the reality of archives/records centers and the people who operate them?

1
Not needed at all 2
Definitely some need 3
A very significant need 4
No Opinion/ Neutral

1.  a. Targeted public opinion research surveys and group meetings 9%
(59) 47%
(308) 31%
(201) 14%
(91)

2.  b. Targeted advocacy and service promotion meetings with major users of records, e.g., attorneys, auditors, journalist 1%
(8) 28%
(188) 64%
(424) 6%
(42)

3.  c. Targeted advocacy meetings with major creators of records, e.g., officials, IT directors, software vendors 2%
(12) 19%
(128) 72%
(477) 7%
(43)

4.  d. Increasing direct access to records on the World Wide Web 4%
(28) 41%
(272) 46%
(300) 9%
(58)

5.  e. Improving other services to users of archives/records centers 4%
(24) 34%
(225) 54%
(359) 8%
(54)

6.  f. Greater presence of archivists/records managers speaking in public forums and at professional meetings outside of the archives/records areas (e.g., associations of attorneys, auditors, journalist, IT directors) 2%
(15) 16%
(105) 75%
(490) 7%
(46)

7.  g. Greater publication of plain-language articles on archives/records management issues in public media (newspapers, popular magazines, radio/TV programs) 3%
(17) 15%
(97) 76%
(502) 7%
(44)

8.  h. Greater promotion of how records have been used in contemporary society for important reasons, e.g., the “Nazi Gold” projects 2%
(13) 17%
(111) 73%
(482) 8%
(50)

9.  i. Greater promotion of how illegal or questionable destruction of records has jeopardized human rights, democratic accountability, historical knowledge: eg., victims of Australian “Heiner case,” ENRON employees pensions/Arthur Andersen, Nixon audio tapes, etc. 2%
(11) 10%
(68) 78%
(516) 10%
(67)

7.

7. How do you rank POTENTIAL for the following people to make contributions towards positive changes in society's perceptions of archives/records centers and the people who operate them -- how well MIGHT they do in the future?

1
No real potential 2
Some potential 3
Considerable potential 4
No Opinion/ Neutral

1.  a. Heads of organizations that produce records 5%
(34) 30%
(196) 63%
(418) 2%
(13)

2.  b. Heads of national archives and records management organizations 1%
(9) 24%
(158) 72%
(475) 3%
(17)

3.  c. Heads of state archives and records management organizations 1%
(7) 24%
(156) 72%
(476) 3%
(19)

4.  d. Heads of local government archives and records management organizations 2%
(13) 30%
(200) 66%
(436) 2%
(13)

5.  e. Professional archives and records management associations 3%
(20) 27%
(176) 68%
(443) 3%
(17)

6.  f. Individual professionals (archivists and records managers) 2%
(16) 42%
(275) 54%
(354) 2%
(16)

7.  g. Educators in university archives and records management programs 3%
(22) 36%
(234) 57%
(375) 3%
(22)

8.  h. Students in graduate archives and records management programs 8%
(53) 53%
(348) 36%
(237) 3%
(18)

9.  i. Historians 3%
(22) 34%
(225) 60%
(396) 2%
(16)

10.  j. Genealogists 6%
(42) 33%
(217) 57%
(376) 3%
(23)

11.  k. Attorneys 9%
(62) 36%
(239) 50%
(325) 5%
(30)

12.  l. Auditors 8%
(52) 34%
(222) 53%
(346) 5%
(35)

13.  m. Journalists 4%
(24) 23%
(149) 70%
(457) 3%
(22)

14.  n. Legislators 6%
(37) 27%
(177) 64%
(416) 4%
(25)

15.  o. Others (specify in #10 below) 10%
(14) 13%
(18) 31%
(42) 45%
(61)

8.

8. How do you rank how the following people ACTUALLY do today make contributions towards positive changes in society's perceptions of archives/records centers and the people who operate them -- how well are they already doing?

1
None 2
Much more is needed 3
No Opinion/ Neutral 4
Enough to meet the need 5
Great contributions being made

1.  a. Heads of organizations that produce records 21%
(141) 65%
(426) 9%
(60) 4%
(25) 1%
(4)

2.  b. Heads of national archives and records management organizations 2%
(12) 61%
(397) 13%
(83) 18%
(115) 7%
(46)

3.  c. Heads of state archives and records management organizations 2%
(14) 63%
(407) 13%
(81) 17%
(111) 5%
(34)

4.  d. Heads of local government archives and records management organizations 5%
(33) 63%
(410) 14%
(92) 14%
(92) 4%
(23)

5.  e. Professional archives and records management associations 4%
(24) 61%
(400) 13%
(82) 16%
(104) 7%
(44)

6.  f. Individual professionals (archivists and records managers) 3%
(17) 57%
(370) 15%
(98) 19%
(124) 6%
(42)

7.  g. Educators in university archives and records management programs 4%
(29) 55%
(355) 17%
(111) 18%
(117) 5%
(33)

8.  h. Students in graduate archives and records management programs 11%
(71) 41%
(267) 28%
(183) 17%
(114) 3%
(18)

9.  i. Historians 7%
(44) 58%
(377) 17%
(113) 14%
(89) 5%
(31)

10.  j. Genealogists 5%
(34) 42%
(271) 18%
(115) 27%
(173) 9%
(59)

11.  k. Attorneys 20%
(131) 53%
(341) 19%
(126) 7%
(44) 1%
(5)

12.  l. Auditors 20%
(129) 53%
(342) 20%
(125) 6%
(39) 1%
(6)

13.  m. Journalists 14%
(90) 69%
(446) 10%
(66) 6%
(41) 1%
(6)

14.  n. Legislators 20%
(130) 61%
(393) 14%
(92) 4%
(27) 0%
(3)

15.  o. Others (specify in #10 below) 15%
(15) 25%
(26) 50%
(51) 5%
(5) 5%
(5)

9.

9. Do you think elected public officials and their department heads in organizations that create public records perceive archives, records centers and the people who operate them in the same way as you have answered above for society as a whole?

The same way as society as a whole

238
36%

With some differences 357 54%

With major differences (explain in #10 below) 61 9%

656 100%

10.

10. Other general comments/examples (link to question # above where appropriate):

176 Responses

11.

My main profession/work experience is as:

a. Archivist

337
51%

b. Records Manager 149 23%

c. Other information management professional 49 7%

d. Educator 21 3%

e. Student 24 4%

f. Information technology professional 15 2%

g. Administrator 19 3%

h. Historian 5 1%

i. Genealogist 0 0%

j. Attorney 0 0%

k. Journalist 3 0%

l. Legislator 0 0%

m. Other (please specify in #10) 37 6%

659 100%

12.

12. I have been in the workplace for:

a. Still completing my education

20
3%

b. 1-5 years 165 25%

c. 6-10 years 105 16%

d. 11-20 years 179 27%

e. 21 or more years 192 29%

661 100%

13.

13. The society within which I work is in the following region:

Africa

8
1%

Asia and Pacific 8 1%

Australasia 142 22%

Caribbean 1 0%

Europe 127 19%

Middle East 3 0%

North America 360 55%

South America 3 0%

Other: (Specify in #10) 7 1%

659 100%

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