ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 40. (ZAGREB, 1997.)

Strana - 101

T. Thomassen, A Small Country in the World of Archival Education: the Dutch Case, Arh. vjesn., god. 40(1997) str. 95-104 long period to come, would be praised for their craftsmanship and pragmatism, rather than for their explorations in archival science. The pragmatic tendencies in Dutch archival education were further stimulated after World War II by developments in archival practice. Cataloguing modern archives tended to become core business, a business not likely to be the domain of specialists in Latin diplomatics. While the senior archivist continued to analyse and catalogue the older archives, the middle grade archivist, fighting the waste products of modern bureaucracy, became, within a period of thirty years, the key figure in the archival community. In the fifties, the course for middle grade archivists was upgraded almost to the level of the course for the senior archivists. In 1985 all Latin subjects were dropped from the course for senior archivists. Senior archivists had lost their exclusive domain. Reprofessionalisation of the archival world In about the same time, the rapid and far-reaching developments in information and communication technology had begun to change the archival profession fundamentally and on a global scale. The archivists became, now as "professionals" who are specialized in process-generated information, engaged in a thrilling process of reprofessionalisation. No feature of the profession could escape redefinition: the duties and the professional image of the archivist, the boundaries between the information professions and the information disciplines, the status and orientation of archival science and last but not least: the structure and contents of archival education. Archivists from all over the world became engaged in a stormy debate on the adaptation of the existing programs for archival education to the new developments. Everywhere, this debate centred on the same topics: historical study or information science, university environment or on-the-job-apprenticeship, etc. Everywhere in the world the same questions were raised, but answers varied according to, again, specific circumstances. The need to change was obvious, but the willingness and the ability to change varied according to the differences in professional flexibility. In this context, a strong and influential professional body could be an advantage, but also a disadvantage. Reprofessionalisation in the Netherlands For the Dutch Archive School, the transition from the industrial to the information society resulted in a complete metamorphosis. 101