ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 40. (ZAGREB, 1997.)

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T. Huskamp Peterson, Lifelong Learning: the Archival Profession in 21

st Century, Arh. vjesn., god. 40(1997) str. 89-93 these are international meetings, the participants must speak one of the major international languages, limiting participation; further, the costs of travel to such training will limit the number of persons who can benefit. 2. Training offered by a university in a summer or continuing education program. This may have more coordination because it is part of a regular educational institution's offerings. Because it is academic by definition, it may be more remote from the needs of the working professionals. 3. Training provided by an individual or team of trainers brought to a local archives. This has several advantages: it meets the needs of working professionals, because the people who invited the trainers into the country are bringing them because they believe the training is important, the costs for participants are cheaper, the language problem can be surmounted by either inviting in trainers with the language skills or providing local translators. A variations on this plan would be to bring in a team to train persons who, in turn, would provide training in local settings. While theoretically attractive this assumes that trainers can master a new method, technique, or topics in a few days with sufficient skill to teach it. That is a very large order. 4. Distance learning through interactive videos, World Wide Web connections and other techniques. This allows the learner to work at a comfortable pace, repeating material as needed. Supplementary materials can be provided in a variety of languages. The educators can be international experts, engaged just for the purpose of developing the educational materials, thereby giving the learner the benefit of the very best current thinking. The disandvantages are considerable too: inevitably there is a sense of disconnection between lecturer and learner and there are very limited opportunities to provide real-time question and answer sessions. These tools may actually be better as supplements to a course taught locally than as stand-alone learning experiences. Variations involving two or more of the above delivery systems seem promising. One would be to convene a week-long workshop, three times per year, with the same participants and the same theme. The sessions would include intensive instruction and group activities; in the four months between sessions the participants would complete formal assignments. Each workshop could be held in a different location thereby cutting travel costs and also allowing institutions to share the costs of hosting a training opportunity. This is the model that was employed in the United States by the Society of American Archivists for its Preservation Management Training Program. A second option is to bring all participants together for two weeks, probably at an educational institution for intensive training then use distance learning techniques for the remainder of a fixed period of time, such as a year. This is the model 92