Quo Vadis, Preservation Education?

Abstract

This research study assesses preservation education provided by academic institutions in North America. Educators teaching preservation in graduate library and information science programs were surveyed about the type and number of courses offered, content of preservation coursework, faculty resources, future plans for curricula, fieldwork and internship opportunities in preservation, and postgraduate employment data. The investigators hypothesize that current preservation education within traditional library and archival studies programs does not provide adequate preparation in the areas of technical and managerial expertise to deal with the preservation of digital collections, audiovisual media, or visual materials. This paper reviews the literature pertinent to study of preservation education, describes the research methodology employed in designing and conducting the survey, presents the resulting data, and analyzes the trends revealed by the data in order to understand more fully the goals and objectives of preservation education during the last decade and to gauge future directions of the field. This paper concludes by presenting plans for further research, which will expand upon initial findings of this survey.