ARST 530: The Juridical Context of Canadian Archives – COURSE SYLLABUS

Program: Master of Archival Studies
Year: Winter Session 2005-2006, term 1
Course Schedule: Tuesday, 9:00 – 12:00
Location: Koerner Library 216
Instructor: Terry Eastwood
Office location: TEF 328
Office phone: 604-822-6326
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1:30-3:30 or by appointment
E-mail address: eastwood@interchange.ubc.ca

Course Goal: The purpose of this course is to develop your understanding of the constitutional, legal, and institutional framework that applies to the creation, accumulation, control, use, and disposition of public and private archival documents in Canada. All study in the course takes an historical perspective to illuminate the evolution of the Canadian archival context. The first part of the course examines the evolution of the Canadian archival system and the archival profession. The second part of the course examines the legal framework that sets the juridical context within which records are created, managed, preserved, and used.

Course Objectives:

To provide you with an understanding of the origins and evolution of the institutions and organizations that constitute the Canadian archival system
To provide you with an understanding of the origins and evolution of the institutions and organizations that constitute the Canadian archival system
To examine the mandate of public archival institutions as reflected in the laws establishing them
To examine the responsibilities, values, and culture of the archival profession as a means of assessing its role in contemporary society
To provide you with an overview of the constitutional, legal, and administrative rules that affect the creation, accumulation, use, disposition, and preservation of archives in Canada

Course Topics:

Evolution of Canadian public archives and the “total archives” concept
Contemporary archival institutions: their governance, principal policies, programs, and challenges
National and regional archival organizations: Canadian Council of Archives, provincial councils of archives
The archival profession: its history, organization, responsibilities and values
Fundamental concepts of the Canadian legal system affecting archival institutions
Specific laws and regulations governing the creation, accumulation, use, and disposition of archival documents: freedom of information and privacy laws;
Copyright law; law governing export and import of cultural property; and tax law as it affects donation of archival material

Format of the course: lectures, class discussions, visits to archives

Required Reading :

A. THE EVOLUTION OF ARCHIVES

Ernst Posner. “Some Aspects of Archival Development Since the French Revolution.” In A Modern Archives Reader: Basic Readings on Archival Theory and Practice, edited by Maygene F. Daniels and Timothy Walch, pp. 3-14. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service, 1984.
Terence M. Eastwood. “Some Reflections on the Development of Archives in Canada and Australia.” In Archival Documents: Providing Accountability Through Record Keeping, edited by Sue McKemmish and Frank Upward, pp. 27-39. Melbourne: Ancora Press, 1993.
Luke J. Gilliland-Swetland. “The Provenance of a Profession: The Permanence of the Public Archives and Historical Manuscripts Traditions in American Archival History.” In American Archival Studies: Reading in Theory and Practice, edited by Randall C. Jimerson. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2000, 123-41.
Ian E. Wilson. “‘A Noble Dream’: the Origins of the Public Archives of Canada.” Archivaria 15 (Winter 1982-83): 16-35.
Jay Atherton. “The Origins of the Public Archives Records Centre, 1879-1956.” Archivaria 8 (Summer 1979): 61-77.
Wilfred I. Smith. “ ‘Total Archives’: The Canadian Experience.” In Canadian Archival Studies and the Rediscovery of Provenance, edited by Tom Nesmith, pp. 133-50. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1993.
Laura Millar. “Discharging our Debt: The Evolution of the Total Archives Concept.” Archivaria 46 (Fall 1998):103-46
Catherine Hobbs. “The Character of Personal Archives: Reflections on the Value of Personal Records.” Archivaria 52 (Fall 2001): 126-35.
"Select List of Archival Terminology.” This SLAIS document is not in the reading package. Available at: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/RESOURCES/students/Archival_Terminology.pdf

B. THE ARCHIVAL PROFESSION

Richard Cox. “Professionalism and Archivists in the United States.” The American Archivist 49 (Summer 1986): 229-48.
Jean-Pierre Wallot. “Limited Identities for a Common Identity: Archivists in the Twenty-First Century.” Archivaria 41 (Spring 1996): 6-30.
Roy Schaeffer. “From Craft to Profession: the Evolution of Archival Education and Theory in North America.” Archivaria 37 (Spring 1994): 21-34.
Association of Canadian Archivists. Education Committee. “Guidelines for the Development of a Two-year Curriculum of a Master of Archival Studies Programme (December 1988).” Archivaria 29 (Winter 1989-90): 128-141.
Glenn Dingwall. “Trusting Archivists: The Role of Archival Ethics Codes in Establishing Public Faith. American Archivist 67 (Summer 2004): 11-30.
"A Code of Ethics for Archivists in Canada.”

C. THE CANADIAN LEGAL SYSTEM AND ARCHIVES

Livia, Iacovino. “Record Keeping and Juridical Governance.” In Archives: Recordkeeping in Society, edited by Sue McKemmish, Michael Piggott, Barbara Reed and Frank Upward. Wagga Wagga, N.S.W., Australia: Charles Sturt University Centre for Information Studies, 2005, 255-276.
Jane Parkinson. “Accountability in Archival Science.” Master of Archival Studies thesis, University of British Columbia, 1993. Chapter 1: “The Concept of Accountability and Recordkeeping,” 6-31.
Canada . Privy Council Office. “Transfer of Public Records to the Public Archives and Access to Public Records held by the Public Archives and by Departments.” [Cabinet Directive No. 46, June 7, 1973] June 29, 1973.
Robert J. Hayward. “Federal Access and Privacy Legislation and the Public Archives of Canada.” Archivaria 18 (Summer 1984): 47-57.
Heather MacNeil. “Information, Privacy, Liberty, and Democracy.” In Reader in Privacy and Confidentiality, edited by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt and Peter Wosh. Chicago: Society of American Archivists, 2005. (The copy in your readings package is a manuscript copy of the printed version.)
Canadian Standards Association. Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information. 1996
Statutes of British Columbia. “Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act,” 1992, Chapter 61, as amended by S.B.C. 1993, Chapter 46.”
National Archives Appraisal Board. Archives and Tax Credits. [ Ottawa, n.d.]

Course Assignments, Due dates and Weight in relation to final course mark:

Short Essay	October 18	20%
Term paper	November 22	40%
Final Examination	T.B.A.	40%

Course Schedule [week-by-week]:

Date	Topic	Readings by number to be read for this class	Comments
September 13	Introduction to the class and 1 st lecture
September 20	No ARST 530 Class this day		Visit to Vancouver City Archives, Fri., Sept. 23, 9:30-11:30
September 27	The National Archives of Canada and the“Total Archives” concept	A. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
October 4	No ARST 530 class this day		A class in ARST 593B will be held at this time
October 11	Archival and professional organizations in Canada, the U.S., and internationally	A. 7, 8, 9
October 14	The archival profession and professional education	B. 1, 2, 3, 4	Makeup ARST 530 class in FNS 40
October 18	Ethical dimensions of archival work	B. 5, 6	Short essay due
October 25	Overview of archives and the Canadian legal system	C. 1, 2
November 1	Regulation of access to archives before 1980s	C. 3
November 8	Freedom of information and protection of privacy laws	C. 4, 5, 6
November 15	The British Columbia “Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act”	C. 7	List of topics for the examination distributed
November 22	Copyright law and tax law and administration of archives	C. 8 Handout on copyright law	Term Paper Due
November 29	Time to complete the course/review for the examination

Attendance: The calendar states: “Regular attendance is expected of students in all their classes (including lectures, laboratories, tutorials, seminars, etc.). Students who neglect their academic work and assignments may be excluded from the final examinations. Students who are unavoidably absent because of illness or disability should report to their instructors on return to classes.”

Evaluation: Evaluation will be based on a short essay (20%) a term paper (40%), and a final examination (40%).

All assignments will be awarded letter grades using the evaluative criteria given on the SLAIS Web site: http://www.slais.ubc.ca/Resources/slais-marking.htm

Written & Spoken English Requirement : Written and spoken work may receive a lower mark if it is, in the opinion of the instructor, deficient in English

Additional course information :

SHORT ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

Imagine that someone dear to you has just learned that you are studying archives and has written asking what archives are and why it is important to look after them. Write a letter in reply of no more than six double-spaced pages. You may read as widely as you like to help you develop your reply. You should cite the sources of information and quotations as appropriate and append a bibliography of your sources following Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6 th edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). The object is simply to have you express in words an unknowledgeable person would understand your own ideas about archives and the various ends achieved in caring for them.

DUE DATE: OCTOBER 18 VALUE: 20% OF FINAL GRADE

N.B. ONE MARK (OR ONE % OF THE FINAL GRADE) WILL BE DEDUCTED FOR EVERY DAY PAPERS ARE LATE. THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE IS ILLNESS TESTIFIED BY A DOCTOR. THE REASON FOR THIS RULE IS TO MAINTAIN FAIRNESS IN THE GRADING PROCESS.

TERM PAPER ASSIGNMENT

The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to investigate one of the topics covered in the course in greater detail than is possible during class time. You are asked to assess what you read critically in the light of concepts of archival science such as you learn them in this course and in others in the first term of the program. This assignment also aims to allow you to develop your skill at finding relevant sources and citing them according to accepted practice in the field. You may either select one of the topics from the list below, or propose and have approved by the instructor a topic of your own choosing. The questions posed as an elaboration of the topic are given only as examples of some of the questions you may use to guide your investigation.

You are asked to write a paper of about 20 double-spaced pages in length, 12-point type exclusive of appendices and bibliography. You must cite your sources of information and quotation, and give a bibliography citing all the works you consulted.

All technical details of writing and all citations in notes and bibliography should follow Kate L. Turabian, A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 6th edition (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996). You are required to purchase a copy of this manual as a textbook for the course. Twenty per-cent of the final grade will be determined on the basis of your ability to follow the rules of style, punctuation, grammar, and citations given in the manual. The reason for this is that you must demonstrate the ability to present the results of scholarly work in conformity with the standards for graduate study.

SUGGESTED TOPICS

Assess the historical development of laws that establish public archival institutions in Canada. What needs to be contained in an archival law? How adequate are archival laws in Canada?
Assess the evolution of the role of archival institutions in Canada. Has there been a change in the orientation of archival institutions over time? What motivated or prompted the changes?
Assess the discussion of the question of education by the archival profession in Canada and elsewhere. What are the principal issues discussed in the literature, and what are the main schools of thought about education?
Assess the historical development of a particular national archival institution. Why and when was it established? What were the critical moments in its history? What were its major accomplishments?
Assess the evolution of archives in a country other than Canada. What kinds of institutions developed, with what kinds of connections or cooperation to preserve the country’s documentary heritage? Is there a particular outlook on the preservation of archives in the country?
Assess the development of a particular class of archival institutions in Canada and elsewhere (e.g., business archives, religious archives, university archives, etc.) How well developed is the sector? What is particular about its orientation? What have been its particular concerns or problems?
Assess and compare the Canadian archival tradition with that in another country or with that in other countries. Is there a peculiar archival tradition in Canada? Is the Canadian tradition significantly different from that in other countries? If so, how?
What are the principal ethical issues and concerns of the archival profession? About which of these has there been significant discussion and debate in the literature?
Discuss the problem of disposition and archival preservation of the records of public officials in Canada or in the United States, or compare the situation in the two countries.
What role(s) do or can archives play in enhancing accountability?
How do archives and archivists balance the competing values of access to information and protection of privacy?
What issues does copyright law present for the administration of archives?

If you wish to write on another topic of your own devising, it must be related to the subject matter of the course, and you musthave it approved by the instructor.

DUE DATE: NOVEMBER 22 VALUE: 40% OF FINAL GRADE