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Aims and Objectives
This research project is being conducted
to support archival work and historical research by Dr. Ian Anderson. To
date, we have little evidence regarding use and efficacy of electronic
access tools such as online catalogues and electronic finding
aids employed by archivists. We also do not know how archivists
are informing researchers in the use of these access aids or how
historians are training their students in their use.
The basic premise behind this study is
that information systems should be built around user information
needs and behaviors. Working within this framework, the specific
goals of this survey and the larger research project are to discover
how historians are searching for and locating primary source materials;
how they are teaching/advising their students to do so; and how
archivists and other cultural heritage curators can best facilitate
such information discovery.
To help answer some
of these questions this project is surveying a sample of historians
and archivists from UK. Dr. Helen R. Tibbo at the School
of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill, USA, is conducting an analogous study with historians
and archivists in the USA
The disciplinary and
professional perspectives from historians and archivists is an
essential part of this comparative international study – the first
ever to look at the information-seeking practices of historians.
The archivists survey has subsequently evolved into a longitudinal study of the development of online archives. The archivists survey was complemented by an analysis of 17 features of 25 archive web sites in 2004 and 2007. A model for online archive development has been proposed that classifies archives into six types based on the range and type of online services and features they provide.
Sample
Methods
In order to create
the historians sample population for the survey all higher education
institutions that teach history were numbered. Random numbers
were then generated and 80 institutions selected according to
these numbers. From each institution 10 historians were then selected
by stratified sample. Where we could not select 10 historians
from a single institution, an additional institution was selected
from our set of random numbers. This process resulted in 800 historians
being selected. The sample was then checked to ensure it broadly
matched the UK profile of historians according to gender. The
sample was split into two groups of 400. Each group of 400 was
further split into two cohorts. One cohort of 200 to be contacted
via e-mail and requested to complete an online survey from, the
second cohort of 200 was sent a printed survey form by post. The
first group of 400 historians was contacted in autumn 2001 and
the second group in winter 2001/2002. Each group were sent thank
you and reminder notices. The historians that were originally
contacted by e-mail are sent a mail reminder and those contacted
by mail an e-mail reminder.
Along
with this survey, a further sample of 25 historians have been
interviewed face to face and over the telephone.
150 archives were
randomly sampled from the National Register of Archives and profiled
against UK archives as a whole and those used by academic historians.
These comprise national, regional and local
archives and record offices, university archives and miscellaneous
corporate and special repositories. Archivists at these institutions
are all sent a paper copy of the archivists survey with the alternative
of completing an online version if they wish.
For the web site analysis a random sample of 25 of the respondents to the survey was carried out. The same web sites were surveyed in 2004 and 2007.
Archivists Survey
We hope you will provide your professional
perspective on the way your archival services, particularly online
and electronic finding aids, have been developed. By completing
the survey you will provide an invaluable insight into current practice
in the UK. This information will enable us to place historians retrieval
strategies into context and enable comparison with our US data.
To download an electronic copy of the archivists
survey from, right click on one of the links below and select
Save Target As...
Historians
Survey
We
hope that you will be willing to share some of your time and experience
by filling out our survey that explores how you go about finding
primary resource materials for your research. This survey should
not take more than 20 minutes of your time.
Please be assured that I will keep your responses totally
confidential.
Historians
requested to complete the survey on line can do so here:
Historians
sent a mail survey can download a replacement from here:
Returning
this survey in any format indicates your willingness to participate
in this study.
Publications
Two publications are available that present results from historians and archivists.
For results on historians' information seeking behaviour see:
I. Anderson, 'Are you being Served? Historians and the Search for Primary Sources', Archivaria, No 58, (Fall 2004).
For results on the development of archives online services see:
I. Anderson, 'Necessary but Not Sufficient: Modelling Online Archive Development in the UK', DLib Magazine, Volume 14 No. 1/2, 2008. ISSN 1082-9873. http://www.dlib.org/dlib/january08/01contents.html
Funding
Generous research funding was provided by
the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Additional financial assistance
and assistance in kind has been gratefully received from the Faculty
of Arts and HATII, University of Glasgow.
Staff
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Ian G. Anderson
Research
Assistants
Monica Greenan Oct-Dec 2001
Rebecca Sharp March - Sept 2002
Contact
If you have any
questions at any time about this survey, your participation, or
the study and its findings please contact me at:
Dr.
Ian G. Anderson
HATII
George Service House
11 University Gardens
University of Glasgow
Phone:
+44 (0)141 330 3843
Fax: +44 (0)141 330 3788
E-mail: I.Anderson@hatii.arts.gla.ac.uk |
