Finding and Using Archival Resources: A Cross-Canada Survey of Historians Studying Canadian History

  • Wendy Duff
  • Barbara Lazenby Craig
  • Joan M. Cherry

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a 2001 postal questionnaire (English and French) that gathered information about historians' use of archival resources. The population for this report consisted of faculty members in history departments in degree-granting institutions in Canada whose area of interest is the history of Canada. The survey probed their current information-seeking practices in archives, invited assessment of their experience doing archival research, and sought their preferences for developments in the future. The conclusions indicate that finding and using sources in the early twenty-first century continues to invoke the knowledge and expertise of archivists.


RÉSUMÉ
Les auteures présentent dans cet article les résultats d'un questionnaire postal de 2001 (en anglais et en français) sur l'usage par les historiens des ressources d'archives. La population ciblée par cette étude était constituée de professeurs dans les départements d'histoire d'universités canadiennes ayant pour domaine de recherche l'histoire du Canada. Le sondage a exploré leurs pratiques en recherche d'information au sein des institutions d'archives, les a invité à évaluer leur expérience de recherche et à faire connaître leurs préférences quant aux développements futurs. Les conclusions indiquent que, pour trouver et utiliser des sources dans ce début de 21e siècle, les connaissances et l'expertise des archivistes sont toujours nécessaires.

Author Biographies

Wendy Duff
Wendy Duff is an associate professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Information Studies. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Her primary research interests are user studies, archival description, and electronic records. Ms. Duff has served as a member of the International Congress on Archives Ad hoc Commission on Descriptive Standards, the Encoded Archival Description Working Group, the Planning Committee on Descriptive Standards, and as Chair of the Canadian Committee on Descriptive Standards. She is presently a member of the Canadian-US Task Force on Archival Description and the Encoded Archival Context Working Group. She is presently investigating how scholars evaluate the authenticity of documents, how archival users find information, and the use of metadata in the scholarly process. She is also involved in a usability study of a portal for text analysis researchers and the development of generic user-based evaluation tools. These projects are funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Premier’s Research Excellence Award, and the Mellon Foundation.
Barbara Lazenby Craig
Barbara Craig is an associate professor in the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. She received a Ph.D. in Archive Studies from the University of London, England. Ms. Craig was the reviews editor of the American Archivist until 2001 and the general editor of Archivaria until 2005. Her current research examines the impact of technologies on knowledge and records management in offices of the British Civil Service before 1960. In 2003, she worked with Phil Eppard and Heather MacNeil to organize and mount the first international conference on the history of records and archives, or I-CHORA, which was held in Toronto. In collaboration with her colleague, Dr. Tom Nesmith, she is completing research into the archivist’s experience of appraisal in Canada. Her research has been funded by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Joan M. Cherry
Joan Cherry is Vice-Dean and Professor at the Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests are in the area of human-computer interaction. Her work has included usability studies of on-line help systems (with SoRyang Jackson); user satisfaction studies of on-line public access catalogues (with Marshall Clinton); evaluation of displays for Web-based library catalogues (with Joe Cox); evaluation of screen design guidelines (with Paul Muter); and user studies of “Early Canadiana Online” (with Wendy Duff). She is currently involved in a project to develop instruments for user evaluation of collections and services of digital archives (with Wendy Duff); a usability study of a portal for text analysis researchers (with Wendy Duff); and a longitudinal study of students’ perceptions of the quality of master’s programs in information studies (with Wendy Duff and Nalini Singh). She has conducted workshops for information professionals on the design of questionnaires and the administration of user studies.
Archivaria 58 front cover
Published
2004-08-01
How to Cite
Duff, Wendy, Barbara Lazenby Craig, and Joan M. Cherry. 2004. “Finding and Using Archival Resources: A Cross-Canada Survey of Historians Studying Canadian History”. Archivaria 58 (August), 51-80. https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/12478.
Issue
Archivaria 58 (Fall 2004)
Section
Articles

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