Education and Research in Archival Science: General Tendencies

This text is essentially based on works carriedout for a research which was subsidized from1997 to 2000 by the Social Sciences andHumanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).The goal of this study was to examine thegeneral tendencies of education and research inarchival science. First, a review of theliterature published from 1985 to 1998 allowedus to establish a state of the art. Then, asurvey was completed with a questionnaire whichhas been sent to educational institutions,national archives institutions and researchers.Answers were received from more than 70different countries. With regards to theeducation program, the analysis of data showsthat there have seen notable progresses. Morethan the growth of the number of programs, wemust especially recognize the constantimprovement of its contents, which is achievedin conformity with the propositions made in theliterature. As for the research, it exists acommunity of ideas about fields and themes tobe privileged even if there is an apparentdivision of the researchers into two groups.The first group distinguishes itself by itscohesion by unanimously recognizing a smallnumber (nine) of priorities in research inarchival science. The second group showsmultiple interests which cover 30 researchthemes. The author conclude in saying that thedevelopment of education and research inarchival science are on their way, but nothinghas yet been won. It is important to accentuatethe efforts to insure a durable life toeducation and research as pillars of thediscipline.     

Exploration of the Relative Contributions of Domain Knowledge and Search Expertise for Conducting Internet Searches

The relative contributions of expertise in search skills and domain knowledge were examined when using the Internet to find information. Four conditions were compared: expert searchers/high domain knowledge; expert searchers/low domain knowledge; novice searchers/high domain knowledge; and novice searchers/low domain knowledge. Search outcomes and verbal protocols were analyzed. The combination of search expertise and high domain knowledge yielded the most efficient searches. Higher search expertise yielded access to sites rated more accurate and credible. High domain knowledge yielded sites rated more thorough. Verbal protocols depicted searching as a complex decision process. Findings have implications for instructional support.     

Assessing Use and User Needs for Content Management Systems in the Canadian Federal Public Sector

Canadian public sector organizations require users to make use of content management systems. Symptoms of low adoption include misuse and inefficient workarounds. This research project, through the use of a survey, investigates perspectives of end users in the Canadian public sector; it focuses on assessing users' needs and incorporating their feedback. A goal for this research was to explore and interpret the challenges related to needs assessment in content management projects.     

Digital Discovery and Architectural Interface Design: Prototyping Architectural-Scale Interfaces for Discovery Across Digital and Tangible Collections

Abstract

How do researchers search for knowledge? What are their behaviors and habits, and what technologies do they use? This article proposes that three design shifts – involving more human senses, enabling comparative and simultaneous viewing, and allowing immediate access to full content – will create a more fruitful research process for scholars who conduct a literature review, learn about a new topic in a related discipline, or catch up on advances in their field. The three proposed designed shifts were tested with prototyping. The systematic prototyping procedure is a method that can be employed by others to advance this field.     

British Writings on Romania: From Travel Accounts to Studies

This article surveys a sample of sources of the information about Romania available to British readers in nineteenth century British newspapers and periodicals. It traces first contacts between the Romanian lands and Britain after the union of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 1859, then after their independence from the Ottoman Empire. The article highlights an increased Romanian interest in British periodicals, which reported and reviewed Romanian literature and scholarship. The article concludes that nineteenth century British newspapers and periodicals offer a great variety and wealth of new material previously unavailable or unknown to researchers. It also states that only a portion of a large quantity of this material has been indexed and is therefore available via the bibliographic sources mentioned in the article. The author argues for the need of a new and updated British-Romanian bibliography, which can draw on new online resources offering access to thousands of new newspapers and periodical records.