Archival Census and Education Needs Survey in the United States
n. (abbr. A*CENSUS)a detailed census of the archives community in the United States led by the Society of American ArchivistsWilson 2003, 147The A*CENSUS results are not yet compiled as of this writing, but a 1998 survey of archives and archivists has shown that a large percentage of archives is small, with staff sizes of one or two professionals.Walch et al. 2006, 294The A*CENSUS—Archival Census and Education Needs Survey in the United States—is the first broadscale survey of individual archivists in the United States in nearly thirty years. The survey, conducted by mail and online during a two-month period in 2004, asked archivists about their positions, employers, demographics, credentials, job functions and specialization, salaries, career paths, issues, professional identity, and affiliation. There were additional questions for those with management responsibilities, and specific questions for members of certain professional associations.Adkins 2008, 25The 2004 census of the archival profession, the A*CENSUS (officially titled the Archival Census and Education Needs Survey in the United States), provides the most detailed assessment of the profession’s demographic base, based on responses from 5,620 individuals. Less ambitious surveys were conducted in 1956 and 1982, and the results of each survey effort are compared in a detailed analysis of A*CENSUS, published in volume 69, number 2 of the American Archivist.Gottlieb 2011, 27–28As the A*Census enumeration of archivists has shown, a large proportion of us belong to more than one association.Love and Ramos 2014, 5Part 6 of the 2006 “A*CENSUS (Archival Census and Education Needs Survey in the United States),” Brenda Banks’s “Report on Diversity,” revealed the slow progress toward increasing diversity within the profession.
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SAA conducted the first A*CENSUS in 2004. Data from A*CENSUS can be found at https://doi.org/10.15139/S3/N5OPXM. Planning for the second iteration of the survey, A*CENSUS II, began in 2018 with data collection in 2021. SAA received funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services for both surveys.
