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.Skinner and Hulbert 2022, 3The A*CENSUS II All Archivists Survey is the only national survey of individual archivists and memory workers in the US that has been fielded in the past 17 years. This census was administered in 2021 and builds on the foundation of the first A*CENSUS, which collected data for the archives profession in 2004.Skinner 2023, 5The A*CENSUS II Archives Administrators Survey is a major nationwide survey of senior administrators within the archives profession. This research study gathered information on the hiring, budget, strategic direction, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility practices of archives departments and organizations in the United States, as well as the perspectives of archives administrators on key issues in the field.
Notes
SAA conducted the first A*CENSUS in 2004. A*CENSUS II began in 2018 with data collected in 2021. A*CENSUS II included two surveys, the All Archivists Survey and the Archives Administrators Survey. SAA received funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Services for both surveys.Survey data has been deposited in the Society of American Archivists Dataverse at https://dataverse.unc.edu/dataverse/ACENSUS.
