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European Conference on Information Literacy

ECIL 2016: Information Literacy: Key to an Inclusive Society pp 519–529Cite as

Information Competencies of Historians as Archive Users: A Slovenia/UK Comparison

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Part of the book series: Communications in Computer and Information Science ((CCIS,volume 676))

Abstract

This paper reports a study of the characteristics, skills and competencies of historians, both amateur and professional, as users of archives. It makes two main comparisons: between professional historians and amateurs, typically genealogists and family historians; and between participants in Slovenia and in the United Kingdom. The study is in two parts. First, a detailed and comprehensive literature analysis, including information competencies of archivists where relevant, as well as those of users, to identify the main issues to be examined. Second, a Delphi study with a small panel of archivists from both countries, to establish consensus or divergence of opinion, and to explore the differences, if any, between amateur and professional historians, and will also investigate any national differences. The results show a high degree of consensus, and point to common issues in the skills and competencies needed by both groups, which should be explored in a larger study.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The entire body of records of an organization, family, or individual that have been created and accumulated as the result of an organic process reflecting the functions of the creator. (Source: A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology. Chicago, Ill.: Society of American Archivists, http://www2.archivists.org/glossary/terms/f/fonds).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Library and Information Science and Book Studies, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Polona Vilar & Alenka Šauperl

  2. Regional Archives Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia

    Zdenka Semlič Rajh

  3. Centre for Information Science, City University London, London, UK

    Lyn Robinson & David Bawden

Authors
  1. Polona Vilar
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  2. Alenka Šauperl
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  3. Zdenka Semlič Rajh
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  4. Lyn Robinson
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  5. David Bawden
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Polona Vilar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey

    Serap Kurbanoğlu

  2. Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France

    Joumana Boustany

  3. University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Sonja Špiranec

  4. University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, California, USA

    Esther Grassian

  5. University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, California, USA

    Diane Mizrachi

  6. University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA

    Loriene Roy

  7. Hacettepe University, Beytepe, Ankara, Turkey

    Tolga Çakmak

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Vilar, P., Šauperl, A., Rajh, Z.S., Robinson, L., Bawden, D. (2016). Information Competencies of Historians as Archive Users: A Slovenia/UK Comparison. In: Kurbanoğlu, S., et al. Information Literacy: Key to an Inclusive Society. ECIL 2016. Communications in Computer and Information Science, vol 676. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52162-6_52

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-52162-6_52

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-52161-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-52162-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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