1. Using the A*CENSUS Data for Benchmarking: The Case of Corporate Archives Gregory S. Hunter, Ph.D., CA, CRM Long Island University Society of American Archivists August 28, 2008 © 2008 Gregory S. Hunter. All Rights Reserved

2. Background The A*CENSUS (Archival Census and Education Needs Survey in the United States) was funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) 5,620 respondents (47.18% response rate) Results compiled by Vicki Walch, Principal Investigator

3. Current Employer Archivists at for-profit institutions are approximately 6% of respondents Not all 270 are from corporate archives

4. Types of For-Profit Employers: Top 10 Responses For-profit employerCount Percent of total Media, publishing, entertainment5018.5% Financial services, banking, securities3111.5% Archival consulting firm/service provider2710.0% Other248.9% Conservation/preservation consulting firm/service provider124.4% Consumer products124.4% Information technology, computers, software124.4% Insurance124.4% Manufacturing114.1% Don't know114.1%

5. Gender Gender distribution is similar to overall respondents, approximately 2/3rds female Q2: GenderAcademicGovernmentNonprofitFor-profitSelf-Employed ValueCount% % % % % Male57534.1%60640.8%31829.3%8435.6%1828.6% Female1,09665.0%84957.2%75769.8%14661.9%4571.4% Rather not say160.9%281.9%80.7%62.5%00.0% No answer00.0%20.1%20.2%00.0%0 Total1,687100%1,485 1,085 236 63

6. Age Business archivists are somewhat younger than other archivists Age AcademicGovernmentNonprofitFor-profitSelf-Employed Count% % % % % Under 25161.0%110.8%141.4%41.8%00.0% 25-29734.5%412.9%787.6%167.2%11.7% 30-3418011.2%1138.1%908.8%2812.7%35.1% 35-3917310.7%15611.1%737.1%3616.3%11.7% 40-4417410.8%17912.8%1019.9%2511.3%46.8% 45-4920812.9%21415.3%11711.4%2812.7%1118.6% 50-5429218.1%30221.6%15915.5%3415.4%610.2% 55-5922313.9%22115.8%13413.1%2210.0%1220.3% 60-641277.9%997.1%666.5%156.8%813.6% 65 and over1127.0%423.0%18217.8%73.2%915.3% Rather not say322.0%211.5%70.7%62.7%46.8% No answer00.0%20.1%20.2%00.0%0 Total1,610100.0%1,401100.0%1,023100.0%221100.0%59100.0% Mean age48.0 48.1 50.0 44.9 54.2

7. Graduate School Highest percentage attending graduate school of any type of institution

8. Degrees Held Majority of master’s degrees are in Library Science Degree(s) held Q21: Employer typeBA historyMA historyMLS/MLISMA ArchivesPhD history PhD archives/LIS Academic institution62450196952310726 Government agency612508423261873 Nonprofit organization347287357224312 For profit organization8049826260 Self employed1214151130 Other3619452130 Don't know122100

9. Salaries Salaries are higher than in other institutional settings Employee type AllMenWomen Ratio of men to women Count Mean salary Count Mean salary Count Mean salary All respondents3,979$49,3151,408$54,7872,372$46,1511.19 All managers1,542$57,416618$63,228858$53,2111.19 Academic, all1,464$48,756496$54,113898$45,5731.19 Academic, mgrs580$57,233234$62,842323$53,1111.18 Government, all1,464$52,732561$57,736750$49,4471.17 Govt, managers484$61,860223$67,220239$57,5521.17 Nonprofit, all815$42,037257$47,354521$39,3951.20 Nonprofit, mgrs345$48,101124$53,145209$44,9521.18 For profit, all203$61,25665$65,077119$58,4871.11 For profit, mgrs97$69,74230$75,50059$65,7631.15

10. Salary Details Business archivists have the highest percentage of salaries over $100,000 Q34A: Please indicate your total annual salary for 2003: All respondents and employer types All respondents Academic employees Government employees Nonprofit employees For-profit employees ValueCount% % % % % Less than $20,000 1102.6%231.5%161.1%637.2%20.9% $20,000-$29,9994149.9%1288.4%14710.2%12214.0%52.2% $30,000-$39,99994622.6%36323.9%27118.8%26029.8%2611.5% $40,000-$49,99993122.2%40126.4%28019.4%16819.3%4419.5% $50,000-$59,99960314.4%23815.7%22615.7%859.7%4319.0% $60,000-$69,9993889.3%1389.1%16211.3%536.1%2511.1% $70,000-$79,9992756.6%875.7%1339.2%364.1%167.1% $80,000-$89,9991202.9%372.4%634.4%70.8%125.3% $90,000-$99,999741.8%201.3%362.5%80.9%83.5% $100,000 and over 1182.8%291.9%463.2%131.5%229.7% Rather not say2064.9%543.6%604.2%576.5%2310.2% Total4,185100%1,518100%1,440100%872100%226100% Approx mean salaries $49,315$48,576$52,732$42,037$61,256

11. What Led to Your First Archival Job? Appointed by employer or just looking for work Academic Governme nt NonprofitFor-profit Self- employed OtherAll n =172815191111245631245231 Learned about the value of archives from using them 37.7%13.0%11.4%10.6%17.5%12.1%13.1% Knew someone who was an archivist 3.4%4.3%3.2%2.4%6.3%5.6%3.6% Took an archives-related class in college or graduate school 15.1%12.4%11.2%9.4%7.9%6.5%12.6% Held a work-study position in an archives while in college 11.1%9.6%8.9%5.3%3.2%11.3%9.3% Volunteered in an archives5.2%4.5%6.1%4.9%7.9%4.8%6.0% Discovered that an archival job was available when I was looking for work 5.0%24.0%17.1%19.2%23.8%16.1%17.2% Read about archival work and thought it sounded interesting 17.2%4.3%5.3%7.8%3.2%4.0%5.1% Was assigned archives-related responsibilities by my employer 14.7%13.6%21.4%20.0%9.5%20.2%16.6% Other (Please specify)0.8%12.3%13.8%15.9%17.5%17.7%14.7% Don't know0.3%1.4%1.2%4.5%1.6% 1.4%

12. Plans for End of Career 25% plan to retire in less than 10 years Q21Q33: Less than 3 years 3 - 9 years 10 - 19 years 20 - 29 years 30 plus years Don't know No answer Total Academic institution122308454284213314291724 % of type 7.1%17.9%26.3%16.5%12.4%18.2%1.7%100.0% Government agency144364379255122229251518 % of employer type 9.5%24.0%25.0%16.8%8.0%15.1%1.6%100.0% Nonprofit organization81230237137141264211111 % of type 7.3%20.7%21.3%12.3%12.7%23.8%1.9%100.0% For-profit organization233845 3064 245 % of type 9.4%15.5%18.4% 12.2%26.1%0.0%100.0% Self employed81177420663 % of type 12.7%17.5%11.1% 6.3%31.7%9.5%100.0% Other/don't know/no answer723361853817144 % of type 4.9%16.0%25.0%12.5%3.5%26.4%11.8%100.0% Total3859741158746515929984805 Percent of total 8.0%20.3%24.1%15.5%10.7%19.3%2.0%100.0%

13. Hiring Criteria Highest ranking was for “other skills” than archival ones Mean Rating for Each Employer Type 1 = not at all effective 7 = very effective Qualification All respondents n = 650 Academic n = 251 Government n = 230 Nonprofit n = 123 For profit n = 30 Experience4.514.584.314.834.38 Degrees held5.165.374.955.055.41 Post graduate continuing education and training 4.524.674.504.254.66 References5.926.015.756.035.79 Involvement in professional associations3.703.883.663.643.21 Certification2.472.372.412.693.24 Graduate archival courses5.055.324.805.095.00 Technical skills5.635.685.475.835.72 Other skills such as interpersonal & communications 6.146.206.016.196.45

14. Time Spent on Functions More time spent on non-archival functions Academic institution Government agency Nonprofit organization For-profit organization n =1,7291,4921,086258 Selection, appraisal, acquisition9.5%7.3%9.2%7.1% Arrangement and description17.7%16.5%20.1%13.9% References services and access18.9%22.7%18.9%16.9% Preservation and protection7.1%8.3%8.9% Outreach, advocacy, or promotion7.4%6.3%6.1%4.7% Managing archival programs9.2%12.2%8.9%9.3% Professional development4.7%3.5%3.8%3.1% Teaching archives-related courses1.9%0.9%0.7%0.2% Seeking degree1.1%0.6%0.9%1.3% Consulting1.5%2.5%1.9%3.4% Other archives-related activities4.2%6.7%5.1%5.6% Activities not directly related to archives18.8%15.2%20.2%23.1%

15. Types of Records High percentage of electronic records All respondentsQ25: With which of the following kinds of records do you work? Q21: Employer type n = Textual records Still images & graphic materials Moving images Sound recordings Electronic records Cartographic, architectural records Other Academic institution 1,09 6 1,5521,4018881,060725769203 86.6%78.1%49.5%59.1%40.4%42.9%11.3% Government agency 849 1,285929424559583702130 81.5%58.9%26.9%35.5%37.0%44.5%8.2% Nonprofit organization 757 1,007930504602412523151 87.5%80.8%43.8%52.3%35.8%45.4%13.1% For-profit organization 146 1931741351291426746 71.5%64.4%50.0%47.8%52.6%24.8%17.0% Self employed45 341619 216 69.2%52.3%24.6%29.2% 32.3%9.2% Other86 105985163456123 79.5%74.2%38.6%47.7%34.1%46.2%17.4% Don't know6 52 1 1 62.5%25.0% 12.5% No answer9 31 11 23.1%7.7% Total 2,99 4 4,1953,5692,0182,4341,9272,144559 83.8%71.3%40.3%48.6%38.5%42.8%11.2%

16. Ties to Archival Profession Somewhat weaker ties than other sectors Ties to archival profession 1 = not at all strong 7 = very strong By employer type Academic employees5.20 Government employees5.00 Nonprofit employees5.04 For profit employees4.97 Self employed4.92

17. Staff Size Smallest number of FTE Staff

18. Annual Budget Among the largest annual budgets

19. Personnel Budget Smallest percentage for personnel Greatest percentage for professional development

20. Preparation for Managers Business-type factors important

21. Conclusions Business archivists are similar to their colleagues in many ways In other ways they are different: salary level, reason for becoming an archivist, and ties to the profession Business archivists are dealing with electronic records. There should be a wider exchange of information about electronic records among various archival sectors.

22. For Additional Information Gregory S. Hunter, Ph.D., CA, CRM Palmer School of Library and Information Science Long Island University 720 Northern Boulevard Brookville, NY 11548 (516) 299-2171 ghunter@liu.edu www.hunterinformation.com