Historical Information Management Program

The Program 

The Historical Information Management Program consists of separate certificate programs in each of three concentrations: Archival Management, Museum Management, and Records Management.

They are designed to deliver a fundamental technical grounding in each profession.  They are not intended to be a short cut or substitute for undergraduate or graduate professional education in these areas.

Because our past deserves a future...

For over a century, Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College's home in Appalachian Kentucky has attracted visitors interested in American folklore, history, music, and traditional arts.  With the Historical Information Management program, Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College is responding to a need that has arisen as organizations preserving and presenting Appalachian cultural legacy to the public mature, producing a shortage of trained, homegrown professional staff.  The program is also designed to serve cultural workers at smaller institutions throughout the country, so that shorthanded staffs, limited budgets, and the absence of local training facilities need not make professional training for staff an impossible dream. 

Three programs tailored to your needs, delivered to individuals & institutions with work to do.

Designed to meet the needs of busy people who work or want to work in museums, archives, or records management, the Historical Information Management Program delivers most of its courses through the Internet.  Single parents, part-time students or those currently employed in archives, museum, or records management desiring to further their education and training will find this unique on-line delivery approach a fast, convenient, and economical approach to career development. Gain experience for a career in Museums, Archives, or Records management, without leaving home or your job.

Who Will Benefit?

 • Those currently employed in an area Historical Information Management that would benefit from additional training and education...

 • Those individuals anticipating a professional career in one or more of these areas who would like to develop a greater understanding of the work and professional development involved in each of these areas before committing to professional undergraduate or graduate education...

 • Those individuals confident they want to pursue a professional career in an area of Historical Information Management who are planning to work part-time while continuing their undergraduate or graduate education.   These individuals will possess the entry-level technical skills to perform in these areas and gain job experience while pursuing their professional education.

HIM Program Coordinator - Larry LaFollette

The Coordinator of the Historical Information Management Program at Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College is Larry LaFollette. LaFollette is former Deputy Director of the state of Indiana's Public Records Commission and has 20 years experience as a public archivist in Indiana and Florida. He holds masters degrees in Library Science and Industrial Relations. For more information, about the Historic Information Program at SKCTC, contact:

Historic Information Management
Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College
700 College Rd Cumberland KY 40823

phone: (606) 589-3131

e-mail: Larry.Lafollette@kctcs.edu

The Faculty:

The faculty for each of these courses hold graduate degrees from intuitions offering professional education programs in Library Science, Museum Management, Archival Management, Public History or similar programs. Each faculty member also brings a level of practical work experience in one or more areas of Historic Information Management.

Certificate Criteria:

Each certificate in Archives Management, Museum Management, or Records Management requires completion of five (5) three (3) credit hour courses. In addition, there is a general education requirement of Eng. 101, a social interaction course, and a heritage and humanities course for those students who have not completed those courses in conjunction with their other studies.

It is required that the Characteristics and Overview course for each certificate be taken in the first term either prior to or concurrently with any advanced course in a certificate program. Students may take as long as needed to complete the program. It is anticipated that a certificate program could be completed in as little as one academic year. However, a practical timeline would be 5 semesters or possibly even two full academic years.

Archival Management
The Archival Management curriculum consists of five three-credit hour courses. Courses include 1) an overview course; and courses focused on 2) Appraisal and Accessioning; 3) Arrangement and Description; 4) Preservation and Conservation; and 5) Automation and Electronic Records.

Archives Studies Curriculum
* A complete program and course syllabus is available upon request.

Archives Studies: Characteristics and Overview:

This course provides an introduction to the profession of archives studies. In addition to the history, development, and nature of work in the profession, the basics of collections management and development, intellectual control, preservation, conservation, and technological applications will be presented. Prerequisite: none

Archives Studies: Appraisal and Accessioning:

This course provides an in-depth examination of the information appraisal and accession process in archives work. Topics covered include intellectual content, documentation strategies, appraisal theories, and accessioning practices. Students are expected to complete a complete accession record, including records transmittal form, deed of gift, and accession form. Corequisite: Archives Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Archives Studies: Arrangement and Description:

This course is designed to provide students with a thorough understanding of arrangement and description practices in an archival setting. Topics covered include provenance, original order, arrangement practices, media specific description fields, MARC and EAD formatting, and indexing. Students are expected to complete archival descriptions for several collections and media types. Corequisite: Archives Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Archives Studies: Preservation and Conservation:

This course provides an in-depth analysis of the conservation and preservation issues confronting archive staff. Included in this course are the impact of environmental condition upon collections, problems associated with various records media and formats, conservation and working with conservators, security, and emergency mitigation and response procedures. Each student is expected to prepare a archives emergency response plan. Corequisite: Archives Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Archives Studies: Automation and Electronic Records:

This course is designed to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the archive’s automation practices. Topics covered in this course include database theory, design and development, as well as, data field content and structure as relates to archives automation. In addition to creating a complete archival catalog records, students will generate an automated accession report, collection description with appended image, and container list. Corequisite: Archives Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Museum Management
The Museum Management Studies curriculum consists of 5 courses of 3 credit hours in each of the following areas of study: Museum Management: Characteristics and Overview, Collections Care and Management, Conservation and Preservation, Exhibits, and Automation.

Museum Studies Curriculum
* A complete program and course syllabus is available upon request.

Museum Studies: Characteristics and Overview:

This course provides an introduction to the profession of museum studies. In addition to the history, development, and nature of work in the profession, the basics of collections management and development, intellectual control, exhibit design, preservation, and technological applications will be presented. Prerequisite: none

Museum Studies: Collections Care and Management:

This course provides an in-depth analysis of the curatorial needs of museum collections. Topics covered include collections policies and development, accessioning, registration, preservation, exhibiting and ethical consideration regarding deaccesioning and collection sales. Corequisite: Museum Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Museum Studies: Conservation and Preservation:

This course provides an in-depth analysis of the conservation and preservation issues confronting museum staff. Included in this course are the impact of environmental condition upon collections, problems associated with historicalalalal structures, artifact conservation and working with conservators, security, and emergency mitigation and response procedures. Each student is expected to prepare a museum emergency response plan. Corequisite: Museum Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Museum Studies: Exhibits:

This course provides an extensive analysis of the issues presented in the display of a museum's collections. Topics covered include exhibit planning, design, fabrication, installation, and interpretation. In addition, ethical considerations and cultural sensitivity issues regarding the presentation of cultural artifacts will also be addressed. Corequisite: Museum Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Museum Studies: Automation:

This course examines the significant role played by automated information management systems in museum management. In addition to collection management, the application and use of databases in fiscal management, inventory control, and retail management promotion, as well as web-presence and virtual museum presentation will be presented. Corequisite: Museum Studies: Characteristics and Overview

Records Management

The Records Management curriculum consists of five three-credit hour courses. Courses include 1) an overview course; and courses focused on 2) Files and Forms Management; 3) Records Inventory and Analysis; 4) Electronic Records Management; and 5) Records Reproduction and Imaging Systems.

Records Management Studies Curriculum
* A complete program and course syllabus is available upon request.

Records Management Studies: Characteristics and Overview:

This course provides an introduction to the profession of records management. In addition to the history, development, and nature of work in the profession, the basics of files and forms management, records inventory and analysis, scheduling and reprography, electronic records and record center operation will be presented. Prerequisite: none

Records Management Studies: Files and Forms Management:

This course identifies and applies rules and standards of filing systems and procedures. Management of both hard copy and electronic media are emphasized using alphabetic, numeric, subject, geographic, chronological and color filing systems. Corequisite: Records Management: Characteristics and Overview

Records Management Studies: Records Inventory and Analysis:

This course provides in-depth coverage of the process of records identification and analysis. Topics mastered in this course will be records inventory and vital records discovery, records information content and value, and disaster mitigation and response. Corequisite: Records Management: Characteristics and Overview

Records Management Studies: Electronic Records Management:

This course provides in-depth coverage of the process by which electronic records are created managed. Topics mastered in this course will be identification and analysis of electronic records for scheduling, and the use of database systems for monitoring compliance with scheduling and disposition of electronic and paper-base records. Students will be expected to design, develop, and implement a database for tracking records schedule compliance. Corequisite: Records Management: Characteristics and Overview

Records Management Studies: Records Reproduction and Imaging Systems:

This course provides in-depth analysis of information reproduction systems for the management, preservation, and access of records. Students will master the appropriate use of use of a variety of image reproduction formats, quality control standards associated with each format, and the cost/benefit considerations appropriate for each image reproduction format. Corequisite: Records Management: Characteristics and Overview