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San Jose State University School of Library and Information Science offers First Online Master’s Degree in Archives and Records Administration -  Now Accepting Applications for the Fall 2009 Cohort  

Patricia C Franks, Ph.D., CRM, MARA Program Coordinator

The first group of students to pursue a Master’s Degree in Archives and Records Management began their studies through San Jose’s School of Library and Information Science in August of 2008.

Using the convenience and flexibility of a fully online format and cohort model, students are preparing for demanding careers in archives and records & information management fields.

Students will obtain a firm foundation in the theory and practices needed to develop strong archives and records management programs. To ensure this result, the curriculum was designed to reflect the guidelines of the Society of American Archivists and the competency-based models developed by the Association of Records Managers and Administrators. Students completing the program will be prepared to sit for exams administered by the Academy of Certified Archivists and the Institute for Certified Records Managers.

Throughout the program, students will be introduced to sophisticated technologies needed to organize, preserve, and access the growing volume of both digital and analog assets (paper, film, and photographic negatives) as well as records that must comply with government regulations and industry best practices.

MARA graduates will be qualified to work in a variety of settings worldwide, including corporations, government agencies, libraries, museums, historical societies, and non-profit organizations, as well as in the entertainment and education sectors.

Why a Master’s Degree in Archives and Records Management?

In recent years, major news media, professional business journals, and market studies have devoted much attention to the archives and records management field. Both in the US and abroad, articles and reports about the need for compliance with new laws, particularly for Electronic Records and Electronic Records Management, have struck a deep chord with CEOs and government officials.

Enterprises have also realized the growing need to use technologies to not only capture and manage documents as records but to facilitate daily operations and ensure business continuity, thus an emphasis on Enterprise Content Management is included. Enterprise Content Management as defined by AIIM, the Association for Information and Image Management, includes “the technologies used to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver content and documents.”

Add to these concerns is the fact that a growing portion of institutional and public memory is digital. The enormity of this situation must be addressed by Archivists who make judgments about what to preserve and what to discard. Students will learn to find the middle ground between saving every bit of information digitally and saving nothing at all.

Administrative memory, corporate decision-making, increased regulatory oversight, and e-discovery have all contributed to greater attention in the past ten years to the management of electronic records. This emphasis has resulted in the need for training and education for archives and records management professionals to include an understanding of the business needs of enterprises as well as the archival and records needs.

Graduate education must expand to meet the demanding challenges posed by complex technologies and that deliver solutions for the sometimes overwhelming high-level management and technical job opportunities that currently exist or soon be created for the new generation of information professionals who must collect, preserve, and disseminate information and preserve our cultural heritage.

In the private and public sectors archivists and records administrators and managers will ensure that governments and corporations maintain and disseminate records to fully comply with laws now in place and still emerging.

The San Jose Solution:  The Master’s Degree in Archives and Records Management was designed to prepare graduate students to assist archives, business, industry, government agencies, and non-profit institutions address the challenges they face in preserving our cultural heritage and managing records and information throughout its useful life.

About Online Learning at SJSU

San Jose’s School of Library and Information Science is a recognized leader in making effective use of leading edge technologies for distance learning.  In 2007, US News and World Report named it the #1 e-learning service provider in its discipline. In addition, the School received the 2007 Faculty Innovation Award from the Association of Library and Information Science Education in recognition of the School’s leadership in applying emerging technologies in a Web-based learning environment.

The impressive resources of the School will be utilized to ensure that students in the MARA degree program have a robust online learning experience.  Students are required to complete an online technology workshop that introduces them to a variety of tools used by faculty in the program. These tools include the Angel course management system for course delivery and Elluminate for synchronous online meetings. Elluminate is often used for virtual office hours (optional, of course) and a valuable tool used by many students when working in teams.

Students also learn to store and organize their own digital assets by uploading them to a content management system called Plone. In addition, they have the opportunity to create personal Avatars in order to visit the Schools’ Second Life Island.  These are just a few examples of the technology to which students will be exposed. It is our goal to help students in the MARA degree become comfortable with technology for their personal use so they are better able to understand how to apply technology in their professional lives.

About the MARA Curriculum and the Cohort Model

Students beginning the MARA program each fall will be members of a learning community that will progress through the program together, completing 42 units of study while taking no more than two courses each semester. The entire program will be completed within 3 years (8 semesters including 2 summers). You can learn more by visiting the MARA website at http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/mara/index.htm or by contacting Dr. Patricia C Franks, MARA Program coordinator at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Enrollment is limited to 25 students in each cohort, and applications are now being accepted for the next cohort, which will begin their studies in the fall of 2009. If you’re interested in becoming a part of this challenging but rewarding program of study, Application information is available at http://slisweb.sjsu.edu/mara/maraapp_process.htm

Patricia C. Franks, Ph.D., CRM, has a doctorate in Organization and Management with an e-business emphasis. Dr. Franks is a member of ARMA International’s Standards Development Committee, and she has served on various committees and task forces for both ARMA and AIIM. She is an adjunct instructor and MARA program coordinator for San Jose University and an independent consultant in records and information management and business process analysis.