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From 4 to 360h of flexible workload

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Archives Management Course

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Archives Management Course

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Archives Management Course

Name: Archives Management Course
Price: 1499 ZAR

Master every stage of professional archives management, from foundational archival principles and records lifecycle control to digital preservation and strategic programme leadership. This course equips you with the practical skills, ethical frameworks, and technical knowledge employers expect from today's archivists. Whether you are entering the field or advancing your career, you will graduate ready to confidently manage real collections.

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What you will learn:

This course covers the full scope of archives management, including core archival principles, records lifecycle management, appraisal and acquisition, arrangement and description, and preservation of both physical and digital materials. You will learn to develop retention schedules, write finding aids, apply descriptive standards, and build disaster preparedness plans. The curriculum also addresses electronic records systems, digitisation workflows, access and reference services, and archival law and ethics. Advanced topics include strategic planning, budgeting, stakeholder advocacy, diversity and inclusion in archival practice, and emerging technologies such as AI and linked data. By the end, you will have the knowledge and tools to lead a professional archival programme.

How you study in practice Archives Management Course

How you practise Archives Management Course

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Course content

8 Chapters • 40 LessonsDuration between 4 and 360 hours (you decide)

Chapter 1See details

Foundations of Archives Management

Lesson 1 • Types of Archival Institutions
Surveys government, corporate, academic, and community archives. Students identify how institutional context shapes archival priorities.
Lesson 2 • Defining Archives and Archival Science
Introduces the distinction between archives, records, and libraries. Grounds students in the vocabulary needed for all subsequent chapters.
Lesson 3 • Core Archival Principles
Covers provenance, original order, and respect des fonds as foundational rules. These principles govern all arrangement and description decisions.
Lesson 4 • History and Evolution of Archives
Traces archival practice from ancient repositories to modern digital environments. Provides historical context for current professional standards.
Lesson 5 • The Archivist's Professional Role
Defines archivist responsibilities across acquisition, preservation, and access. Connects professional ethics to daily archival decisions.

Chapter 2See details

Records Management and the Records Lifecycle

Lesson 1 • The Records Lifecycle Model
Explains creation, active use, semi-active storage, and final disposition stages. Students map organisational records to each lifecycle phase.
Lesson 2 • Retention Schedules and Disposition
Teaches how to develop, apply, and review retention schedules. Students produce a sample schedule for a defined record series.
Lesson 3 • Regulatory and Compliance Frameworks
Surveys privacy, accountability, and transparency obligations affecting records. Students align retention decisions with applicable compliance requirements.
Lesson 4 • Records Continuum Concept
Introduces the continuum model as an alternative to the lifecycle approach. Highlights its relevance for digital and hybrid record environments.
Lesson 5 • Records Management Fundamentals
Defines records management and its relationship to archives. Establishes why systematic records control is essential before archival transfer.

Chapter 3See details

Appraisal and Acquisition of Archival Materials

Lesson 1 • Appraisal Criteria and Decision-Making
Identifies criteria including evidential, informational, and intrinsic value. Students apply criteria to sample record sets and justify decisions.
Lesson 2 • Theories of Archival Appraisal
Compares functional, macro, and documentation strategy appraisal theories. Students evaluate the strengths and limitations of each approach.
Lesson 3 • Acquisition Methods and Donor Relations
Covers transfers, donations, purchases, and field collecting. Students practise donor communication and deed-of-gift documentation.
Lesson 4 • Developing an Acquisition Policy
Guides students through drafting a scope-of-collections statement. A clear policy prevents scope creep and guides donor negotiations.
Lesson 5 • Deaccessioning Principles and Practice
Addresses ethical and procedural standards for removing materials from collections. Students draft a deaccessioning workflow with stakeholder approval steps.

Chapter 4See details

Arrangement and Description of Archival Collections

Lesson 1 • Subject Access and Controlled Vocabularies
Covers thesauri, name authorities, and subject headings for archival description. Consistent vocabulary improves cross-collection discoverability.
Lesson 2 • Describing Special Format Materials
Addresses description challenges for photographs, maps, audiovisual, and born-digital materials. Students adapt standard templates for format-specific needs.
Lesson 3 • Writing Archival Finding Aids
Teaches the components and writing conventions of effective finding aids. Students draft a complete finding aid for a sample collection.
Lesson 4 • Levels of Archival Arrangement
Explains repository, collection, series, file, and item levels of arrangement. Students assign materials to appropriate levels using provenance principles.
Lesson 5 • Descriptive Standards and Schemas
Introduces internationally recognised descriptive standards for archival content. Students select and apply the appropriate standard for a given collection.

Chapter 5See details

Preservation and Conservation of Archival Materials

Lesson 1 • Preservation Planning Fundamentals
Introduces preservation as a proactive, institution-wide programme rather than reactive repair. Students draft a preservation mission statement and priority framework.
Lesson 2 • Digital Preservation Strategies
Addresses bit-rot, format obsolescence, and long-term digital storage solutions. Students apply the OAIS reference model to a digital preservation scenario.
Lesson 3 • Environmental Controls and Storage
Covers temperature, humidity, light, and pollutant standards for archival storage. Students evaluate a storage environment and recommend improvements.
Lesson 4 • Handling, Packaging, and Housing
Teaches correct handling procedures and archival-quality enclosure selection. Proper housing reduces physical deterioration during storage and use.
Lesson 5 • Disaster Preparedness and Recovery
Guides students through writing a disaster plan and conducting salvage operations. Preparedness minimises collection loss from fire, flood, and other hazards.

Chapter 6See details

Digital Records and Electronic Archives Management

Lesson 1 • Electronic Records Management Systems
Evaluates functional requirements for electronic records management systems. Students map system features to organisational records management needs.
Lesson 2 • Cloud Storage and Cybersecurity for Archives
Addresses cloud storage options, data sovereignty, and cybersecurity risks for digital archives. Students assess a cloud storage proposal against archival security requirements.
Lesson 3 • Digitisation Planning and Execution
Covers scanning standards, quality control, and workflow design for digitisation projects. Students produce a digitisation project plan for a defined collection segment.
Lesson 4 • Metadata Standards for Digital Archives
Introduces descriptive, structural, and administrative metadata schemas for digital objects. Consistent metadata enables long-term management and interoperability.
Lesson 5 • Born-Digital Records Fundamentals
Distinguishes born-digital from digitised records and identifies unique management challenges. Students inventory a sample born-digital collection and assess its condition.

Chapter 7See details

Archival Access, Reference, and Outreach

Lesson 1 • Reproduction and Rights Management
Addresses copyright, reproduction fees, and permission workflows for archival materials. Students draft a reproduction and rights policy for a sample institution.
Lesson 2 • Outreach and Public Programming
Teaches exhibition design, educational programming, and community partnership strategies. Outreach transforms archives from passive repositories into active community resources.
Lesson 3 • Digital Access and Online Discovery
Covers online finding aid portals, digitisation-on-demand, and aggregator platforms. Students evaluate a digital access system against researcher usability standards.
Lesson 4 • Access Policies and Restrictions
Defines open, restricted, and closed access categories and their justifications. Students draft an access policy addressing privacy, sensitivity, and donor conditions.
Lesson 5 • Reference Services and the Reading Room
Covers reference interview techniques, retrieval workflows, and reading room rules. Effective reference service connects researchers to relevant materials efficiently.

Chapter 8See details

Strategic Management of Archival Programmes

Lesson 1 • Strategic Planning for Archives
Applies strategic planning tools including SWOT analysis and environmental scanning to archives. Students draft a three-year strategic plan with measurable objectives.
Lesson 2 • Budgeting and Financial Management
Covers budget development, cost justification, and grant funding for archival programmes. Students prepare a programme budget with narrative justification.
Lesson 3 • Staffing, Training, and Volunteer Management
Addresses workforce planning, professional development, and volunteer programme design. Effective staffing ensures consistent service quality across all archival functions.
Lesson 4 • Performance Measurement and Assessment
Introduces key performance indicators, user satisfaction surveys, and programme audits. Students design a measurement framework for a defined archival programme.
Lesson 5 • Advocacy and Stakeholder Engagement
Teaches how to build the case for archival investment with administrators and funders. Students develop an advocacy brief targeting a specific decision-making audience.

Certification

Your valid completion certificate

This course is for you:

Records coordinators: seeking formal credentials to advance into archival roles.
History graduates: wanting to turn academic training into a professional archival career.
Library assistants: ready to specialise beyond general collections into archival management.
Nonprofit administrators: responsible for institutional memory and organisational document retention.
Career changers: drawn to information stewardship from fields like law or education.
Local historians: managing community or family collections without professional archival guidance.

What our students say

Feedback from those who have already studied with us:

Your lessons are perfect. I purchased the one-year package and finally have the opportunity to follow various topics of interest without needing to change platforms... I'm grateful for everything you do, I've already recommended you to other people...