Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER

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Developments in professional schooling for curators of map collections and topographical-historical atlases in The Netherlands

Jan Smits

© LIBER and author
Published from: Bulletin Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche, 37(1986)
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RÉSUMÉ

  1. In 1976 Walter W. Ristow stated that there were five professional courses for map curators available in the U.S.A. and in Canada: at the University of Illinois Library School; the faculty of Library Science at the University of Toronto; the School of Library Service at Columbia University; the School of Librarianship in conjunction with the Department of Geography at Western Michigan University; and the Catholic University's Graduate Department of Library Science, Washington, D.C. However he also showed the ad-hoc basis on which these courses were built and pointed out the lack of textbooks. In this article he stated that the employment situation in North America was such that special university courses for mapcuratorship were viable, there being employment for some 36 to 70 new map curators every year (1).

  2. In 1974 the IFLA Section of Geography and Map Libraries formed the working group 'Training of Map Librarians'. Three basic structures for education and training were put up for recommendation at the IFLA 1975 meeting: Lothar Zögner, the then chairman, had even drawn up a 'proposal for a training course'. I do not know how this Working Group has fared, but it does not survive any more in the Geography and Map Libraries Section. What came from it are the 'Workshop for map curators of developing countries' (Netherlands 1981, Turkey 1987? , Philippines 1988?). Hopefully the 'Manual for map curatorship" which should result from these workshops will soon be published.

  3. In the 1981 winter volume of Library Trends, Mary Larsgaard published a pessimistic article entitled: 'Education for map librarians' (2). Herein she appraises the effects of the new media and technologies on the traditional library profession, even warning us to look for other names to designate the profession, because of the traditional connotation that goes with the word librarian, which doesn't pay anymore in the American information society.When possible "... we are going to have to be better managers [of information and collections], and we will have to know more about and do more in public relations work and in understanding our public ...". Her report on education is the same as Walter Ristow's, except that the University of Illinois is considering expanding its course into an integrated programme. At the same time they found some niches for map curators in the traditional library programmes. Quoting Carolyn 0. Frost she says: "Fortunately, there is an awareness among many library school faculties that non-book media are assuming an increasingly important role in library collections, and the teaching of the problems of these materials has become more and more significant for the curriculum of library education". Contrary to Walter Ristow she thinks that there are perhaps only 5 to 10 vacancies for map librarians every year. How can Europe progress?

I haven't been able to find any articles not mentioned in Lothar Zögner's article of 1979 (3) which bear on the European situation concerning education. But fortunately we found some information by direct questioning.

In February 1985 some 130 map collections received a questionnaire produced by the Groupe des Cartothécaires de LIBER. With the responses we hoped to get a good insight into the present state of organisation, education, communication and other developments in European mapcuratorship. There were 44 responses. All in all I think they furnished a good insight in what is or should be happening. I shall now give some results of the 4th section, which concerns education. First of all: 'Do you need special training for your work?' (IV.4). The responses show that a study in library-science and practically acquired knowledge of geography and cartography is needed. More specifically: It is strange to find that hardly any of the respondents said that a qualification in geography (including cartography) was obligatory or wanted.

When we examine the next question 'Would you like to receive more training?' (IV. 7) we see that what is mainly needed is more knowledge of the field of geography, (history of) cartography and cataloguing. As exemplified: Reviewing these results, it seems that here and there some basic knowledge is missing. It also seems that there is too much emphasis on training from within the field of mapcuratorship itself and not enough from external sources.

As to the question (IV .1-3), whether it is possible to satisfy these needs and to follow a special course in mapcuratorship, it reveals that there is little provision for special formal education: There seems to be no special courses for serving map curators, except for those which are managed by or in cooperation with national map curators groups. As to why the situation seems to bleak there can only be tentative answers. Part of the problem is probably still that the number of full-time map curators is small, not well organized and therefore still not fully recognized as disseminators of valuable scientific information. Another is that the collections are not always discrete but frequently part of a larger department. Library schools may not find it economically viable to create special courses for mapcuratorship, in view of the limited number of posts available.

As in the whole information-field we are or soon will be overwhelmed with new techniques, new media and new technologies. It is therefore of prime importance that there are possibilities for map curators in office to become familiar with these vast new fields.

As to solutions I can do no more than offer some suggestions on a number of fronts to satisfy the needs of both trainee and serving mapcurators:
  1. Map curators have to organize themselves into national or transregional groups, which can serve as platforms for discussions and stimuli for new developments.
  2. Attempts must be made to win over library- and documentation schools to reserve part of their regular curriculum for mapcuratorship. This will give all graduates more knowledge and acceptance of this field.
  3. If there is sufficient demand, one must try to implement special courses for mapcuratorship in library schools for those who want to work in this field in the future.
  4. In cooperation with library schools, geographical institutes, institutes for computer-science, etc., attempts should be made to organize courses for serving map curators.
  5. New developments in mapcuratorship and related fields should be the concern of the national mapcurators groups. After having gathered the relevant information they should disseminate this to their members during study-days or small courses.
  6. The publication of standard texts and guides should be considered.

A Dutch approach
Some of the problems discussed before are also relevant to The Netherlands.
The first to take the initiative in the educational field was the Society 'The topographical-historical atlas' (THA), founded in 1958. A THA administers a collection of prints, maps, photographs, play-bills etc. (but excludes paintings or books with only texts) which are relevant to a city, region or country and the history thereof. One of the Society's first projects was the compilation of a 'Manual for the management of THA's', which appeared in 1962. Progress was such that they decided in the beginning of the 1970s to produce a new edition. This was published in three parts in 1974/75 in the Dutch Journal for Archives and consisted of some 95 pages of practical information. The first part gave information concerning the components of the THA, techniques and materials, conservation, description, cataloguing, acquisition and usage of the collection, while the second and third parts discussed description and cataloguing. At the end of this year a new, adapted and expanded edition (ca. 120 pages) will appear which incorporates the ISBD(CM) (4). Since 1975 the State School for Archives (RAS) has added 6 hours to its curriculum for the management of THA's, in which the manual, supported by lecture programme, provides the basis for the lessons. After the initial work of the Society 'THA' there was a long silence. The reason was that there were few map curators employed at that time. However on the initiative of some individuals a course was created by the 'Foundation for Collective Schooling for Archive, Library , Documentation and Informationprocessing' (GO). The courses of the GO are open to all with the right qualifications and the lecturers and teachers are mainly people who are employed in one of the archive, library or documentation institutions. However, these plans had to be shelved until a coordinator course could be found.

However we were not so quickly defeated and changed tactics. In 1971/72 the 'P. A. Tiele Academie' (a library and documentation school) introduced 8 hours of geography and 2 hours of cartography in its curriculum for the two-years assistant-librarian course. In 1973 the Tiele started with a third-year specialisation for 'Functionary in scientific libraries' (FWB) and 'Librarian Documentalist' (BD). All students received 8 hours of 'knowledge of cartography materials' by Dr. Hans van de Waal who was (and still is) a lecturer at the Geographical Institute of the State University, Utrecht. At the same time a part of the FWB specialisation was designated a 'course for map curatorship'. Initial1y this was limited to 22 hours of geography, taught by a Tiele lecturer. In 1975 the course was expanded with 22 hours of history of cartography (including a general introduction into the management of map collections) and 22 hours of cartography. Besides at tending these 66 hours, the Tiele students had to produce two working papers. One had to be a carto-bibliography, for which they had five weeks, and the other had to be a comparative report concerning two map collections, for which they were given 4 weeks. In 1980 the Working Group for Mapcuratorship of the Dutch Cartographic Society (WK) proposed a summer course for mapcuratorship. A meeting was convened between representatives of the Tiele, the RAS and the WK. The following year, they came to this agreement:
  1. The Tiele and RAS would form a committee which would have a representative of the WK and would organize a special course on mapcuratorship, which could be done as a subsidiary subject by students training to become librarians or archivists. This would entail a broadening of the subject-matter of the Tiele course.
  2. The WK would form a committee that would organize a summer course in 1982 for serving map curators.
  3. The organization of an overall course for serving map curators would be the responsibility of the WK.

As a result of the cooperation received, the first formal course for mapcuratorship could start in the school year 1982/83. The course was open to Tiele students and students who had graduated from the RAS. Students could obtain a certificate which was recognized by the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Culture, Welfare and Public Health (which has responsibility for archives). The lectures and practical exercises were given by practising map curators at the Tiele, the RAS, the Map Collection of the University Library of Amsterdam, the Geographica! Institute, Utrecht, and the General State Archives. The course is a compromise between the requirements of libraries, archives and THA's. Part of the course comprised a three-week in-service training. As in the old Tiele course, students had to produce a carto-bibliography and a comparative report. To obtain a good grasp of the subject-matter and to succeed in the ensuing examinations (in history of cartography, geography, history of art, maps and archives, and palaeography) the students had to invest at least 350 to 400 hours, as well as the working papers. In 1984 the course was upgraded to 200 hours but the in-service training reduced to two weeks. In 1983 there were seven, in 1984 ten and in 1985 again seven candidates who successfully passed the examinations. Of these, nine were studying at the Tiele and fifteen had graduated from the RAS.

In the meantime the WK, in cooperation with the FOBID (Federation of Organisations working in the Library , Information and Documentation field, which is among others responsible for the Dutch editions of the ISBD's), had organized a successful summer course. During this four-day course, 29 people were acquainted with the ISBD(CM) and related fields. The summer course was official1y organized by the Dutch Cartographic Society.

Unfortunately the forma! map curators course came to an end in 1985. There was no financial support, whilst at the same time the Ministry of Education and Science decided to restructure the higher vocational educational (HBO-)system. This means that out of ca. 350 institutions for tertiary professional education (including six library and documentation schools), 40 new institutions with between 600 and 16.000 students had to be formed. As a result the Tiele is now negotiating to merge with 13 other HBO-schools to form one institution with some 12.000 students.

One of the benefits of this amalgamation is that former three-years courses will become four-years courses and there are possibilities for post HBO-courses for special subjects. For mapcuratorship this can mean that a fourth-year specialisation will be created in 1990 (when the new curriculum has matured) or a post HBO-course. If possible the RAS (not part of this amalgamation) will cooperate in these new courses. In the meantime I hope that geography and cartography will be part of the overall curriculum, so we can introduce the new course in 1990 or 1991.

It would be a pity to lose for the period of five or six years the experience gained in the past decade. So the Tiele called together representatives of the Tiele, RAS, Geographical Institute Utrecht, GO, Society 'THA' and the WK, to discuss the possibilities of continuing the map curators course by other means. However, the target-groups for the new course have changed, so we first had to redefine them. According to the 'List of map collections' there are about 140 institutions which concern themselves with cartographic materials, and according to the 'List of THA's', there are about 80 institutions which concern themselves with THA's (there is an overlap in both lists, about 40 collections concern themselves with both cartographic materials and THA's). Besides these there are some 30-40 map producing agencies which have smaller or larger map collections. In discussing the new course with the Dutch Cartographic Society, we concluded that the map producing agencies might be interested in a practical course. The qualifications required of people who serve in map collections vary widely. We wish to upgrade the professionalism of the whole discipline whilst taking care that our attention is not focussed solely on the big university-, archive- and national library-collections. The collections of map producing agencies become more and more important when considering the new techniques and technologies of cartographic information.
According to the Dutch Cartographic Society and the WK there may be 10 to 15 people a year from the map field interested in this course. From the atlas field we could expect another two or three. It was the view of the participants from the map field in the discussions that the programme should reflect this prospective interest. This integrates more the subject-matter which in the Tiele course was divided between the different fields of libraries, archives and THA's.

Shortly after discussion started, the GO agreed to organize the course with the support of the preparation committee. However, we wanted to deviate from a long-standing GO rule, i.e. we want some of the lecturers not to be employed in one of the library-, archive- or documentation-institutions. We felt this was important for the lessons in geography and cartography and also for production and reproduction. During the first discussions in June 1986 with prospective lecturers (some are staff members of the Geography Departments of the Universities of Utrecht and Nijmegen), it was decided to undertake case-studies. This method requires some time in preparation, but it was felt that in this way the whole range of work concerning mapcuratorship would be presented as an integrated subject. Besides, we felt this was the best way to mingle theoretical and practical knowledge. Discussions have not yet ended. If possible this course should start in February 1987. The prospective students should at least have graduated from a school for higher general secondary education and be working in a map or atlas collection. Students without the necessary qualifications should agree to an entrance examination. The course-fee is put at H FL. 2.400,-- (ca. DM 2.150,-- ) which we hope will not be prohibitive. The course needs some 20 students to be economically viable.

However there is still need for further research because in the Netherlands we have the means only to discover a small part of it. I hope that education for mapcuratorship will develop into ful1 maturity before the year 2000. If not so I shall have the definite feeling that we have failed in this.

References
  1. Ristow, Walter W.: Map Iibrary education in the United States and Canada. In: The emergence of maps in libraries (Hamden 1980), pp. 284-288.
  2. Larsgaard, M. L. : Education for map librarianship. In: Library Trends (Winter 1981), pp. 499-511.
  3. Zögner, L.: Training for map librarianship: Working Group in the IFLA Section Geography and Map Libraries. In: The Map-Librarian in the modern world: essays in honour of Walter W. Ristow (München 1979), pp. 117-125.
  4. Ratsma, P. and C .S. Wilmer (ed.): Handleiding voor het beheer van een topografisch-historische atlas (Hilversum 1988) 215 p.

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