A*CENSUS, the first truly comprehensive nationwide survey of the archives profession, was fielded in early May 2004. Provided below are links to the full final report (published in part in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of The American Archivist) as well as background information on the survey design and questionnaire, presentations on the findings, a state-by-state breakdown of some of the data, and two preliminary reports. Please contact the SAA office if you have questions about A*CENSUS.

A*CENSUS: The American Archivist, vol. 69, no. 2, 2006 (PDF, 237 pages; 1.96 mb)
This is the version of the full report published in The American Archivist. The narrative contains references to supplemental tables that may be found on this webpage in the A*CENSUS Full Report and in the Special Analyses.

A*CENSUS: Full Report (PDF, 328 pages; 3.16 mb)
This is the final report on the survey prepared for publication. This version includes all of the analysis tables referred to in the version published in The American Archivist.

A*CENSUS: A Closer Look (PDF, 130 pages; 670 kb)
This report is an expanded version of Part 3 in the A*CENSUS Full Report. Principal Research Consultant Victoria Irons Walch provides highlights of the general data analysis with supplemental data not included in The American Archivist.

A*CENSUS Special Analyses 
The Full Report includes special analyses in five key areas. Below are links to these individual reports that were also published in abridged form in The American Archivist.

• Graduate Archival Education (by Elizabeth Yakel and Jeannette Bastian) (PDF, 24 pages; 355 kb)
• Continuing Education (by Nancy Zimmelman Lenoil) (PDF, 52 pages; 194 kb)
• Diversity (by Brenda Banks) (PDF, 12 pages; 159 kb)
• Leadership (by Susan Davis) (PDF, 13 pages; 74 kb)
• Certification (by Anne Diffendal) (PDF, 22 pages; 268 kb) 

Background on the Design of the A*CENSUS

• A*CENSUS Survey Questionnaire is provided as a reference for users of the data.
• A*CENSUS Background and Technical Notes provides information that is important to understanding the survey process and interpreting the data. It describes who participated in the process, the project timetable, the development of the mailing list, the response rate, and details on how results are being calculated for specific questions.
• Data Collection Methodology Report was prepared by MSI Research, the survey research firm that developed and delivered both the online and the paper survey instruments.
• Responses from Archival Association Members provides, for most of the archival associations in the United States, the number of members on the mailing lists supplied to the A*CENSUS project, the number of individuals who indicated that they were members of the associations, and a response rate calculated from these figures.
• Fully formatted versions of a privacy-protected version of the A*CENSUS data set are deposited in the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) in Ann Arbor, MI. ICPSR members may download the dataset (#4565) from the ICPSR website. Non-members of ICPSR have full access to the data codebook and other documentation.  

A*CENSUS Data Tabulated by State

The reports in this section provide supplemental analyses of the overall A*CENSUS responses not reported fully in the main reports. Included are tables that show the average salary and respondent age, detailed responses most questions on the survey by state, and spreadsheet tables with data on employment, education, and career paths, each organized by state.

• Mean Age & Salary by State (PDF, 3 pages; 54 kb)
• Questions Included in A*CENSUS Tables for Data by State (PDF, 12 pages; 194 kb)
  Each survey question contains a link to a PDF formatted table of responses by state
• Excel spreadsheet files of A*CENSUS survey questions and response data organized by topic and thereunder by state
  • Set 1: Employment related questions (.xlsx)
  • Set 2: Education related questions (.xlsx)
  • Set 3: Career path related questions (.xlsx) 

Presentations from "A Sense of A*CENSUS" Session
SAA Annual Meeting, New Orleans, August 19, 2005 

• General Data Analysis and Overview
  Victoria Irons Walch, A*CENSUS Principal Research Consultant
• Special Report: Graduate Education
  Elizabeth Yakel, Asociate Professor, University of Michigan School of Information
  Jeannette Bastian, Associate Profesor, Simmons College
• Special Report: Continuing Education
  Nancy Zimmelman Lenoil, Administrator, Western Archives Institute, and Archivist, California State Archives
• Special Report: Diversity
  Brenda Banks, Deputy State Archivist, The Georgia Archives
• Special Report: Certification
  Anne Diffendal, Consulting Historian/Archivist, Lincoln NE
• Special Report: Leadership
  Susan Davis, Assistant Professor, College of Information Studies, University of Maryland  

Preliminary Reports
Principal Research Consultant Victoria Irons Walch prepared these preliminary reports on the A*CENSUS findings. Report # 1 is findings on gender, age, and position type. Report #2 includes tables on the regional distribution of respondents and detailed tables on reported salaries.

• A First Look at A*CENSUS Results
  (Preliminary Report #1, August 10, 2004)
• Salary Data from the A*CENSUS Survey
  (Preliminary Report #2, December 10, 2004)

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