Arrangement & Description (A&D) Certificate Program

Need more in-depth training, a refresher, or want to expand into a new niche in this diverse area? Explore this program!

The SAA Arrangement & Description certificate program allows archivists to gain more experience and knowledge in this single topic than is generally available in graduate archival programs. This approach provides archivists with extended descriptive training to expand the skill set they gained in graduate school, and it also can facilitate career shifts within the archival field (e.g., moving from public services to processing/cataloging). Taken as a whole, these courses provide an integrated programmatic framework for archivists and others at various levels within their institutions whose areas of practice include arrangement and description.

The A&D curriculum accounts for horizontal and vertical transfers of knowledge through a structure of tracks and tiers. Courses structured by tracks are not solely for archivists but also for those who work closely with them, such as IT, general counsel, librarians, records managers, and other stakeholders. The tiers of study in the program allow for instruction that is built upon subsequent courses that address specialized, advanced studies and tactics and tools useful for arrangement and description, management, organization, and preservation.