Archivists: Occupation or Profession

Abstract

Many theorists argue that there is a fundamental difference between the occupation and the profession. For occupation, they list the following properties: disorganization of its members, short-term training, the job according to the instructions, no specific professional culture, a small reputation in society, a weak sense of belonging to the profession, their position influenced by the market. For the profession it is expected to be characterized by the following: its position is affected by the state, members are bonding in separate organizations, they have a high reputation in the society, a strong sense of belonging to the profession, it requires a long-term education and highly demanding knowledge, the operation is regulated by the code of professional ethics, there is a mechanism of entering control into the profession. The path from the occupation toward profession is called professionalization. The road is not open to all occupations. Being an archivist is now only the occupation. To achieve the profession, it already has all necessary conditions but there are necessary actions that need to be undertaken: the independent study of archival science is necessary to achieve a greater reputation in the society, to raise awareness of archivists on the importance of its mission to include ethics, mandatory archival legislation and create professional organization.