Pasadena City College Has New Certificate of Achievement

By Krista Goguen, Pasadena City College

Pasadena City College now offers two related Certificates focused on job-related skills and practical experience for archives and digital collections. Students can now earn one or both Certificates described below. More information on the program courses is online: https://libguides.pasadena.edu/Archives-Digitization-Certificates

Digitization Skills for Libraries & Cultural Heritage Organizations

Occupational Skills Certificate (4 courses, 8 units)

The Digitization Skills Certificate curriculum provides practical experience using industry standards to prepare students for work in digital repositories found in libraries, archives, museums and other cultural heritage organizations. Coursework includes:

• Digital project planning (students build their own digital collections)
• Digital imaging equipment, standards and techniques for creating quality digital images
• Digital asset management systems used to build and manage collections (commercial and open-source)
• Basic principles of metadata schemas for end user access to digital materials
• Copyright and privacy issues relating to digital projects
• Application of skills and concepts in an established digitization project (Internship).

Archives & Digital Collections Assistant

Certificate of Achievement (7 courses, 16 units)

New for Fall 2018. The Archives & Digital Collections Assistant Certificate curriculum prepares students for work with archival materials as well as 'born digital" collections found in libraries, archives, museums and other cultural heritage organizations. This more comprehensive certificate incorporates and expands on the shorter Digitization Skills Certificate with three additional courses on archival practices, digital image editing and digital preservation skills to better prepare students for work in archives, special collections and the digitization field. Additional coursework includes:

• Introduction to the components and processes of archives and best practices for handling, arranging, describing and preserving archival materials.
• Introduction to industry standard digital image editing tools and techniques.
• Techniques, protocols and standards for digitization and preservation of "born digital" and reformatted material of long term value
• Strategies to ensure that digital information is preserved to remain accessible and usable over time.