Innovation and curricula: an archival perspective on education of ‘digital curators

The article examines the changes and recent developments in the archival education (but also in the disciplines related to the information and document heritage) by discussing the international literature with specific reference to the influence of information technologies. The contribution considers also the innovative areas and the trends recently emerged in the last years at international level with reference to the educational field at master and PhD level. Specifically, the attention is dedicated to the proposals developed in Europe and North-America at the level of post-graduate courses for new profiles and curricula dedicated to ‘digital curation’. With this respect, the analysis concerns the consistency of the principles and the concepts involved in the expression digital curation and provides elements for a comparison with the traditional professional requirements at the basis of the records management and archival science disciplines. The main proposals are briefly described (the goals and the main initiatives of the Digital Curation Centre in UK and DigCurr projects as developed in North Carolina). The article considers in its conclusion the essential contribution that a solid and updated education in archival science is able to provide to new digital archivists and, in general, to any professional involved in keeping and preserving digital objects