Information literacy for primary sources: creating a new paradigm for archival researcher education

Educating researchers on how to use archival and manuscript materials and repositories is an important component in any records program. This is more important now that increasing amounts of information concerning archives and manuscripts appear daily on the web. Twenty years ago, all use of archives and manuscripts was mediated by reference personnel. This is not true today. However, the archivists' paradigm for educating researchers has not shifted accordingly. Furthermore, archivists do not have the defined basic competencies that might comprise “information literacy for primary sources”.