By: Steven D. Whitaker, CRM
The Institute of Certified Records Managers (ICRM) is an international certifying organization of and for professional records and information managers. The ICRM was incorporated in 1975 to meet the requirement to have a standard by which persons involved in records and information management could be measured, accredited and recognized according to criteria of experience and capability established by their peers.
The ICRM is an independent non-profit organization administered by a Board of Regents (the Board) in accordance with the Constitution and By-laws of the Institute. The primary objective of the ICRM is to develop and administer the program for professional certification of records managers, including certification examinations and a certification maintenance program. The ICRM serves as the official certifying body for both the Association of Records Managers and Administrators, International, (ARMA International) and the Nuclear Information Records Management Association (NIRMA).
To understand why the Institute of Certified Records Managers was established, we must first learn about the early records-related professional associations.
The Warren Filing Association was founded in Chicago in 1917 during World War I. The Chicago Filing Association was established in 1932. Several of the chapters consisted primarily of file personnel. The Records Management Association of Chicago was incorporated in 1952. In 1957, the Records Management Association of Chicago was reincorporated as the Chicago Chapter of the American Records Management Association.
The Filing Association of New York was founded in 1920 in New York City. In the early 1950s the organization was renamed as the Records Management Association of New York, which was incorporated in 1955.
Twelve records managers in New York formed the Association of Records Executives and Administrators (AREA) in 1955. At that time, some believed that the other records-related organizations were centered too much on filing and retrievals, and not enough on the management aspects of records. AREA membership increased steadily, and other chapters were chartered in the mid 1960s.
The American Records Management Association (original ARMA) was established by Jack Britt, records manager of Ford Motor Company. Mr. Britt organized the original ARMA by bringing together a number of chapters from the Records Management Association of Chicago, and from the Records Management Association of New York.
In 1972 the original ARMA produced and distributed a brochure announcing that a certification program by examination would be established. The principal motivation for certification was to establish a strong professional standing, raise the professional level, and to recognize that a person certified as a records manager had broad professional experience in the field.
An ARMA committee was established to develop the certification process. Olive Surgen was chair, and Charles Garrison, David Goodman, and Mary Robek were some of the original members. The first examination was given in the Fall of 1974, with disastrous results. None of the candidates taking the examination passed.
Some Association of Records Executives and Administrators (AREA) members felt that the certification would be limited to members of ARMA. A decision was made to develop a separate and completely independent certification organization to represent both ARMA and AREA. The American Records Management Association and the Association of Records Executives and Administrators each appointed five members to the unnamed certification organization. Thornton Mitchell, Stanley Gordon, Bill Benedon, Mary Robek, and Bill Rofes were appointed as representatives by the American Records Management Association. Joe Pomrenze, Ruth Thomas, Kay Mutchler, Dudley Judd, and Mark Koenig were named to represent the Association of Records Executives and Administrators.
Bill Benedon and Thornton Mitchell were assigned the task of drafting by-laws for consideration by the Board. Thornton reported that Bill developed the draft. The committee members, plus Ben Oliver, Charles Garrison, and David Goodman met for the first time in New York on January 6 and 7, 1975. AREA President Ben Oliver presided at the meeting. ARMA President Gerry Brown was supposed to co-preside at the meeting, but was not able to attend. The group examined the Benedon draft by-laws almost word for word. Ruth Thomas had been designated secretary pro-tem and both she and Bill Benedon took notes. Thornton Mitchell also took notes. Ruth and Bill met until late in the evening (about 2 AM) to develop a version of the by-laws upon which the Board could take final action on the next day. On several occasions that evening, Thornton Mitchell was called upon to come meet with them. Ruth then developed a “final” draft version of the by-laws.
On January 7, the Board met again, reviewed and approved the by-laws with some modifications, and established fees and annual dues. Officers were elected. Bill Benedon was nominated for President but declined because he had been asked to serve as Program Chair for the next annual ARMA meeting. Bill Rofes was then elected President, Joe Pomrenze was elected Vice President, Ruth Thomas was elected Secretary, and Thornton Mitchell was elected Treasurer. The original by-laws called for the leader’s title to be Chairman, but Mary Robek objected that the title was sexist. Thornton Mitchell objected to using the term Chairperson to designate the leader of the ICRM, so the title on his motion was changed to President.
Joe Pomrenze suggested naming the organization the Institute of Certified Records Managers. It is believed that the Board referred to themselves as “Regents” because both ARMA and AREA had Boards of “Directors.”
There were no major disagreements among members of the group. An early agreement was that there would be two initial means of certification–by examination and ‘by review’, which was the term applied to certification on the basis of review of the candidate’s education and specific professional experience. The draft by-laws proposed that candidates by examination and review would be required to have a college degree. There was some disagreement on this point. The U.S. Civil Service standards at that time both for archivists and analysts permitted the substitution of two years experience for one year of college, and eight years of professional experience was considered the equivalent of a degree. After considerable discussion, the Board agreed on either a degree or eight years of professional records management experience as a requirement. The Board had no difficulty in agreeing on three years of professional experience as a prerequisite to take the examinations. The board also agreed that the experience had to be gained in multiple areas of records management, and that clerical work was not qualifying experience.
The Board had no significant disagreement on certification by review. It was believed that to establish credibility the organization had to include the best in the records management profession. It was established that the certification by review would have the most stringent requirement. Certification by review required ten years of high-standard professional experience, an appropriate college degree or eight additional years of experience, and for the candidate to have published. This is a normal process for new certification organizations. The certification by review was open for two years. Over three hundred candidates applied for certification by review, and each one was individually considered. Two hundred forty seven candidates were approved by review.
The original agreement between The American Records Management Association and the Association of Records Executives and Administrators provided that the first ten Regents, Benedon, Rofes, Mitchell, Pomrenze, Thomas, Gordon, Koenig, Robek, Mutchler, and Judd would be automatically certified. The ten Regents agreed, in order to avoid criticism, that they would each qualify for certification by review.
The ICRM Board of Regents met for the second time in Washington D.C. in March of 1975. At that time the first certifications by review were approved. One early disagreement involved certifications by review for Records Management educators. The disagreements were resolved by requiring submissions of course outlines and syllabi. The first CRM examinations were administered in the fall of 1975. It is reported that when Bill Benedon became Vice-President, the ICRM Board turned their full attention to improving the contents of the examinations.
The ICRM Board voted to incorporate in North Carolina. Thornton Mitchell managed the process and was helped by friends who worked in the Office of the NC Secretary of State. The total cost of incorporation was $28, including recording fees. Thornton continued on the Board as the ICRM Treasurer until the end of 1978.
The American Records Management Association and the Association of Records Executives and Administrators merged in 1975 and became the Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA), as it is still known today. The need for a records management professional standard and a certification organization brought two professional associations together, as well as establishing the ICRM.
In 2000 the Institute of Certified Records Managers celebrates its Silver Anniversary. The ICRM now has over seven hundred fifty members, and the membership is served by eleven voting Regents and Officers, one non-voting Senior Board Advisor, and by numerous dedicated CRM volunteers. The ICRM is the official certifying body for the Association of Records Managers and Administrators, and the Nuclear Information and Records Management Association. The ICRM is currently discussing providing certification services to several other records and information management professional associations. The ICRM is also developing plans to offer the certified records managers examinations in languages other than English. To learn more about the ICRM, reference the ICRM’s web site at http://www.icrm.org.
NOTE: Mr. Thornton Mitchell, CRM, provided some historic information for this article. A very special thanks and appreciation to Mr. Mitchell for his efforts.