Voter Education

Topic IndexIndexing and Dating

Researchers and librarians will become the custodians of the materials being produced for educators and citizens. These educators and citizens require information about the provenance of a publication.

But often, this is not available, because materials used for educational purposes in this enterprise are ephemeral or 'grey' materials. In addition, little thought is given to the durability of the materials, so packages are prepared in which a manual might have all the suggested information that follows, but its component parts may not.

The following basic information should be provided on all printed material:

Name and Address of the Producer or Publisher: While some material (particularly formal books) may be handed over to registered publishers, the trend is for election authorities and voter education organisations to self-publish using simple printing and binding techniques combined with specialised and limited printing runs. A number of these publishers are organisations established themselves for specialised and limited purposes, so good information about them is essential, including an address, and when they are consortia or coalitions, the component members.

This needs to be done for two reasons. First, users must be able to evaluate the material according to a range of criteria (especially if the material is produced during an election when bias is obviously an issue), one of which is the credibility of the publishing organisation. Second, those collecting or assessing the material activities that ensure ongoing use of the experience contained in the material or through its use need the information in order to catalogue and to obtain further copies or further information.

Name of Authors and Collaborators on the Project: Again, this information is necessary for provenance and cataloguing reasons. However, there is a third reason. Those involved in education for democracy have often done this anonymously and have built up considerable xpertise and practical experience. When this is not recognised, through false modesty, or notions of collective responsibility and democratic equality, those who have done the primary work are often overlooked in favour of those who specialise in collecting materials and editing them. Neither the practitioners nor the organisations they represent receive the necessary recognition. Much of the material presently in use around the world has entered the public domain. Its origins are obscure; but it would be good to recognise those who have been innovators and leaders in this rapidly professionalising field.

Publication Date: A surprising number of printed materials do not carry a date. At the very least, the year of publication should be used. This provides an indication of the context within which the material has been produced, and it also ensures that any researcher or evaluator is able to track the development of ideas and methods over time.

In election periods, dates may need to be more specific because of information changes. One edition of a pamphlet may be more up to date and authoritative than another; newspaper supplements may have detail that is only current on the day of production. But printed materials hang around, most notably in reception areas of offices but surprisingly also on public shelves and free distribution stands. Inaccurate material cannot be discarded if it is not dated.

So, in addition to the year, ephemeral material can require the month and even the day of publication.

Specialised publications such as lists of voting stations, amendments to regulations, and frequently asked questions for educators, can even have a time of printing on them to ensure that the most current version is always in use.

Indexing and Cataloguing Keywords: Because the field of civic and voter education is a specialised one making use of materials from a variety of different disciplines, people cataloguing the materials find it difficult to do so. While it is not essential to provide keywords, it can be helpful for those who have produced the material to suggest these or, if they are publishing a large number of works, to establish a key word list for their own use.

Copyright Information: In order to allow for the use of materials published for educational purposes, direction should be given to users about ways in which the material can be reproduced or additional copies obtained. For more information on this, see Copyright.

Package Information: Most educational materials are published as packages or as sets. Sometimes the material will come with a set of handouts or will be complemented by pamphlets and posters. In some cases, the material may be part of a series.

Because materials get separated from one another, a decision should be made as to how to ensure that there is a full record of the set of materials. It may not be possible to put full information on small pamphlets or artifacts. But these should have some identifying mark or logo and the primary document (often a manual or package cover) should have full and explicit details of the full set of materials. If possible, the primary document should mention not only titles but give some descriptive information particularly about posters and other art work.

Statement of Purpose: Educational materials are produced for a reason. When they are taken out of that particular context, they become dysfunctional. But if they are attractive and available, educators from other contexts may want to use them and adapt them. Poorly trained and resourced educators may even want merely to adopt them.

In addition, researchers attempting to understand how the materials were prepared and used so that lessons can be drawn from their use may be made more generally available will also want information that often is not given.

Publishers should convey, in a preface, forward, introductory statement, or boxed highlight, a brief sense of the context within which the materials were produced and the purpose for which they were produced. This is especially important in electoral education because there are such divergences between various elections. Voter education material suitable for a founding election in which the electorate have never before voted will be very different from those prepared for a highly literate and election habituated community where elections are compulsory.

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Voter Education