Growing up in Glasgow, with regular visits to its many and varied cultural institutions, including the excellent Glasgow Life museums, meant I knew from a young age I wanted to work in the cultural heritage sector. However, it was my undergraduate degree in Digital Media and Information Studies that cemented this ambition more fully, and where I became particularly interested in how digital technologies can, and are, affecting the way we live, learn and work. This, combined with modules on digitisation and record management, encouraged me to pursue the Bodleian Libraries Digital Archivist traineeship to gain vital experience within the archives sector with a long-term aim of contributing to the preservation and accessibility of our past, for future users.

The traineeship has been meticulously organised to provide us with a diverse and comprehensive introduction to the many aspects of archival work; so far I have worked on collection appraisal and cataloguing on some fascinating modern political collections which has been especially engaging; worked in the reading rooms where it has been very rewarding to see our collections being used and appreciated and to help with this process; and have been working in BEAM (Bodleian Electronic Archives and Manuscripts) to extract digital materials for processing. Working in BEAM has been really exciting; as digital content becomes increasingly relevant to archival work, I feel this is somewhere we trainees can really contribute. As our training progresses, I’m looking forward to capturing and preserving a variety of digital material.

The Aberystwyth University Digital Curation diploma has been really useful in providing a theoretical basis to the work we have been doing; learning archival principles via the course and seeing how they work in practice during the traineeship has been invaluable to my development as an archivist. The best part of traineeship has to be working with my fellow trainees and our colleagues at the Weston Library, who have been incredibly helpful, introducing us to a range of archival roles and processes. It is great working alongside such passionate and knowledgeable individuals and I’ve really enjoyed my traineeship so far; it doesn’t feel like work, because everything is so interesting!

Iram Safdar, May 2019

I studied History as an undergraduate at Goldsmiths University of London, during this time I undertook an internship at St Paul’s Cathedral in the Collections Department gaining an introduction into Collections Management and Archiving. After my first internship I knew that I wanted to pursue a career in the heritage sector once I graduated. After university I worked on a digitisation project at the Royal Airforce Museum in London. This gave me an insight into record management and the importance of digital media and the issues surrounding preservation and access for both traditional mediums and born digital material.

The traineeship is great and I enjoy all aspects of the work I am involved in. My days are well structured but varied. I am currently working on a number of projects including the Conservative Party Archives, Roy Strong’s personal papers and legal deposit web archiving work. Some days I work on enquires, these come from all over the world and are expanding my knowledge of the archives and collections held by the Bodleian. Learning new software and programmes is also an essential part of the role that I enjoy and I am looking forward to using more applications as the traineeship progresses.

Working full time and completing a postgraduate course in Digital curation can be challenging but the study school and support from colleagues and my fellow trainees makes this aspect fun and enjoyable. Being able to take what I learn at work and apply it directly to my studies and vice versa is extremely beneficial as is the knowledge and experience of those around me.

Carl Cooper, May 2019

I started my traineeship after completing my BA in History at Aberystwyth University, my interest in the archive sector started with two internships, the first being with The Hong Kong Heritage Project in 2014, and the second being with Hong Kong University in 2015. Both of these internships showed me how important archives are from a cultural heritage standpoint and from an education standpoint.

The traineeship at the Bodleian presents graduates with a golden ticket into the archive world, giving hands-on training in many different aspects of collection management whilst also helping you to study towards a recognised qualification. The work and study complement each other nicely, and with mentorship from experienced members you rarely feel lost. In addition, the opportunity to start alongside five new trainees has also proven to be immensely helpful as we are developing not only individually but as a team.

The work we have undertaken so far has been extremely varied, our schedules consist of work on Conservative Party Archive, the United Nations, enquiries and digital work in BEAM, each presents its own set of unique challenges and invaluable insight into how archives are run. The work is consistently challenging alongside being endlessly interesting.

The traineeship’s focus on digital archiving showcases the direction the industry is taking. The digital aspects of the traineeship, especially work in BEAM and Web Archiving, has shown us the importance of born-digital preservation and digitation projects and how avoiding a digital ‘dark age’ is hugely important.

The distance learning diploma at Aberystwyth forms an important aspect of the traineeship, the work and study balance is by no means easy but the overlap between many aspects of study and work is particularly useful and means that development at work compliments development academically. In addition, the benefits of emerging from the traineeship with a qualification also cannot be understated and will hugely increase my career prospects in the archive sector.

Part of the traineeship involves attending various archive related events across the UK, these should prove helpful as they both promote the development of new skills and also present a platform for meeting new members of the archive community.

In short, being a trainee at the Bodleian is a unique learning experience that will form the cornerstone of my professional development into the archive sector, it is also something I am very grateful to be a part of.

Ben Peirson-Smith, May 2017

Before starting work at the Bodleian I could never have imagined just what a diverse, exciting, and welcoming place it would be to work. So far I have been involved in many varied and interesting projects including: utilising XML to re-code catalogues from EAD1 to EAD2, web archiving, processing Roy Strong’s personal archive, and answering reader enquiries to mention just a few. I even got to spend an afternoon helping one of our archivists, Catherine McIlwaine, with Tolkien’s spellbinding collection!

My decision to become an archivist has been inspired by my academic and practical trajectory to date, namely my undergraduate degree and masters in History of Art and year-long partnership undertaken at the National Railway Museum. These initial experiences cemented my passion for the material object and led me to want to learn more about its preservation through traditional and digital archiving practices.

I am thoroughly enjoying being a Trainee Digital Archivist here in Oxford. It is wonderful having the opportunity to gain practical experience of a range of collections and archive work (including the Conservative Party Archives and born-digital material), as well as studying for a postgraduate qualification in Digital Curation from Aberystwyth University. Working full time and studying is certainly a challenge but also a highly rewarding one.

I really value the knowledge and skills I have gained from the traineeship so far, the experience has certainly shown me the value of digital archiving in today’s society and I very much look forward to everything the next two years have in store.

Alice MacDonald, May 2017