The Society of American Archivists hosted “Ask An Archivist” day on Twitter last Wednesday, October 12, 2022 on Twitter. To honor the day, the SJSU SAASC hosted a Q & A event with Nikki Thomas (Archivist for Collection Management at UNC Charlotte), Lolita Rowe (Assistant University Archivist for Outreach and Engagement at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill), and Erin Baucom (associate professor and digital archivist at The University of Montana).

The three archivists are clearly passionate about their archive work as well as maintaining a healthy work/life balance. Here is a summary of their answers to the questions asked. Check out the event recording if you want to watch the whole thing. You can find it here on our website or on our YouTube channel.

What is the best way to enter the archive field?

Nikki Thomas: Do something in an archive and get paid for it.

Lolita Rowe: Be open to any job where you want to work and stick around until the job you want becomes available.

Erin Baucom: Get experience in community archiving.

What was your first archive job?

NT: Volunteered at my college archive, worked in the math archives when nobody else wanted to. Leave time to do things you like to do, to gain that experience.

LR: UNC archive and special collections.

EB: Tech support as a fellow at UNCC, setting up the digital archives program. The people you work with is super important.

What do you wish you had known when you began your first job or internship in archives?

NT: There is a lot of flexibility outside of the core job. Breadth of skills is more important than specialization. Think of the “specialization” as the workplace you want to work in such as government or academic archive. Do as much weird stuff as you can.

LR: You may have to wait for the job to be what you want it to be. Play to your strengths, focus on the things that lift you up. Work anyplace that you can.

EB: Don’t hyper specialize. You will need to be able to do lots of things, especially somewhere with a small staff. You will need to do reference and you might need to do instruction. Get practical experience.

What Library Science courses (other than Archiving classes) did you feel were helpful for your current positions?

NT: Take management and leadership courses. Acknowledge that you’ll probably be a manager or leader.

LR: Take project management and people management classes.

EB: Courses to learn the grant process. Learn reference and processing. My thesis publishing process was super helpful.

What skills do you think are most valuable in an archivist?

NT: Assert your own boundaries and know your value in a library. Don’t feel you have to do more than you are able to do during your agreed work hours.

LR: Communication skills and empowering others to learn how to find their information for themselves are both important.

EB: Soft skills from customer service experience are important and useful when working at the reference desk and when interacting with donors.

How to manage work/life balance?

NT: Do all service, scholarship, and community work at work, including article writing, etc.

LR: Be comfortable to say no. Set your own boundaries. If asked to work 60 hours, say no, it’s not in my job description. Individuals understand work/life balance better than institutions do.

EB: Be sure to stop and take a break. If you work late one day, work shorter hours the next day. Don’t volunteer for extra things, even if nobody else will do it.

What does an archivist do all day? Students/patrons, materials, computer work?

NT: Work at my desk doing things such as updating ArchiveSpace databases. Meet with donors to pack up the collection, ask them questions, etc. You can shape your job to be what you want it to be. As new people come in, you can have a say in how the responsibilities are divided up in the job descriptions.

LR: Prep for upcoming podcast and social media posts. Work two-hour desk shift. Meet with donor/non-profit groups and work on person-to-person safety protocols. Attend lots of meetings.

EB: Work two desk shifts, help resurrect files from people’s computers; both donors and staff. Teach electronic file management. Write out processing workflows, train students/interns/adjunct archivists. Meet with service and administration both within the library and campus wide. Connect with the community.

Are there opportunities for digital archivists, for remote work, or for international work?

EB: Archives are culturally specific concerning what’s important to keep in the archive, so each country has unique systems. You would need to learn each country’s record keeping process that you can do by reading literature, going to conferences, and sitting in on foreign archives.

 

Thank you to our guest blog writer, the SJSU SAASC Chair, Katie Burns!

If you are interested in becoming a member of SAASC, check it out here.