Eight new trainees, with backgrounds ranging from music technology to data analytics, have filled the first round of ‘Bridging the Digital Gap’ Heritage Lottery funded traineeships aimed at bringing people with technical skills into the archives workforce.
Trainees, who are employed by The National Archives and seconded to archives in London, York, Hull and Norwich, came together for their first real taste of the archiving world in a three-day training programme held at The National Archives in Kew.
This year’s trainees tour the repositories at The National Archives
Over the 15-month programme, these trainees will develop valuable digital preservation skills, enabling them to forge careers helping archives to preserve increasing volumes of born digital records.
An evolving profession requires an evolving workforce, and all eight trainees have little or no previous experience of archives.
The trainees in the Keeper’s Gallery at The National Archives
Hull History Centre trainee Jack Quinlan has written a ‘myth-busting’ account of his first weeks in his new traineeship.
Before starting my traineeship, I thought archives were quiet and dusty places… There’s an opportunity here and I want to take it.
Jack Quinlan