Digital Archives: Bodleian Libraries Secures Financial Support to Develop Archivists of the Future

From the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford:

The Bodleian Libraries have received initial support for a £280,000 (approx $429,000/USD] bid from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for the Developing the next generation archivist project, part of the Skills for the Future programme.
The support will part-fund a program to allow the University of Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries to provide six trainee archivists with the skills required to become professional digital archivists. The Bodleian Libraries will be seeking additional support to cover the remaining costs of the project.
The funding will support a training program that will run between 2014 and 2019, training six archivists over this period. Bodleian Libraries will now work with the Heritage Lottery Fund to progress its plans to develop the project.
The six trainees will receive intensive paid work-based training over a 24-month period, staggered over the period 2014 to 2019. Benefiting from the curatorial experience of staff at the Bodleian, trainees will focus on developing skills to manage digital archives, and will have the opportunity to work with the Bodleian Libraries’ internationally important collections such as the Conservative Party Archives and the Oxfam archive, which the Library acquired in 2012. Alongside their day-to-day work, trainees will undertake an accredited vocational qualification through distance learning, with their course fees met in full by the project.
This project is meant to open the door to applicants who might not have previously considered a career in archives, and it is hoped that the project will attract a wide range of applicants. One of the goals of the project is to encourage diversity in the workforce for the future, and it particularly encourages individuals with backgrounds in Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine to consider a career in archives.
This project will also reach out to the local community. Oxfordshire school pupils will have a chance to go behind the scenes at the Bodleian Libraries and see for themselves where a career path in archival heritage might lead.

Read the Complete Announcement

Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Digital Collections, Funding, Libraries, News