Archivist

Archivists are the custodians of the documented past — the professionals who ensure that records worth keeping are kept properly, described accurately, and accessible when someone needs them. That someone might be a historian researching a civil rights case, an agency lawyer looking for a contract executed 30 years ago, or a citizen requesting records about a government decision that affected their community.

The work spans several overlapping functions. Appraisal — deciding what to keep — is arguably the most consequential judgment archivists make. No institution can keep everything, storage and preservation resources are finite, and the decision to destroy a record is permanent. Archivists develop retention schedules and appraisal criteria based on legal requirements, historical significance, and research value, then apply those criteria consistently across collections that can run to thousands of linear feet.

Arrangement and description is the work that makes collections usable. Finding aids — detailed inventories organized around the provenance and original order of records — tell researchers what a collection contains and how to navigate it. At large institutions, a single collection might take months to process. At smaller archives, an archivist might be solely responsible for dozens of collections in various states of organization.

Digital preservation has become a major focus of the profession. Born-digital records — emails, databases, PDFs, social media archives — present preservation challenges that physical records never did: file format obsolescence, media degradation, authentication, and sheer volume. Archivists at forward-looking institutions are building preservation systems, developing digital curation workflows, and making policy decisions about what corners of the digital record are worth the cost of preserving.

Reference work brings archivists into direct contact with the people their collections serve. Responding to a genealogy request differs from supporting a litigation hold or guiding a doctoral student through a newly processed collection — but all require knowledge of the collections and the judgment to help researchers find what they need.

Education:

• Master's degree in library and information science with an archives concentration (ALA-accredited program) — the most common path
• Master's in history, public history, or a related field with archival coursework
• Dual degrees (MLIS + history MA) are common and valued for positions requiring strong subject expertise

Certifications:

• Certified Archivist (CA) from the Academy of Certified Archivists — preferred or required for many government and academic positions
• Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) certificate from the Society of American Archivists for digital preservation roles
• Federal Records Management certification for NARA and agency positions

Technical skills:

• Archival description standards: DACS (Describing Archives: A Content Standard), EAD, EAC-CPF
• Finding aid management systems: ArchivesSpace, Archon, or equivalent
• Digital preservation tools: Archivematica, BagIt, FITS (File Information Tool Set)
• Scanning and imaging standards: FADGI guidelines, TIFF and PDF/A formats, image quality control
• Records management systems: DoD 5015.2-compliant platforms for government work

Knowledge domains:

• Primary source research methods
• Conservation basics: temperature/humidity monitoring, appropriate enclosures, disaster recovery
• Copyright, privacy law, and FOIA as applied to archival access decisions
• Grant writing — SAA, NEH Preservation and Access grants for processing projects

Soft skills:

• Patience and precision for multi-month processing projects
• Customer service orientation for reference work with varied researcher populations
• Project management for processing large backlogs or digitization initiatives

Archivists occupy a stable but not rapidly growing niche in the broader library and information science labor market. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects modest growth in line with the broader economy for archivists and curators through the early 2030s. The job market is competitive relative to the size of the candidate pool — MLIS programs produce more graduates interested in archival work than there are entry-level positions.

The federal government remains a major employer and a relatively stable one. NARA, the presidential library system, and dozens of agency record centers employ hundreds of archivists nationwide. Government hiring moves slowly, but once hired, federal archivists have strong job security and defined career ladder advancement.

Academic archives positions are tied to university budget cycles, which have been under pressure. Research-intensive universities with large endowments continue to invest in archives and special collections. Smaller institutions are consolidating staff and often combining archivist functions with records management or digital initiatives roles.

The digital turn in archives has created genuine demand for people who combine traditional archival training with technical skills in digital preservation, metadata standards, and systems administration. Archivists who can implement an Archivematica instance, develop a born-digital acquisition workflow, or lead a web archiving program are competitive for positions that stagnant physical-only programs cannot fill.

For candidates willing to start in smaller or rural institutions, build strong technical skills, and accumulate the experience needed for CA certification, career advancement is achievable — though the salary ceiling outside the federal government and elite universities is lower than in comparable information professions. Many archivists find the work deeply engaging independent of compensation; it draws people motivated by intellectual stewardship rather than maximum earning.

Dear Hiring Manager,

I'm applying for the Archivist position at [Institution]. I hold a master's degree in library and information science from [University] with a concentration in archives and records management, and I'm a Certified Archivist with four years of professional experience at [Current Institution].

In my current role I process, describe, and provide reference services for a 2,000-linear-foot collection of state government records spanning 1940–2010. I've completed three major processing projects, including a 400-linear-foot county court records collection that had been unprocessed since transfer — that project involved rehousing deteriorating materials, creating a DACS-compliant finding aid in ArchivesSpace, and identifying 18 boxes for conservation review.

I've also led our institution's transition to born-digital acquisition workflows. We now accept email archives in MBOX format, use BagIt for transfer validation, and run FITS against incoming files before ingest to Archivematica. I wrote the workflow documentation and trained two colleagues on the process.

What draws me to [Institution] specifically is your collection's depth in [specific subject area], which aligns with my graduate research background, and your active digitization grant program — I've written two NEH-funded digitization grants and would be glad to contribute to your grant development pipeline.

I'm available to discuss the position at your convenience.

[Your Name]