I'm not sure why there has been a piling on to the RCPCH ad and assumption the motivation is to get 'archivists on the cheap'. What's so different about this ad that prompts so much 'anger and disappointment'? Is it just a cumulative frustration, or is it because it is being formally advertised? That seems to be the standard practice in many organisations to manage voluntary roles rather than the fault of the archivist! Re-reading the ad itself it seems quite clear about who it's being pitched to, applying if you were qualified would seem pretty pointless as you don't meet one of the main criteria! Suggesting the intern will be given some experience 'working directly with collections' doesn't translate to me as cataloguing duties commensurate with a qualified archivist! I don't think it's de-professionalising our role in any way to give a pre-course volunteer a minor collection to have a go at cataloguing to say they've tried it. Useful experience for them to draw on in the cataloguing course, probably so small the archivist would never get round to it, and not major for us to fix if they completely muck up!!
It does suggest that the issue is as much about both the quality and length of the pre-course experience as the pay or lack of it. If it's essential for potential course students to have experience, it needs to be valuable, which is the 'pay off' for giving up their time? Caroline Williams earlier message about ARA's current attempts to assess that we are not only getting value out of our volunteers, but that they are getting value out of us is perhaps particularly relevant!! Considering how things have changed in the sector, the economic climate and changes to university fees over the past few years, isn't it time the 12 month element was reviewed? Shouldn't we be saying to students, you're going to spend the equivalent of 'n' weeks/months with us (f/t or p/t) and go away having experienced a,b and c which will prepare you for the course? I understand that perhaps a part of the '12 months experience' element required by the uni's is a show of commitment, but isn't the £7000 course fee these days equally compelling?! I can't say I know any independently wealthy archives students these days, but I know plenty who are taking on Career Development Loans to do the post-grad on top of their £10-30K undergrad debt! Isn't 12 months a bit of a movable feast anyway in terms of quality! If Student A ends up at an archive that doesn't have time and resources to support them they could spend 12 months in the reading room never having listed a thing, and turn up for the course less prepared than Student B who did 20 hrs per week for three months at the RCPCH and did a bit of cataloguing, RM, outreach, access etc. and spent the rest of the time working in Tesco to support themselves! (other supermarkets are available)
I'm not trying to have a go at the universities per se as I think we have a role to play too. We don't ask medical students to spend a year in a hospital before starting their medical degree! Surely if we organised ourselves a bit better between workplaces and training providers students wouldn't have to spend months working for nothing, and shorter pre-course experience periods may lead to more of them being paid? Could we build on a similar idea to TNA trainee programme to offer a kind of trainee 'lite' option, with a central pot of money available for archives to bid to support a really useful placement for a student for a month or so? Just have a standard pay rate so applicants don't have to spend time constructing budgets or filling in long application forms, and let archives and students decide between themselves if it's f/t or p/t. Not a perfect solution by any means, but it sets a precedent for more paid opportunities in future. Though before you ask the $64,000 question of where the £64,000 (or whatever!) is going to come from to fund it I've no idea I'm afraid!! But I'm willing to check down the back of the sofa if you are!
Anyway, just my tuppence worth on the subject as I haven't weighed in on previous occasions!
Lindsay
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