It is difficult to find evidence which allows comparisons to be made
over time about the number of volunteers working in libraries and
archives, but Audrey Marshall et al's 2005 survey
(http://www.cmis.brighton.ac.uk/research/siru/MLA_workforce.pdf) of the
MLA workforce in the southeast found a greater percentage (c.15% to
c.4.5%) of staff as volunteers in the archives than library sector
respectively, while the 2012 LARIMS survey suggested approximately 90%
of archives use volunteers while 40% of libraries did
(http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/archives/2012-larims-workf
orce-report.pdf). Although my experience may be anomalous, I suspect
the greater portion of volunteers within the library sector are those
involved in volunteer-run public libraries who may not be drawn towards
pursuing a professional qualification rather than people seeking the
experience to enter a library qualification. There does seem to be a
trend towards recruiting interns in some libraries to do work previously
done by paid staff - for example I saw an ad for a marketing graduate to
act as a marketing intern at a University of London library this morning
- but the ubiquity of volunteers seeking the experience necessary for
entry to an archive course seems not to be mirrored today in the library
world. The issues of low pay, part-time work and the deskilling of the
library profession perhaps demand their own forum!
All the best
Ed Lyon
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of O'sullivan, Keith M
Sent: 15 August 2013 09:37
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vacancy for Archives and Records Management Intern
Yes, I would agree. I was fortunate enough to get some paid work in
Oxford prior to undertaking a librarianship degree in the mid-90s, but
had made over twenty applications for unpaid voluntary experience,
without much return. Supply outstripping demand also applied
post-qualifying. Bodley's then Librarian advised me that there were many
qualified staff on non-professional grades and he could not see this
changing, in Oxford or elsewhere. It is tough. The dire situation in
public libraries, as Wendy says, speaks for itself - while our
professional association is pre-occupied with a pointless Nero-esque
debate as to what to call ourselves...
Keith O'Sullivan
Keith M C O'Sullivan
Senior Rare Books Librarian
Library, Special Collections & Museums
The Sir Duncan Rice Library
The University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3AA
Scotland, UK
T: +44 (0) 1224 272928
F: +44 (0) 1224 273891
E: [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wendy Padley
Sent: 15 August 2013 09:08
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vacancy for Archives and Records Management Intern
As a qualified chartered librarian myself, I would say that it's more
and more difficult to find paid work in librarianship that you can live
on without substantial experience, so I wouldn't agree that this is
necessarily the case for librarians anymore. Librarians are being made
redundant in favour of volunteers to do the work, especially in public
libraries.
Kind regards
W Padley
-----Original Message-----
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ed Lyon
Sent: 14 August 2013 15:42
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Vacancy for Archives and Records Management Intern
As someone who works in an academic library and a local authority
archive (paid!) I find it interesting that potential archivists may be
asked to act as interns while their librarian counterparts never (or
very rarely) are. When I took my librarianship qualification everyone I
met on the course had a paid job in a library and though some of them
had gained their experience as graduate trainees none of them had worked
unpaid to gain the necessary experience to apply for the course.
All the best
Ed Lyon
Library Assistant (Document Delivery)
Library
Birkbeck, University of London
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HX
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sarah Colborne
Sent: 14 August 2013 15:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Vacancy for Archives and Records Management Intern
Work experience placements play a vital role in helping individuals make
the right career choices. They also ensure that those offered places on
archive/record/information management courses are aware of the nature of
the work they are entering into (and hopefully gives them a realistic
idea of the prospects for employment). Masters applicants in many other
fields are likely to have none of these advantages, and many graduates
embarking on non-vocational masters courses have little understanding of
their future job prospects. The fact that the archive (records
management, etc.) profession insists on pre-course experience is
precisely what helps make their masters graduates such professionals.
Any organisations which offer voluntary work placements know that
managing these can be quite a burden, and if cvs and covering letters
are requested, it is usually so that the tasks devised can be closely
matched to the skills (or gap in skills) of the applicant.
I agree with Kelda that voluntary opportunities need to be sufficiently
flexible to allow individuals to earn a living. Distance learning
courses also play an important role in opening up the profession to
those who need to earn while they learn.
Pre-course work experience does not undervalue the profession so long as
it provides the individual, the organisation and the university courses
with what they need. Everyone involved needs to ensure that exploitation
does not occur and that the experience is mutually beneficial.
In the East Midlands we have set up some web pages in our region's
section of the ARA website, which are intended to give prospective
students an overview of the type of placements they might find in the
region, and to help put them in touch with those with experience in the
sector. Hopefully this will go some way towards managing expectations
for all involved.
Sarah Colborne
New Members Representative
ARA East Midlands
Begin forwarded message:
From: Kelda Roe <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 14 August 2013 14:08:24 GMT+01:00
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARCHIVES-NRA] Vacancy for Archives and Records Management
Intern
Reply-To: Kelda Roe <[log in to unmask]> As a recent graduate of an
archives and records mangement course I would suggest that even today it
is possible to acquire good work experience and improve your
employability without undertaking exploitative 'internships'.
Many repositories have strong volunteer and work experience programmes
that allow you to volunteer one day, or even half a day, per week;
allowing graduates of archive/records management courses or potential
graduates (or even well-intentioned do-gooders) to improve employability
while also working.
Perhaps instead of offering one person a full-time unpaid 'internship',
five people could be offered one day a week. Or shorter one-two week
blocks could be arranged over the 3 month period. These options wouldn't
solve the problem of too many graduates, or even guarantee interns
finding paid work, but would avoid outright exploitation.
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