Archivist Appraise, edit, and direct safekeeping of permanent records and historically valuable documents. Participate in research activities based on archival materials.
Archivist is Also Know as
In different settings, Archivist is titled as
- Archival Records Clerk
- Archivist
- Film Archivist
- Museum Archivist
- Museum Registrar
- Records Manager
- Reference Archivist
- State Archivist
- University Archivist
Education and Training of Archivist
Archivist is categorized in Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Archivist
Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.
Education Required for Archivist
Most of these occupations require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).
Degrees Related to Archivist
- Bachelor in Archives/Archival Administration
- Associate Degree Courses in Archives/Archival Administration
- Masters Degree Courses in Archives/Archival Administration
- Bachelor in Historic Preservation and Conservation, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, General
- Bachelor in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis
- Associate Degree Courses in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis
- Masters Degree Courses in Cultural Resource Management and Policy Analysis
- Bachelor in Historic Preservation and Conservation, Other
- Associate Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, Other
- Masters Degree Courses in Historic Preservation and Conservation, Other
- Bachelor in Museology/Museum Studies
- Associate Degree Courses in Museology/Museum Studies
- Masters Degree Courses in Museology/Museum Studies
- Bachelor in Digital Humanities and Textual Studies, General
- Associate Degree Courses in Digital Humanities and Textual Studies, General
- Masters Degree Courses in Digital Humanities and Textual Studies, General
Training Required for Archivist
Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Archivist in different industries are
- Historians
- Curators
- Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
- Document Management Specialists
- Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary
- Museum Technicians and Conservators
- Social Science Research Assistants
- Digital Forensics Analysts
- Anthropologists and Archeologists
- Statistical Assistants
- Library Technicians
- File Clerks
- Library Assistants, Clerical
- Proofreaders and Copy Markers
- Office Clerks, General
- Correspondence Clerks
- Instructional Coordinators
- Health Information Technologists and Medical Registrars
- Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
- Editors
What Do Archivist do?
- Create and maintain accessible, retrievable computer archives and databases, incorporating current advances in electronic information storage technology.
- Organize archival records and develop classification systems to facilitate access to archival materials.
- Authenticate and appraise historical documents and archival materials.
- Provide reference services and assistance for users needing archival materials.
- Direct activities of workers who assist in arranging, cataloguing, exhibiting, and maintaining collections of valuable materials.
- Prepare archival records, such as document descriptions, to allow easy access to information.
- Preserve records, documents, and objects, copying records to film, videotape, audiotape, disk, or computer formats as necessary.
- Establish and administer policy guidelines concerning public access and use of materials.
- Locate new materials and direct their acquisition and display.
- Research and record the origins and historical significance of archival materials.
- Specialize in an area of history or technology, researching topics or items relevant to collections to determine what should be retained or acquired.
- Coordinate educational and public outreach programs, such as tours, workshops, lectures, and classes.
- Select and edit documents for publication and display, applying knowledge of subject, literary expression, and presentation techniques.
Qualities of Good Archivist
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
Tools Used by Archivist
- Compact digital cameras
- Data input scanners
- Desktop computers
- Digitizers
- Inkjet printers
- Laptop computers
- Personal computers
Technology Skills required for Archivist
- Adlib Information Systems Adlib Archive
- Adobe Acrobat
- Adobe Creative Suite
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe InDesign
- Adobe Photoshop
- Adobe Premiere Pro
- Apple Final Cut Pro
- Archivists' Toolkit
- Archon
- Corel Paint Shop Pro
- Database software
- DiMeMa CONTENTdm
- Dynamic hypertext markup language DHTML
- Encoded archival system EAD
- Esri ArcGIS
- Extensible markup language XML
- FileMaker Pro
- Gallery Systems The Museum System
- Geographic information system GIS systems
- Hypertext markup language HTML
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Omeka software
- PREMIS
- Presentation software
- Web browser software
- Word processing software