According to Wikipedia an archivist is “a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value”. Hmmmm and so much more but this sums it up simply. The catch here is that people need to know you have an archive in order to “provide access” to that information. That’s one of the projects for this year (among many). Not only does the above apply to my role but research into requests ranks highly as well. One request can take any where from a few minutes to days to collate. In a team of 1 full time this works well with limited knowledge about the archive. However if my ideas take flight then I could be in a wee bit of bother trying to fulfill requests for information.
Friday was a fab day in the archives with some conservation techniques being put into practice on some photos of a geothermal station that came in stuck together and the discovery of a gorgeous cibachrome print. Most days it is the same routine – collect, sort, appraise, catalog, store but when you get days like Friday, AWESOME!