National Archives

[capricorn62]

My daughter would love to work in the archives, how does she go about this & if any qualifications are needed.
Can she work locally (Preston Lancs).

[boxtops]

Has she tried a quick Google? http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/jobs/

[Mosaic]

By far the best way to get experience and advice would be to get along to Bow Lane archives at Preston and become a volunteer. They look after their volunteers very well there, and she'll be able to see first hand the range of tasks involved and work out where her interest lies.
Contacts: http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/web/?siteid=4528&pageid=30757&e=e

[DJHawkes]

it depends what career she is interested in, they have archivists and conservators, the conservators tend to need a degree level relevent qualification, they have open days at Bow Lane on a regular basis and they are very informative, taking into the area the usual reader would not be able to access. There is alsoa group called Friends of The Archives or something, I was a member about 20 years ago and assume it is still going. I used to run my family history courses in the meeting room across the landing from the entrance to the reading room and the class were given a talk on the work of the conservators there and t was fascinating, they don;t just work on the premises, they have to go to see people's private collections and assess the value of them for the archive, or advise on the right method of preservation or storage, very interesting aspect to the work they do. It's fascinating. UCLAN also had a couple of modules that were relevent to the Archivist career, might be worth checking if they are still availabel.

[Buenchico]

See here:
https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/archivist.aspx

[capricorn62]

Great ideas, many thanks.