Starting out in archives, from Kew graduate trainee blog

[Becky, Careers Office ARA]

"I became aware of the role through the Archives and Records
Association (ARA) list of graduate traineeships and the position at
Kew appealed to me in particular because it offers a wide variety of
experience and is structured well to compliment pre-entry experience
for the archives qualification. As a trainee my main duties include
dealing with enquiries and users of the Reading Room, responding to
enquiries, identifying and retrieving items for researchers, and
managing reprographic orders. I will also be spending time with the
Records Administrator in the Registry each week, where I get to
experience the work involved in modern records management, opening and
closing current records and handling internal enquiries from across
the departments at Kew. Throughout the year I will also be undertaking
individual projects in cataloguing, preservation and there is also the
chance to work on a joint project with the Library Trainee, Eleanor."

"Since starting as the trainee one month ago, I have also been
fortunate through my job to have taken part in a visit with the
Museums Libraries and Archives Group (MLAG) and I also attended the
Archives Awareness Campaign Conference, which was a great place to
meet other archivists who shared their experiences and advice. I am
really interested in the different outreach programmes used and the
ways archives can get people interested, and I hope to learn more
about this throughout my traineeship."

For the full blog please see the following link,
http://www.kew.org/news/kew-blogs/introducing-the-new-archives-graduate-trainee.htm