>>165621
First off, I'm ESL, so any typo or mistake comes from that. Apologies in that regard.
Also this is a general overview.
>What duties does the job actually entail?
As an archivist the absolute main priority is documents preservation and everything that it entails, from keeping the originals in good condition to making digital copies to preserve the data.
>Preservation/restoration work on the physical documents?
>Digitization for easier access?
Preservation and digitalization are indeed tasks that we do as archivists.
Restoration is also an archivist task, but this often requires to become an specialist in this particular field if you want to work with the most important items in the collection.
A librarian or archivist might learn how to do basic restoration on non-unique books that need basic repairs to be usable (like replacing their cover or attaching pages back).
However restoring items that are hundreds of years old actually needs very specialized work that only specialists are allowed to do.
>Tracking down items that people have requested access to?
Those are the tasks of librarians.
Very important key point: The main difference between archivists and librarians, is that archivists do not deal with the users, but rather with the documents directly.
Librarians often have to talk with the users, deal with their questions, and even engage in the preparation and hosting of social activities that could increase user engagement with the organization.
It's a more social job where understanding what the users want in order to spoon-feed them better is important.
However both jobs have tons of tasks that usually overlap.
>I'm curious what a typical work day looks like.
>What is the work "structure" like?
This depends a bit on the type of organization you're working for and also on your position.
An entry level archivist mostly will deal with "grunt" or "assistant" level tasks, like sorting the physical items, giving them a cataloging ID, uploading their relevant data into the database, or making a synthesis of their contents for reference.
An archivist in a more senior position often deals with more complex tasks that actually involve using the items for research.
This also varies a bit depending on the type of organization you're working for.
A public or state founded organization will often use their items for their own academic research, or will receive requests from other organizations that want to consults the items in the collection for their academic research.
A private organization often will use their items for their own research focused on whatever business they engage with, and they aren't as open to do collaborations with other organizations.
>By that I mean the typical time scale for your tasks, goals, and projects (days? months?),
Again, this depends on your level inside the organization.
As a general rule, if you're at entry level your work is "endless" because you will be doing mostly monotonous tasks over and over, did you finished moving the items? then go and ID them, you finished that? then go and make a synthesis, done that? go and include them in the database, done already? go and move these new items. Over and over.
Likewise, in a senior position the work is "endless" because you basically jump from one project to the next, you will be required to either come up with new ones or accept collaborations all the time.
These kind of projects can either take a couple of weeks or entire years depending on the scope of the project.
Another key point here, most of the state funded organizations will always come up with projects no matter what, because they need to justify their own existence and budget.
Another very important tip: If you're in an entry position is extremely important that you avoid overworking because you WILL burn out, very fast.
Like I said, the work is endless and trying to do tons of grunt work to impress your babysitter will only damage you in the long run, since you eventually will get tired of it very fast.
It's better to approach this like a marathon and keep a steady pacing, instead of going too fast at the start and then too slow because you burned out.
>and well as how directed or open-ended things are (as in, directed towards a specific end goal, or an exploratory "let's see what happens or what we find").
Most projects have very specific end-goals, but reaching them can be a bit wide and that's why they might need to ask for collaborations with archivists and librarians.
For example, let's say some organization wants to make an study in collaboration to analyze the effects of working 8 hours per day 5 days a week, compared to working 3 hours per day 3 days a week.
Then an archivist or librarian would need to go and in the search the databases, and compile all the items with information relevant to the subject matter in order to start the investigation.
Also if they might need to analyze the data, provide insights, or even search for relevant items outside of the collection if there's not much to offer.
>How much does it involve working with other people (be they co-workers, bosses/underlings, or outside experts, or general public), and how much is solitary?[Expand Post]
This also depends on your level as well.
Entry level job is relatively solitary, but very often a senior archivist will be "babysitting" you to make sure you don't fuck up and do something like damage an item by mistake.
Senior level job often deals with helping other researchers or fellow colleagues towards a common end, and this may involve meetings, discussions, task division, and making your part is perfectly done so others can advance with theirs.
>To what extent does the job require specific education?
This may vary depending on the country, but generally an Archivist may want/need:
>A bachelor degree
>A master degree
Most archivists and librarians go for the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) because it focuses on how to use the most relevant software to work in modern libraries and how to deal with databases.
>Optional: A doctorate (PhD)
Some archivists and librarians go for this if they want to compete for the highest positions in their organizations, is not a hard requirement but it does helps if you're aiming high.
>I know there are actual degrees in archival and librarianship, but is that an actual requirement, or are there people with other backgrounds who use them indirectly (e.g. people with history or science degrees working with the relevant content to those topics)?
There's people that work in librarianship and archivists positions without any kind of degree or education on the matter, but this depends a lot on the organization.
Smaller organizations with an small archive will often relegate the duties of cataloging, maintenance and preservation to someone already doing a normal job in order to save budget, even to the janitor or security guard.
Since they have a very basic collection or archive, they might consider that they do not need a librarian or archivist dealing with that.
However bigger organizations will often have a more documents to deal with, and having someone random taking care of them doesn't cut it anymore, so they might hire a librarian or archivist.
Again, if you're a librarian or archivist in a smaller organization, your work might involve tasks that usually aren't the "traditional" ones.
Like an archivist might end up dealing with the users, tracking books and all the stuff that a librarian should do.
And the librarian might end up doing all the inner tasks of taking care of the collection on top of dealing with users.
>>165702
Read all the above and tell me if you have any questions.
Also it would be helpful if you briefly describe the size or kind of organization that you're going to work for, but most likely you will end up doing the assistant job I described above while being babysit by a fellow senior.