Archivist and Records Manager

On an archivist and records manager apprenticeship course, your primary goal is to help safeguard the records’ integrity, reliability, and proper retention.

Additionally, you will help participate in or provide guidance for decisions concerning the transition of records and related materials from active business usage to archival storage, often engaging in negotiations with the owners. This process can be intricate, unpredictable, and time-consuming.

Your responsibilities extend to guaranteeing that archives and records are easily locatable, effectively managed, and readily accessible. You will achieve this by employing a range of techniques, such as inventorying, adhering to industry-standard cataloguing practices, enhancing metadata, and formulating file plans.

Furthermore, you will be tasked with helping recognise and address the preservation needs of records while ensuring their continued safety and security.

What you’ll learn

On an archivist and records manager apprenticeship course, you’ll learn to:

• Understand the life cycle of records and the continuum of records management, encompassing both digitised and born-digital records.
• Ensure the integrity of intellectual property and custodial
  responsibilities within archives and records, applicable to all records, including digitised and born-digital formats.
• Establish principles, policies, and procedures for archives and records management, covering aspects like selection, acquisition, retention, appraisal, classification, audit, access, preservation, and disposal across all types of records, including digitised and born-digital.
• Implement these principles, policies, and procedures across diverse organisations and work environments for managing all types of records, including digitised and born-digital ones.
• Incorporate professional codes of ethics, such as those of the Archives and Records Association and the Information and Records Management Society, into daily work practices.
• Utilise appropriate terminology in archives, records management, and information governance.
• Adhere to professional standards and guidance for records management, cataloguing, preservation (including digital preservation), and access, including references like PD BS 4971:2017 and the requirements of Archives Accreditation standards.
• Navigate information legislation and regulations relevant to organisational functions, including access laws, privacy regulations, data protection legislation, freedom of information, evolving copyright and intellectual property laws, licensing, and creative commons.
• Apply broader legislation and regulations to the archives and records sector, such as health and safety, equality, diversity, and inclusion.
• Ensure the physical care, protection, and preservation of analogue, digitised, and born-digital records, including considerations for security, environmental impact, administration, disaster management, and evolving best practices.
• Identify, assess, and mitigate risks and understand how these relate to an organisation’s risk appetite.
• Managed IT software/systems and databases for daily operations and managing archives and records services.
• Develop outreach strategies for archives or records management services, including audience identification initiatives to enhance public-facing services’ accessibility and inclusivity.
• Master various oral and written communication techniques, including negotiation and influence.
• Apply principles and processes of service delivery and project management.
• Explore funding sources and income generation to support archive and records management projects.
• Manage contractual arrangements that support archives and records management, such as deposit agreements and commercial licensing.
• Employ research methodologies and techniques relevant to the organisation, services, or collections.

Entry requirements

You’ll usually need:

• A bachelor’s degree with a classification of a 2:2 or above (often a 2:1) or an equivalent advanced level qualification

Assessment methods

The programme is assessed in various ways before completing the End Point Assessment, including a professional discussion underpinned by a portfolio and work-based written project report and questioning.

Restrictions and requirements

• Apprentices without level 2 English and maths will need to achieve this level prior to taking the end-point assessment.

Duration, level, subjects and potential salary upon completion