In this article
Welcome to the world of archives & information
Whether you love history, order, and preservation, or you want a meaningful information career, this guide covers what an archivist actually does, the skills, the day-to-day, and the honest upsides and downsides.
General description
An archivist preserves, organises, and provides access to records and documents. In simple terms: they preserve and organise documents for the future. Think of them as the keepers of records and history.
- Appraise and select records
- Catalogue and organise archives
- Preserve documents and materials
- Make records accessible
Key skills & qualifications
Hard skills
Soft skills
- Order — archives are about organisation
- Attention to detail — cataloguing is precise
- Curiosity — records hold stories
- Patience — careful, methodical work
- Knowledge — history and information
- Care — preserving fragile materials
Education & qualifications
Archivists usually need a degree, often a postgraduate qualification in archives or information management — a specialist, knowledge-based information career.
Typical responsibilities
- Appraisal — selecting records
- Cataloguing — organising archives
- Preservation — protecting materials
- Access — making records available
- Digital — managing e-records
- Research — supporting users
Responsibilities by seniority
Trainee / Assistant
0–3 years
- Supports the archive
- Catalogues records
- Learns preservation
- Building expertise
- Toward independent
Archivist
3–8 years
- Manages collections
- Appraises and catalogues
- Preserves materials
- Trusted specialist
- Specialising
Senior / Head Archivist
8+ years
- Leads the archive
- Shapes policy
- Manages a team
- Mentors archivists
- Toward management
Where archivists work
🏛️ National / public archives
Public records.
🎓 Universities
Academic archives.
🏢 Corporate
Company archives.
🖼️ Museums / galleries
Heritage records.
⛪ Religious / historic
Historic archives.
💻 Digital archives
Electronic records.
A day in the life
Appraising new records — deciding what to preserve and how to organise it.
Cataloguing collections, the precise, methodical work that makes records findable.
Preserving fragile or digital materials, protecting them for the future.
Helping a researcher find the records they need, making the archive accessible.
Records preserved, archives organised, history kept alive. The keeper of records. That's the job.
What this job gives you
- Meaningful, specialist work
- Preserves history and records
- Intellectually rich
- Steady demand
- Order and detail
Pros & cons
✅ Advantages
- Meaningful, specialist work
- Preserves history and records
- Intellectually rich
- Steady demand
- Order and detail
- Quiet, focused environment
- Digital archiving growing
❌ Disadvantages
- Modest pay
- Requires a qualification
- Can be solitary
- Detail-heavy and methodical
- Funding pressures
- Niche job market
Salary potential — global rating
Rated against all professions globally, where ★★★★★★★★★★ = top 1% earners:
Career growth paths
- Senior Archivist — complex collections
- Head Archivist — lead the archive
- Records Manager — records management
- Digital Archivist — digital preservation
- Information roles — information management
- Archive Director — lead the service
Archivist vs related roles
Here's how some neighbouring roles compare.
| Role | Core focus | Note | Pay | Entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archivist You are here | Preserves and organises records | Archiving, preservation | Baseline | Medium |
| Librarian | Manages library collections | Information, cataloguing | Similar | Medium |
| Administrative Officer | Keeps admin and records in order | Administration | Lower | Accessible |
| Researcher | Investigates and discovers | Research, analysis | Higher | Hard |
| Conservator | Restores and preserves objects | Conservation, craft | Similar | Medium |
Scroll the table sideways on mobile. Pay comparisons are directional and vary by market and seniority.
Future outlook
As organisations and society create ever more records — increasingly digital — skilled archivists who can preserve and organise them stay in steady demand.
- Records keep being created
- Digital archiving is growing
- Preservation needs expertise
- History must be kept accessible
- Steady, specialist demand
Fun facts 🤓
Archivists preserve the memory of organisations and society.
A good archive makes history findable for researchers and the public.
Digital archiving is a fast-growing part of the role.
It's a specialist career built on a qualification.
Archivists protect records that can be centuries old — and brand new.
Myths about this role
"It's just filing."
❌ It's appraisal, cataloguing, preservation, and providing access.
"Anyone can do it."
❌ Archiving is a specialist skill needing a qualification.
"It's all dusty old paper."
❌ Digital archiving is a major, growing part of the job.
"It's a dying field."
❌ Records keep growing, and digital archiving is expanding.
"It doesn't matter."
❌ Archives preserve history and keep records accountable.
Is this job right for you?
✅ Good fit if you...
- Love history and order
- Are detail-oriented and methodical
- Like preservation and research
- Want meaningful specialist work
- Enjoy quiet, focused work
- Are organised
❌ Maybe not for you if...
- You dislike detail and method
- You want a fast-paced role
- You dislike solitary work
- You want high pay
- You dislike qualifications
- You want a front-line role
Meaningful & specialist
Archivist is a meaningful, specialist, detail-rich information career, where order, preservation, and knowledge keep history and records alive, with steady demand and a growing digital dimension.
✅ Advantages
- Meaningful, specialist work
- Preserves history and records
- Intellectually rich
- Steady demand
- Digital archiving growing
❌ Challenges
- Modest pay
- Requires a qualification
- Can be solitary
- Detail-heavy and methodical
- Niche job market
How to get started
- Study archives or information management the specialist route in.
- Learn cataloguing and preservation the core skills.
- Build archive experience manage collections.
- Specialise digital, records, or heritage.
- Advance senior, head archivist, or director.
What to know before you start
- It's appraisal and preservation, not just filing
- Archiving is a specialist, qualified skill
- Digital archiving is a major growing part
- Records keep being created
- It preserves history and accountability
- It leads to head archivist and director roles
From the field
The same lessons come up again and again from people actually doing the job:
People think archiving is just filing old paper. It's appraisal — deciding what's worth preserving — then cataloguing it so it's findable, preserving fragile materials, and making it all accessible. It's a specialist skill that keeps the memory of organisations and society alive.
Archivist · 7 years in
The biggest change is digital. So many records are born digital now, and preserving them — formats, integrity, access over decades — is a real, growing challenge. Archiving isn't dusty old paper anymore; it's increasingly a digital information career.
Digital archivist · 9 years in
It's meaningful in a quiet way. I'm preserving records that researchers, organisations, and the public will rely on for decades or longer. The pay is modest and it's specialist, but for someone who loves order, history, and preservation, it's deeply satisfying.
Head archivist · 14 years in