Maintaining the engage(ment)

Welcome, dear reader, to this, the inaugural post on a little blog about archives. It’s January, so the timing is right for new beginnings. My name is Elise, and I’m a new archivist.

I first set foot in an archives during my undergraduate years, when I happened to get a job as a shop girl at the Australian National Film & Sound Archive. Swoon, right? What a cool place to work. Unfortunately, at the time I had very little understanding of an archives’ function and even less knowledge about what an archivist might actually do. I thought I was destined for other things, and the appeal of the archives only struck me well after I had left the shop job to pursue other adventures.

Fast forward half a decade, and my archival journey began in earnest in 2015, when I began postgraduate studies in Information Management. I still didn’t know what an archivist did but I was pretty sure I wanted to be one. Since that time, I’ve been incredibly lucky to have attended an archives conference each year, first as a volunteer, then through my employer, and most recently as the recipient of a bursary from the International Council on Archives’ new professionals programme. And each year, I leave the conference nothing short of invigorated: the fascinating, varied and rewarding work being done by so many across the field is an inspiration, and I am full of ideas, so excited to keep learning and contributing in whatever small way I can. After three conferences though, I have noticed a rather diabolical pattern. Life* gets in the way, I get busy at work, and my best-of-intentions fade into memories much quicker than I would like to admit.

This year though, I’m trying to really capitalise on the shiny new feels of January by way of a novel idea. Inspired by the blogs of my peers, I am going to attempt to maintain my engagement, at least in part, with this li’l blog. My plan is to engage more, write more, and stoke those motivational embers well into 2018. Who knows, I might even give GLAM Blog Club a go.

So, hi. My name is Elise. And I’m a new archivist.

*deeply fulfilling hobbies such as goin’ the pub, puppy scruffles, and memorising in intimate detail the backstory of every drag queen on RuPaul’s Drag Race.