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'Bridging the Digital Gap' Cohort 1 trainees 2018-2020. (From left to right, Catherine Collins, Michael Norman, Jim Costin, Ben Barber, Isabelle Reynolds-Logue, Freddie Walker, Manasseh Boyd and Jack Quinlan.)
Bringing archives into the 21st century
Bringing archives into the 21st century
'Bridging the Digital Gap' is a programme funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and run by The National Archives, aiming to bring more digital skills into the archives sector through a series of traineeships. On this website, trainees from Cohort 1 will share their experiences of the traineeship, what they learned, and more.
In October 2018, eight new Digital Trainees were welcomed through the doors of The National Archives. We had three days of induction to begin training as Digital Archive Technicians. As Cohort 1 we were the first of 24 trainees on our new programme – ‘Bridging the Digital Gap’ – which is funded by a Heritage Lottery Fund ‘Skills for the Future’ grant, to increase digital skills in the sector and improve diverse entry routes into the profession.
After the induction in Kew, we were based in host archives around the country with some of the sector’s most forward-thinking digital experts. The 15-month traineeships combined on-the-job learning with an online digital training course that was specially designed for the programme.
The hosts were made up of two regional clusters;
London: Kings College London, Wellcome Collection, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and UCL Institute of Education.
East of England: Norfolk Record Office, East Anglian Film Archive, Hull University Archives and the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.
It is the London trainees that will be sharing their experiences on this website (You can read about the trainees from Hull University Archives and the Borthwick Institute in the 'More about...' section below).
TNA
As Digital trainees we discovered that Digital skills are vital to the future of the archives sector – not just in digital preservation, but also for Acquisition, Engagement and Access.
"Traditional skills will always be needed in the archives sector, and are valued as much as ever. However, if archives are going to keep up with the pace of change, they need to attract members of the workforce who are confident in using digital technology, who not only can use digital tools, but who are also excited and curious about the opportunities and challenges it affords". TNA
Click on the links to see what we have been up to during the traineeship.
London Bridging the Digital Gap trainees
London Bridging the Digital Gap trainees
More about The Bridging the Digital Gap Trainee programme
More about The Bridging the Digital Gap Trainee programme
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