When I was selected as the Digital Processing Assistant for the M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives last August, I almost didn’t believe it.
I had been working on the marketing side of higher education for eight years, with a brief interlude to work in solar energy (What can I say? COVID was a weird time for everyone.) I applied to the position confident that while I had the technical skills, I knew next to nothing about archives.
Meghan Slaff
Prior to my interview, I watched countless YouTube videos about Describing Archives: A Content Standard (known in the field by the shorthand DACS), read articles about what exactly an archive is, and read all the posts on University Archivist Greg Wiedeman's website. That last one may have been too much, but I like to be prepared! While I may not have had the classes under my belt, I was going to try to be as informed as possible; for what I lacked in knowledge, I was determined to make up in enthusiasm.
Thankfully, that seemed to be exactly what they were looking for. I was a student willing to learn, unafraid to ask a million (or maybe a billion) questions; I was a sponge for academic and professional knowledge that would be unparalleled to any experience that could be found inside of a classroom. During my fall semester, I interviewed Brian Keough, Head of Special Collections and Archives, for a class assignment and the advice he gave to future archivists was to “get hands-on experience as soon as you can.” Now that I have completed my first assistantship, I have seen just how valuable hands-on experience can be. (Thanks Brian!)
That is also to say that they have completely converted me. I began my M.S. in Information Science program with a concentration in Academic Libraries and made the change to the Archives and Records Management track during the spring semester. I haven’t fallen in love with anything that quickly since I rescued my dog Bow (sometimes when you know, you know). I wouldn’t want to be working anywhere else, I wouldn’t want to be doing anything else, and I am so, so, so grateful for the opportunity.
And I conveyed that gratitude so well that they have provided me a second assistantship opportunity for the 2024-2025 academic year. I certainly knew more about archives during this interview process (thanks to my incredible mentors Greg and Jodi Boyle) but more than that, I knew the value of the incredible opportunity I was offered. And I do not intend to waste it. I am not only developing professional skills that will benefit me at any institution that I work at after my time in Special Collections is over, but also making connections, attending conferences, and becoming the very best archivist that I can be. Thank you to those who made the Anna Radkowski-Lee Graduate Assistantship possible, and thank you Greg, Jodi, Brian, Mark Wolfe, Melissa McMullen, and David Mitchell.