h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hiya

Hope you is well

So what does an archivist do exactly? I think I know but would like your description/explanation/view/etc/etc

And is it something that one can get into easily enough? I mean at nearly 39 years young with no experience with being an archivist (presuming I know what one is) could I get into it?

Soz to bug man. Hope this doesn't bore you

PS. In answer to your question "where do we come from?" - well I came from me mam gawd bless er.

PPS. Listening to Pink Floyd at mo. Obscured by clouds if you need t'know

PPPS. Tchaikovsky not on your list then? Obviously not. He's my fave. Paints wonderful pictures in ones mind dontcha think

Hi Yamshark,

My apologies for the delay in replying - I sometimes wonder how I ever had the time to go to work, it gets so busy sometimes!

Thanks for your good wishes, I hope you are well too.

1. An Archivist's job really depends on who he works for. It can vary greatly. I was a Company Archivist (probably the most common type). A CA receives, classifies and logs documents and records that are generated in the course of the company's business. There are three basic types:

1 - Records/documents required by law

2 - Records relating to operation of the business (sales, ads etc)

3 - Records of a confidential or secret nature - eg involving business rivals, politicians, police, intelligence.

Computers do a lot of the monotonous work in information retrieval. But very often, in difficult cases, they are severely limited. That's where the Archivist comes into his own. The human brain can make connections that are impossible for computers - I suppose it's the old fashioned 'hunch'
I worked in the diamond industry for a foriegn company. We got involved in many law suits around the globe. Trouble with court cases is that obscure points come up frequently, and if a document is missing you could lose millions of dollars. My Archive paid for itself many times over.

Would you like it? It depends on your preferences and whether you are in a business that interests you. Your age shouldn't be a problem - I became an archivist at 40.

The only obstacle I can see is that many companies are starting to outsource their archives to companies like Iron Mountain. They simply list and catalogue boxes of documents/files. This is ok for invoices etc, but virtually useless for locating, for example, a comment in the margin of a letter. Archivists read everything they log - the computer doesn't, it simply lists a general title.

But I really enjoyed my work because it was a fascinating business.

Tchaikovsky - the first classical composer I got into (Piano Concerto No. 1), funnily enough. I like Chopin, Massanet and Haydn as well a few others. My dad was a lorry driver, so we didn't hear it at home. Different girlfriends introduced me to different composers, so I didn't hear classical music with any preconceptions - which made it fun learning.

Ive got obscured By Clouds too. I love everything they did but can never make up my mind whether Dark Side or Wish You Were Here were the best!

Blimey - I'm getting the computer version of writer's cramp. Hope I haven't been to long-winded (bad habit of mine.

Best regards - stellar