My placement is slightly different as I am volunteering rather than doing work experience. This mainly means that I have my own responsibilities in terms of completing an task, rather than shadowing someone or moving around the office doing different jobs, however I do get to witness the jobs of the archivists for example, and had a tour of the records office to see all of the aspects which a visitor would not usually see.
Where is your Wednesday afternoon placement?
I work at the County Record Office in Warwick, as a volunteer translating written records from old texts into digital records. This will then help people who are trying to trace family history, or need historical evidence for a particular person or place in the sources, so they can easily see if a document is relevant to them. For example, at the moment I am working on Paupers Outdoor Relief, which is essentially a record of the benefits system in 1845 in this area- inputting the information of who they are, when born, where collecting relief etc. One of the most interesting things that I got to see were some of the strong rooms, which are about a mile long under priory park in Warwick where they keep huge amounts of very old documents.
What do you hope to achieve on this placement?
I hope to gain some experience in the workplace- as I do this work in an open plan office and have a view of the other jobs going on around me, such as dealing with the public on archival matters.
How did you feel beforehand?
I was apprehensive and unsure about what the opportunity entailed before my interview, which was quite informal with the volunteer supervisor. As the records that the office look at are so wide ranging and varied, I was also not confident that I would be able to complete the tasks to the quality that they needed for their records. However I think this was all part of the process and now that I have been going for a month, I have relaxed into the process and am excited for the new projects that they are going to open up for me when I complete this one.
2017-2018 Year 12 Weekly Work Experience Placements
Eleanor Beckett USB