Bridging the Gap: Post-Baccalaureate Apprenticeships for Underrepresented Populations in Archives (Bridging the Gap)

FAIN: PE-283538-22

Denver Public Library (Denver, CO 80204-2731)
Rachel Vagts (Project Director: May 2021 to present)

Hiring two pre-professional, post-baccalaureate apprentices from communities underrepresented in the archives and preservation professions to work in the Special Collections and Digital Archives Department of the Denver Public Library for two years.

Denver Public Library (DPL) proposes Bridging the Gap: Post-Baccalaureate Apprenticeships for Underrepresented Populations in Archives (Bridging the Gap), which will recruit and hire two pre-professional, post-baccalaureate apprentices.  We will prioritize underrepresented populations in archives and preservation professions for this program. We encourage those who identify as Black, Indigenous and/or people of color (BIPOC) and/or those who are first generation college graduates to apply. Over their two-year apprenticeship, they will have exposure to core archival and preservation functions and decision-making to advance the discovery, access and use of archival records included in historically important humanities collections in DPL’s Special Collections and Digital Archives Department. Through this project, apprentices will learn to process (i.e., perform collections assessment, arranging and describing of) collections for which they have a personal affinity; apply basic preservation treatments; and create finding aids (metadata) for digitized materials. To ensure that other libraries and archival institutions can learn from this project, DPL will partner with the Society of American Archivists (SAA) to disseminate a report about how DPL implemented the project, as well as the project’s evaluation outcomes related to apprentices’ professional skill development and the impact of the project on access to the humanities collections that will be improved through Bridging the Gap.