I found saying "I'm an archivist," then following up with "I preserve
paper, film and photographs and make them accessible to the public,"
usually works pretty well. I am always surprised to find people who know
exactly what I do. Usually I find out they're either researchers,
history majors, museum and library staff or, interestingly enough,
sci-fi junkies such as myself who refer to obscure archivist references
in science fiction novels. 
 
Talking about professions and degrees, as you all may well know, I have
a Museum Studies masters degree, specializing in Archives Management. I
found that the museum studies courses really helped me understand the
preservation side of the archives and the additional duties I perform
working in a museum setting...but, no matter what degree people ask for
(MLS/MLIS/History...), it is really the archives-specific courses, and
the additional education received through internships, seminars,
conference and on-the-job training, that gave me the know-how to be good
archivist. It is too bad that we do not have a full Archives masters
program in the U.S.. Nonetheless, I am thankful for the many
opportunities I have been given for additional training, as they are
truly worthwhile. 
 
***The comments above are exclusive to the writer, and do not reflect
the opinions of the organization she works for. She wrote the above
message off the clock. ***

Jackie Shalberg 
Archivist / Assistant Historian 
National Model Aviation Museum


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