American Documentary Archives Intern
JOB DESCRIPTION: Archives Intern
Intern will have the opportunity to contribute to an ongoing archival project for POV materials/films. In partnership with POV, the American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB) is working to preserve documentaries so that future generations will be able to access them for research and educational purposes. AAPB is a collaboration between GBH in Boston and the Library of Congress. The goal of this archival project is to digitally preserve and make accessible programs created for, or distributed by, public media - in this case, POV, public media’s broadcast home for independent documentary films.
Through this position, we hope the Archives Intern will have the opportunity to:
- Be trained and supported by documentary production staff at POV and professional archivists at the AAPB.
- Gain first-hand experience collaborating on a large-scale archival project;
- Apply necessary skills to create item-level inventory of collection based on best archival practices;
- Apply appropriate preservation skills while working to assess condition of tapes to be digitized;
- Gain practice recognizing and recommending most suitable archival materials for digitization and prepping tapes of shiption to digitization vendor;
- Grow your understanding of rights and permissions involved in approaches to creating a digital archive.
POV Archives Internship can support career path in the following capacities:
- Archivist
- Journalist
- Educator
- Library Sciences
- Digital Media Specialist
Schedule and Compensation
- Summer- 3 month internship (12 weeks)
- 24 hours per week; internship stipend or course credit
Tasks
Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Organize, process, and preserve POV’s archival material (approximately 6,000 tapes)
- Rights-holder information gathering & organization
- Creating an item-level inventory of the collection
- Assessing condition and recommending best copy for digitization
- Packing tapes for shipment to digitization vendor
- In collaboration with POV and AAPB, conducting outreach to filmmakers of the archival project and seek their permission for online access
Qualifications
- Experience and/or interest in working with documentary films and social issues, arts administration and communications
- Experience working in a hybrid work setting
- Excellent organizational skills
- Excellent communications skills
- Data management skills
- Familiarity/Proficiency with spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets)
- Familiarity/proficiency with database programs, like FileMaker Pro
- Willingness and ability to work in a storage unit facility with fluorescent lighting and limited sunlight.
- Ability to sit and stand for extended durations of time and lift boxes of up to approximately 40-50 pounds.