Top 12 Archivist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today’s fast-shifting digital landscape, archivists anchor memory to method. They keep records trustworthy, findable, and alive across paper boxes and petabytes. Put the right skills on your resume and hiring teams see it fast: you can manage, protect, and open the door to collections that matter—analog and digital, fragile and sprawling.

Archivist Skills

1. Cataloging
2. Preservation
3. Archival Science
4. Digital Curation
5. Metadata Standards
6. Research
7. Collection Development
8. Records Management
9. Archival Description
10. Digital Asset Management
11. Encoded Archival Description (EAD)
12. Archivists' Toolkit

1. Cataloging

Cataloging means recording and describing archival materials so people can find, understand, and request them quickly—no guesswork, no wandering.

Why It's Important

Good cataloging turns chaos into clarity. It preserves context, speeds discovery, and makes collections usable now and in the future.

How to Improve Cataloging Skills

Sharper cataloging comes from consistency, care, and user focus.

1. Use standards: Apply ISAD(G), DACS, and local rules consistently so records interoperate and scale.

2. Elevate metadata quality: Capture scope, dates, creators, subjects, rights, and relationships with precision.

3. Leverage tools: Work in systems like ArchivesSpace or similar platforms to reduce duplication and track hierarchy.

4. Close the loop with users: Ask researchers where they stumble; refine fields and notes accordingly.

5. Preserve the record of the record: Protect catalog data with backups, versioning, and fixity checks.

6. Collaborate: Align vocabularies and practices with peer institutions for smoother discovery across repositories.

How to Display Cataloging Skills on Your Resume

2. Preservation

Preservation is the work of keeping materials stable, authentic, and accessible for the long haul—paper, film, files, and everything between.

Why It's Important

Without preservation, memory fades. With it, records remain legible, trustworthy, and available when someone needs them most.

How to Improve Preservation Skills

Small habits add up; so do solid plans.

1. Control the environment: Stable temperature and humidity, clean air, low light exposure, and active pest monitoring.

2. Store and handle correctly: Use archival housings, label carefully, and train staff on safe handling.

3. Digitize strategically: Reduce wear on fragile originals and plan for digital preservation (checksums, multiple copies, format monitoring).

4. Plan for disasters: Write and test an emergency plan. Keep contacts, supplies, and priorities ready.

5. Audit routinely: Inspect collections and digital storage; document issues and remediate before they snowball.

6. Align with frameworks: Use OAIS concepts and preservation metadata like PREMIS to document actions.

How to Display Preservation Skills on Your Resume

3. Archival Science

Archival Science blends theory with practice: appraisal, arrangement, description, preservation, and access—guided by ethics and context.

Why It's Important

It provides the principles that safeguard authenticity and meaning, so records can be trusted, understood, and used across generations.

How to Improve Archival Science Skills

Stay curious. Stay current.

1. Deepen digital fluency: Learn digital preservation workflows, file formats, and risk assessment.

2. Pursue ongoing education: Courses, conferences, reading groups—keep sharpening methods and mindset.

3. Promote responsible access: Balance openness with privacy, cultural sensitivity, and rights management.

4. Engage communities: Co-create with stakeholders so collections reflect lived realities, not just institutional views.

5. Design for sustainability: Choose materials, systems, and policies that you can maintain.

6. Champion ethics: Document decisions, mitigate bias, and acknowledge archival power dynamics.

7. Experiment with outreach: Digital exhibits, social media, classrooms—meet users where they are.

How to Display Archival Science Skills on Your Resume

4. Digital Curation

Digital curation stewards data and digital objects across their lifecycle—creation, appraisal, description, preservation, access, and reuse.

Why It's Important

Born-digital and digitized materials vanish without care. Curation keeps them discoverable, fixity-checked, and future-ready.

How to Improve Digital Curation Skills

Think lifecycle. Think longevity.

1. Adopt standards: Use Dublin Core, PREMIS, and clear file naming and versioning schemes.

2. Plan preservation: Define storage tiers, replication, fixity schedules, and format normalization or migration paths.

3. Use the right tools: Consider platforms like Archivematica or comparable systems for ingest and preservation workflows.

4. Document everything: Capture provenance, rights, and processing decisions for transparency.

5. Join practitioner communities: Share challenges, compare workflows, and refine approaches.

How to Display Digital Curation Skills on Your Resume

5. Metadata Standards

Metadata standards define how we describe, relate, and manage things. They keep description coherent and interoperable.

Why It's Important

Consistent metadata boosts discovery, preserves context, and eases migration when systems change—or vanish.

How to Improve Metadata Standards Skills

Precision pays off.

1. Pick the right schemas: Dublin Core, EAD (EAD3), MODS, METS, PREMIS—select what suits the material and use cases.

2. Use controlled vocabularies: Authority files and thesauri reduce ambiguity and improve retrieval.

3. Define application profiles: Document fields, required elements, and local extensions so everyone builds the same way.

4. Validate and review: Run validators, peer-review records, and spot-check for drift or errors.

5. Automate where safe: Template repetitive data and batch-edit carefully to speed consistency.

6. Train the team: Share guidelines, examples, and decision logs; keep them current.

How to Display Metadata Standards Skills on Your Resume

6. Research

Research for archivists means digging into sources, context, and provenance to verify facts, surface relationships, and guide users toward answers.

Why It's Important

It anchors description in reality, informs preservation choices, and turns scattered materials into coherent narratives.

How to Improve Research Skills

Method beats guesswork.

1. Structure your queries: Define scope, terms, and likely sources before you start.

2. Build finding aids that work: Index thoughtfully; add scope notes that anticipate user questions.

3. Digitize and describe: Increase access while capturing context users can search.

4. Master your systems: Learn your archival management and discovery tools in depth.

5. Stay current: Read, attend sessions, and compare techniques with peers.

6. Share results: Publish guides, blog posts, or case studies to refine your own practice and help others.

How to Display Research Skills on Your Resume

7. Collection Development

Collection development is the intentional selection, acquisition, and review of materials to shape a collection that serves mission and community.

Why It's Important

It aligns limited resources with real needs, fills gaps, and keeps collections relevant and representative.

How to Improve Collection Development Skills

Deliberate choices, documented well.

1. Create or refresh policy: Tie scope, formats, and priorities to your institution’s mission and users.

2. Assess and map gaps: Use data, researcher feedback, and use stats to guide what to seek—or let go.

3. Center inclusion: Proactively collect underrepresented voices; apply inclusive description practices.

4. Grow digital holdings: Acquire born-digital content; digitize high-value materials with clear rights.

5. Collaborate: Partner with peer repositories and community groups to share expertise and broaden coverage.

6. Follow standards: Use DACS and clear donor/deed documentation to support future access and ethics.

How to Display Collection Development Skills on Your Resume

8. Records Management

Records Management governs records from creation to disposition, ensuring authenticity, access, and compliance throughout their lifecycle.

Why It's Important

It preserves institutional memory, meets legal obligations, and identifies what endures as archives—and what should not.

How to Improve Records Management Skills

Make it systematic. Make it stick.

1. Start with an inventory: Know what exists, where it lives, formats, retention, and owners.

2. Write clear policies: Define retention schedules, access rules, and disposition procedures aligned to regulations.

3. Adopt standards: Use ISO 15489 or ISO 30301 principles to structure your program.

4. Implement ERMS: Deploy an electronic records management system with audit trails, metadata, and search.

5. Train everyone: Keep staff engaged with simple guidance, templates, and refreshers.

6. Review routinely: Audit compliance, update schedules, and adapt to new laws and technologies.

How to Display Records Management Skills on Your Resume

9. Archival Description

Archival description captures what a collection is, how it’s arranged, and why it exists—so users can discover and interpret it.

Why It's Important

It links context to content. Description powers discovery, rights clarity, and informed use.

How to Improve Archival Description Skills

Clarity, care, and context.

1. Follow standards: Apply DACS and ISAD(G) to keep levels of description predictable and complete.

2. Write inclusive, respectful notes: Replace harmful language; explain historical terms when retention is necessary.

3. Use controlled vocabularies: Names, subjects, places—authorities tighten search results.

4. Connect the dots: Record relationships among creators, series, formats, and related collections.

5. Publish online: Use platforms like ArchivesSpace to present finding aids and expose metadata for discovery.

6. Invite feedback: Let users report errors or gaps and fold that input into revisions.

How to Display Archival Description Skills on Your Resume

10. Digital Asset Management

Digital Asset Management (DAM) organizes, stores, and retrieves digital files—documents, images, audio, video—in a central, governed repository.

Why It's Important

It makes digital collections searchable, secure, and maintainable while supporting long-term preservation and rights control.

How to Improve Digital Asset Management Skills

Think metadata, governance, and longevity.

1. Standardize metadata: Use Dublin Core and local fields tailored for discovery and rights.

2. Integrate systems: Connect DAM with archival platforms, storage, and identity management for smooth workflows.

3. Control access: Apply roles, permissions, and audit trails; respect privacy and copyright.

4. Preserve proactively: Schedule fixity checks, format monitoring, and replication; document actions with PREMIS.

5. Train users: Short guides and quick videos boost adoption and reduce metadata errors.

6. Audit and improve: Review metadata quality, deduplicate, and retire obsolete content regularly.

How to Display Digital Asset Management Skills on Your Resume

11. Encoded Archival Description (EAD)

EAD is an XML standard for encoding archival finding aids so systems can parse, display, and exchange them. Today, EAD3 is the current version in broad use.

Why It's Important

EAD standardizes structure and semantics, enabling consistent discovery across institutions and platforms while preserving hierarchical context.

How to Improve Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Skills

Make your finding aids sturdy and usable.

1. Use EAD3: Align elements and attributes with current guidance; document local practices.

2. Pair with DACS: Let content rules drive what you describe; let EAD carry the structure.

3. Validate: Run XML validation and Schematron rules to catch structural and content errors.

4. Link sensibly: Connect to digital objects, authority records, and related collections where available.

5. Design for access: Optimize titles, scope notes, and container lists for screen reading and accessibility.

6. Work in modern systems: Use tools like ArchivesSpace or similar to streamline creation and publishing.

7. Iterate with feedback: Monitor analytics and user comments to refine navigation and terminology.

How to Display Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Skills on Your Resume

12. Archivists' Toolkit

Archivists’ Toolkit is a legacy application once used for accessioning, description, and finding aids. Most institutions have moved to ArchivesSpace, its actively supported successor.

Why It's Important

Understanding Archivists’ Toolkit helps with legacy data management and migrations. Knowledge of ArchivesSpace is typically expected for current roles.

How to Improve Archivists' Toolkit Skills

Focus on stewardship and transition.

1. Plan migration: Map fields from Archivists’ Toolkit to ArchivesSpace; test on sample data before full moves.

2. Clean legacy data: Standardize names, subjects, dates, and container info to reduce noise post-migration.

3. Harden metadata: Add missing context and rights statements while you have data in flux.

4. Document workflows: Record procedures for accessioning, description, and publishing in the new system.

5. Train staff: Offer short, task-focused sessions and quick reference guides.

6. Secure and archive: Keep immutable backups of legacy databases and exports for provenance.

7. Monitor interoperability: Ensure exports (EAD, MARCXML, CSV) validate and load cleanly elsewhere.

How to Display Archivists' Toolkit Skills on Your Resume