This seminar celebrates the wide range of careers, skills, and experiences that shape the profession.

ARA Section for New Professionals Seminar - Winter 2026: Many Routes, One Profession

There is no single path into archives and records management. This seminar celebrates the wide range of careers, skills, and experiences that shape the profession, from archives and records management to digitisation, rights clearance, publishing, and audiovisual preservation. Through talks from professionals with varied backgrounds, attendees will discover the diverse opportunities available and the many ways to build a rewarding career in the sector.

This hybrid event is a great opportunity to network and meet with other archives and records management professionals, especially those in the early stages of their careers.

Date and Time

Friday 23 October 2026, 13:00–17:00

Venue

Bristol Archives, B Bond Warehouse, Smeaton Road, Bristol, BS1 6XN

Draft Programme

13:00 - Arrival and registration with tea/coffee

13:20 - Online attendees join

13:30 - Welcome and introduction, Rachel Miller, The National Archives South West Region Liaison [In person0

13:50 - The Sounds of the South West project

· Sounds of the South West – looking back, looking forwards, Katie Scaife & Heather Millward, Sounds of the South West, Bristol Archives

· Making Audio Accessible: volunteers, cataloguing and rights clearance, Mary Milton, Sounds of the South West, Bristol Archives

· Digitisation and technical workflows [Title TBC], Harry Ovington, Sounds of the South West, Bristol Archives (15 min)

14:50 – Digital preservation and sustainability [Titles TBC] [2 x 15 min presentations titles TBC] Stacey Anderson & Kathryn Price, The Box, Plymouth

15:30 - Refreshment break

15:50 – One People, One Place, One Durham, Charlie Lough, Archives and Special Collections Apprentice, Durham University [In person]

16:10 – Experience First, Qualification Later, Rachel Fairley, Records Manager, Lancashire Record Office [Online]

16:30 - Tour of Bristol Archives [In person only]

17:00 - Networking and drinks (venue TBC)

Description supplied by the event organiser.