Vacancy for Digital Preservation Archivist at the British Film Institute

Vacancy for Digital Preservation Archivist at the British Film Institute

20 May 2024

BFI National Archive, Berkhamsted. We operate a hybrid working model at the BFI. This role requires 4 working days per month at the Conservation Centre in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire.

Fixed Term

We are looking for a Digital Preservation Archivist to join the BFI’s Data & Digital Preservation department on a fixed term basis until 31 March 2026.

This position is part of the BFI’s newly launched Our Screen Heritage project, which will bring the BFI National Archive, the UK’s national collection of moving image, up-to-date by acquiring and preserving the story of moving image in the digital/online era and reflecting the diversity and richness of contemporary Britain today.

The Digital Preservation Archivist will focus on developing, implementing, maintaining and documenting the digital preservation and access workflows and policies for born digital document archives collected via acquisitions from Special Collections Archivists or Special Collections Digital Archivists.

Key responsibilities include:

1. Work with Special Collections Archivists and collections donors, to create a shared understanding of the digital materials in scope for collecting, and design effective digital preservation workflows for those materials.
2. Contribute to the development of digital preservation workflows for born-digital document archives, carry out quality assurance, and test new or proposed workflows.
3. Contribute to the selection and implementation of relevant digital preservation metadata standards and capture/create metadata in line with those standards.
4. Undertake transfer of data from various physical devices - such as computer hard drives, optical disks, flash drives - with attention to digital preservation principles to ensure lossless transfer, and in compliance with BFI National Archive cybersecurity policies.

We are looking for candidates who have:

1. Experience working in a digital preservation context with born digital material in current and legacy digital formats.
2. Experience of transferring data from physical devices - such as computer hard drives, optical disks, flash drives - and cloud-based data storage solutions, for the purpose of long term digital preservation.
3. Proven ability to create digital preservation workflows for born digital document archives.
4. Knowledge of digital preservation standards including technical requirements, and experience of implementing those in good practice digital preservation workflows.