Julian is a Conservation Officer at The National Library of Wales (NLW), shares insight and experience of his journey from kitchen to conservation studio:
My current role is a conservation officer, but I started working my working life at NLW within the kitchen, as a part timer, far from the archives and naive to the extent of the collections housed at the library. Around my part-time job I started to volunteer at NLW to help with the many projects, which changed my perspective and sparked my interest. After a few months, a job came up within the library to retrieve the material for the readers, I applied for it and was successful. In this role I would fetch anything from a modern novel to a historic manuscript. It was eye-opening to see the sheer volume and variety of collections housed at the library. From this point on I was interested in developing a career within the library, and after a couple of years a new role was advertised within conservation- this was the beginning of my career within conservation.
To begin with my role was mainly focused on preventative conservation, I had very little experience with hands-on practical work. Working on historical documents can be nerve-wracking and building confidence is key to safely conserve documents, that’s why I really wanted to get on to the Archive Conservation Training Scheme (ACTS) – I believed it was the key to step up my conservation career, and it would be the tool that would enable me to become more confident and proficient in archive conservation. Having an experienced instructor guiding me at all times was very constructive to my learning journey and any questions or issues that I had could easily be addressed. As time went on more and more began to make sense and the course became increasingly more enjoyable and rewarding. I am now able to work independently on the archives at my place of work and be confident in tackling many different formats that are commonly found in all archives.
I started ACTS in February 2019 and I managed to qualify in July 2023. In just over four years, and a global pandemic later, I went from being an inexperienced assistant to a qualified conservator. During my time on the course I travelled around the United Kingdom, from the stunning Highlands in Scotland to the historic city of Lincoln, being taught all things conservation along the way. ACTS enabled me to receive over 20 weeks of one-to-one training across multiple disciplines including: bookbinding, paper, parchment, maps, seals and chemistry. All of these gave me a thorough and well-rounded understanding of archive conservation, both theoretical and practical. The experience I gained from these modules was invaluable, as I gained confidence to assess and recognise the damage or requirements of a document and the necessary skills to then implement remedial treatment, both minor and extensive.
All of the professional and career benefits aside, this course offered a great deal more. Along the way, I met many trainees, instructors and people who voluntarily contribute to the running of the course, who have since become friends, providing an incredibly helpful network. If I’m seeking advice or information, this network of people are extremely forthcoming and keen to help, so even after finishing the course the benefits are still plenty. Whilst on my placements I would often visit local attractions to the place I was based, that included a print studio, libraries and even other archives to see how other establishments ran their conservation studios which was always an exciting experience. To top all of this off, whilst being up in the Highlands attending my maps and plan placement I even managed to climb Ben Nevis on the weekend, as a hiker, this was definitely a highlight for me- all enabled by the reach of the course.
ACTS is of course intense, involving a lot of input from the candidate. At the end of the course there is an exam, followed by an assessment of your practical work. It took me months to prepare my portfolio, but this further advanced my independent thinking in my role, because all of my decisions and actions were on show and evaluated before a panel. All of this sounds very daunting, but the panel were like-minded people, all very professional, but also really thrived on getting the best out of the candidate to help the individual progress. To me, the ACTS is more than just a course, it’s been a big part of my working life whilst in conservation. It was a catalyst for my personal development both in, and outside of work. I believe it is the main reason why I now have a full time job as a conservation officer. While on the course I would often say “I can’t wait for all of this to be over”, but now that I’m on the other side of the course, I can say that I do miss it!