Vacancy for Web Archiving Assistant at the UK National Archives

Digital Preservation Coalition; Greater London; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job description

Vacancy for Web Archiving Assistant at the UK National Archives

5 April 2021

Kew, London

Full-Time

Summary

The UK National Archives delivers a comprehensive web archiving programme to ensure both the long-term preservation of government information in the UK Government Web Archive (UKGWA), and to enable continued access to government information disseminated via the web. The UKGWA is The National Archives' largest digital collection. Each month it grows in volume by many terabytes and receives hundreds of thousands of visits online. The UKGWA also captures central government social media channels and contains a new archive of EU law.

The UK National Archives are looking for a motivated person, who enjoys producing work to high standards of accuracy to support the day-to-day activities of the team. You’ll work with colleagues in the Web Archiving Team and with MirrorWeb, the supplier of technical services, to ensure that the website capture process takes place effectively and high quality standards are maintained. This is a fantastic opportunity to gain archive experience while working on one of the highest quality, most accessible web archives in the world.

Responsibilities

• Performing quality assurance on archived websites and social media posts to a high standard of accuracy, playing a crucial role in a time-sensitive web archiving project.
• Using a bug tracking system (JIRA) to provide feedback to MirrorWeb about any problems found with the quality of archived websites, re-testing fixes and verifying as required.
• Detecting and alerting other members of the Web Archiving Team to problems with the quality of archived websites that cause particular concern.
• Supporting the web archiving process and working with the team to ensure that the whole archiving lifecycle from preparation of target sites, through quality assurance to publication goes smoothly and runs to an agreed schedule.
• Accurately updating an in-house database.
• Using specialist software such as Webrecorder (Conifer) and ScreamingFrog to capture and QA websites.
• Other project and service support as required.

Minimum Requirements

• Demonstrable ability to manage own workload, work to tight deadlines, and manage competing priorities.
• Ability to complete repetitive tasks, consistently and to a high level of accuracy.
• Demonstrable understanding of web archiving processes, and enthusiasm for web technologies and content, and the value of their preservation.
• Experience of using web capture technology such as Webrecorder (Conifer) and handling WARC files, and knowledge of the technological limitations of web archiving tools.
• Excellent IT skills including proficiency in using MS Office applications, databases and online collaborative tools such as Jira, Slack and Confluence.
• Ability to learn new skills, processes, and software quickly and to develop new skills and processes in collaboration with the rest of the team.
• Ability to communicate complex technical information clearly, both spoken and in writing, in order to achieve a desired outcome, with members of the Web Archiving team, with our supplier, our colleagues at The National Archives, and with other government departments.
• Ability to work independently as well as having a proactive interest in sharing new ideas with the rest of the team.
• Experience of digital archiving and digital preservation software, tools and methodologies.
• Experience of digital service delivery, including an understanding of the challenges involved in managing, storing and giving access to data.
• Ability to compare and evaluate new features and technologies, and integrate them into the production workflow of the team.
• Understanding of the customer base of the UK Government Web Archive and their needs.

This is a full-time post. However, requests for flexible, part-time working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.