A recent New York Times article profiled digital archivists as an upcoming career that has become more necessary as institutions and business begin digitizing their information. Also known as digital asset managers or digital preservation officers, these people adapt all types of documents and written materials for use in computer databases, making the information readily accessible for future researchers.
This profession requires knowledge of information systems and technology. Given the volume of documents, digital archivists must organize information in a way that is maintainable and easy to understand; simply transferring as much information as possible will not be useful to future generations.
Many of the estimated 20,000 digital archivists in the United States work in public institutions, but there are applications in corporate and business settings as well. Law firms, for example, are beginning to store legal documents in databases. Given the current trends, it is projected that demand for digital archivists will triple during the next ten years.