Books are my business: Archivist at University of Galway Niamh Ní Charra

Ní Charra became interested in archives while researching the provenance of the tunes she was playing  in the Irish Traditional Music Archive on Merrion Square

Niamh Ní Charra,  an archivist based at the University of Galway, examining some archive material. Picture: University of Galway

Niamh Ní Charra, originally from Killarney, Co Kerry, is an archivist based at the University of Galway, where she is project archivist for their two largest archives: the Conradh na Gaeilge and Mary Robinson collections. 

She is also communications and campaigns officer for the Archives and Records Association, Ireland, and a fiddle and concertina player.

How did you become an archivist?

I came at it from a few different directions. I originally did a degree in electronic engineering and ended up working for an Irish software company in Boston. 

I had played music all my life and was spotted by Riverdance and toured with them for about eight years and then under my own name for years. 

I also started recording albums and in order to research the provenance of the tunes I was playing, I was often in the Irish Traditional Music Archive on Merrion Square and that is what got me interested in archives. 

I graduated with a Masters in Archives and Records Management in 2016 and I’ve been working full-time as an archivist ever since.

What does your role involve?

If you are an archivist and you are involved in a particular collection, you are involved in all aspects of the processing of that collection. 

When the collection comes in the door, you are appraising it to check what condition it is in, whether it is all relevant, whether some material needs to be returned to the donor, for example, because it isn’t suitable; you are also responsible for preserving it and ensuring it doesn’t deteriorate any further. 

You need to know what’s there, why it’s there, and what is missing. When an archive is catalogued and released, you are also often involved in promoting it and advocating for it.

Why are archives so important?

A big part of our recent Explore Your Archives campaign was to let people know that archives aren’t just for researchers and historians, that they are for everybody, and there are lots of types of archives, all over the country. 

Archives are a collection of records of something happening to somebody at a particular time in a particular place — they are our social history and collective memory. 

What I find really fascinating about our role is that archivists are at the cutting edge of a lot of things now. We are part of the frontline against fake news because we need to be able to authenticate a record — paper or digital.

What do you like most about your job?

There is constant variety — you can have archives about medicine, sport, music, politicians — you become an expert on whatever it is you’re archiving. I wish I had a better memory because I would be great at pub quizzes. 

You also get to know the people involved and you see a side to them that a lot of people wouldn’t.

Niamh Ní Charra is also communications and campaigns officer for the Archives and Records Association, Ireland, and a fiddle and concertina player. Picture: Marta Faye Photography

Another aspect is when you’ve done all your work and released the material and people are using and accessing the collections — when you see them have their Eureka moment, it’s brilliant. 

Another thing related to the Mary Robinson archive is that there are loads of kids’ drawings in it, so you are showing that these were important enough to be kept. You are also showing the children of today that their voice is important as well, which is lovely.

What do you like least about it?

There are not enough hours in the day. Also, it is an area of work, like anything related to the heritage sector, that is underfunded and under-supported. That can be frustrating because you would love to do so much more and for more collections to be protected and minded properly.

Three desert island books

The President’s Letters by Flor MacCarthy. She made the presidential archives so accessible in this book, you could open any part of it and learn something new. Motherfoclóir: Dispatches from a Not So Dead Language by Darach Ó Séaghdha. Seek the Fair Land by Walter Macken, which I read as a child and really stayed with me. And if I could throw in anything by Liz Nugent, Clodagh Finn, or Manchán Magan.

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