Karyn Williamson
Nomination:
Karyn has built her career using a collaborative, people‑centred approach to archives, record keeping and digital preservation. Since qualifying as an Archivist in 2014 with a Masters from the University of Dundee, she has continued to expand her expertise, achieving ARA Registered status in 2017 and completing a Postgraduate Certificate in Digital Information Management from University College Dublin in 2019. Her professional journey includes ten years as Company Archivist at abrdn (formerly Standard Life), the establishment of her own consultancy, DigiKive, and, most recently, her move to the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) in 2024.
Alongside her professional roles, Karyn has consistently invested her time and skills back into the sector. She has volunteered in a wide range of leadership positions, including Chair of ARA Scotland, Chair of the Section for New Professionals, ARA Board Member, and since 2017, Campaign Manager for Explore Your Archive. She currently serves as a Trustee of the Business Archives Council, Executive Officer for the Business Archives Council Scotland, and is the incoming Vice‑Chair of the ARA Board.
A collaborative, community‑centred approach
Karyn’s work with the DPC on the Towards a National Collection Spoke project, Our Heritage, Our Stories, exemplifies her commitment to widening participation and empowering community archives. Tasked with creating a digital preservation resource for community groups within a tight nine‑month timeframe, she began by listening. Through focus groups, surveys, and close collaboration with the Community Archives and Heritage Group (CAHG), she ensured that community voices shaped every stage of the project.
It became clear that groups needed a flexible, adaptable resource that could meet a wide range of knowledge levels. In response, Karyn developed the concept for The Digital Preservation Toolkit for Community Archives, built around a matrix format that users could work through step‑by‑step or dip into as needed. She continued to co‑design the content with community representatives, ensuring the final toolkit was practical, relevant, and grounded in real experience. The result was a genuinely collaborative achievement that demonstrated how digital preservation expertise and community knowledge can be brought together to create meaningful, sustainable impact.
Global reach through partnership
Following the toolkit’s launch on World Digital Preservation Day 2024, international feedback highlighted the need for a version that could be adapted to different cultural and legislative contexts. Recognising that a single global toolkit was neither feasible nor appropriate, Karyn designed the Global Ambassador Programme. This initiative supports established archive and recordkeeping services worldwide to adapt the toolkit for their own local environments and use it to empower community groups in their regions. The programme is currently in its pilot phase, with more than 30 ambassador organisations already engaged. The toolkit itself has been accessed over 130,000 times, demonstrating its reach and relevance.
Strengthening the sector through volunteer leadership
Alongside her DPC work, Karyn has continued to lead the Explore Your Archive campaign on a volunteer basis. Under her guidance, the team has grown from 2 original members, through 19 in 2024, to 32 members by January 2026. The EYA podcast is being relaunched, and website views have risen to nearly 30,000 in 2025. Her leadership has been instrumental in expanding the campaign’s reach and supporting recordkeepers to promote their collections in creative, accessible ways.
She also initiated and delivered the Arch’Ive Learnt Sprint project, bringing together recordkeepers from across the UK to strengthen connections between the archive sector and education. The first set of resources, designed to help recordkeepers engage with schools and inspire pupils to see themselves in heritage careers, launches in August, with a second sprint underway to support services offering work‑experience placements to school‑aged learners.
A career dedicated to widening access
Across all her work, Karyn has championed the belief at the heart of Explore Your Archive: Archives are for All, Anywhere, Anytime. Her achievements over the past 18 months in particular, demonstrate the power of her collaborative, people‑centred approach, creating globally impactful resources that empower community groups to preserve their digital heritage, and strengthening sector‑wide initiatives that help recordkeepers share their collections with the widest possible audience.
A cherished colleague and friend
At the heart of Karyn’s many impactful contributions to the archive profession and sector are the personal qualities of openness, kindness, and encouragement she brings to every project and interaction. She gives freely of her time, is always happy to provide help and feedback, and is the best cheerleader to have in your corner. She is also never satisfied with giving anything less than her all, which is reflected in success of the initiatives she has led and contributed to. She is a true leader within the profession, affecting the sector positively in so many different ways, and it is an honour to have her as a colleague and friend.