Bertram specializes in the acquisition, management, and preservation of documentary, research, and cultural heritage collections. For fifteen years, Bert has worked as an archivist for extensive archives, first at the Alan Lomax Archive and most recently at the American Folklife Center (AFC) at the Library of Congress.

For years he has developed tools, policies, and partnerships around the development and management of analog and digital archival collections. His recent activities include:

• The implementation of digital risk assessment standards in the assessment of digital preservation environments
• The design and implementation of an audiovisual format analysis training program for the FBI Forensic Audio, Video, and Image Analysis Unit
• Development of digital collections management workflows, tools, and policies (including a new tool, Exactly)
• The design and implementation of a nationwide, EAD-compliant, multi-user online cataloging platform for folklore collections, a project sponsored by the American Folklore Society and hosted at Indiana University
• The design, development, and implementation of the U.S. International Standard Music Number (ISMN) web application for the Music Division at the Library of Congress
• Developing a collaborative workflow system for the congressionally mandated U.S. Civil Rights History Project, a born-digital oral-history partnership between the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of African-American History and Culture

Bert is active with professional archival organizations including the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives (Executive Board Member and Editor of IASA publications), the Society of American Archivists (Council Member), the Association of Recorded Sound Collections, and the Association of Moving Image Archivists. He has also received certification from the Academy of Certified Archivists and is a graduate of the Archives Leadership Institute. He holds an MA in museum studies with a focus in American studies and archival theory from the University of Kansas.