ABINGDON-ON-THAMES TOWN COUNCIL
JOB DESCRIPTION
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT (30 hours per week)
1.
Post Title Museum Collections Assistant
2.
Responsible to the Museum Curator
3.
Salary Grade: Scale Points 19 to 23, (£17,980 - £20,400) per annum pro rata.
i.e. full time = 36.5 hours per week. (Pay Award Pending).
4.
Job Summary To assist the Museum Curator in the effective delivery of
Museum and Heritage services.
5.
Specific Responsibilities: The post holder will have specific responsibilities for
Museum documentation using MODES and eHive systems, environmental
monitoring, care of collections on display and in the museum stores and to be a
key holder for the museum.
6.
Key Responsibilities:
a)
To work as part of a small professional team in the museum to assist with the
day to day operation of Abingdon County Hall Museum, a fully accredited
museum. S/he will work with our friendly front of house team of staff and
volunteers to maintain our high quality visitor experience, whilst ensuring that
the Abingdon-on-Thames Town Council Collections, housed in the Museum
and the Guildhall, are appropriately cared for and catalogued.
b)
To have specific responsibilities for documentation of the collections, including
location recording, adding images to existing records and processing new
acquisitions. The Abingdon Social History and Archaeology collections are
hosted on the Oxfordshire County Council MODES XML catalogue system
and items not on display are stored in Museums Resource Centre at
Standlake. Hence ability to travel to this location is essential, although in
future it is planned to have a museum store in Abingdon. Also eHive, a cloud
based catalogue system, is used to make some collection items more
accessible and further collections will be added to this system.
c)
To administer incoming and outgoing loans and ensure appropriate insurance
cover is in place.
d)
To collect and record environmental data, and monitor pest traps, to ensure
appropriate preventative conservation is in place and information is available
for government indemnity purposes.
e)
To actively manage the stores or gallery environment with humidifiers or
dehumidifiers and temperature controls, as required.
f)
To keep appropriate Collection records for Museum Accreditation
g)
To assist the Curator in answering public enquiries relating to the Museum
collections and Abingdon history, or refer them to other organisations as
appropriate.
h)
To organise volunteers working on collections related projects.
i)
To be a key holder for the museum, able to lock/unlock the museum, and
when required be the most senior person on site during opening hours.
j)
To be part of the Museum team in the event of an emergency, responsible for
keeping a copy of the disaster recovery plan securely off-site and updating the
grab list.
k)
To be flexible and able to work some evenings and weekends when special
events or meetings are taking place.
l)
To prepare reports for meetings of the County Hall Museum Management
Committee and when required act as clerk for the committee.
m)
To work as part of the wider Town Council team, when required, and
undertake such duties and training as shall be directed taking into account the
need for flexibility in working in a small organization, and participate in all
relevant internal and external meetings in connection with the responsibilities
of the post.
n)
To ensure that the Council's various policies, procedures, financial regulations
and standing orders are adhered to in carrying out all tasks and duties,
including adherence to the Council's Code of Practice relating to
confidentiality.
o)
The post holder will comply with all Council requirements, including any health
and safety and insurance requirements; whilst working with groups and
individuals.
7.
General:
a)
The hours of work for contractual purposes are 30 hours per week. Some
evening and weekend working is a requirement of the job for which
compensatory time off will be given or overtime allowed within the exigencies of
the service and in line with Council policies.
8.
Essential qualifications, skills and experience
The successful candidate will:
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9.
Be educated to degree level or equivalent;
Have experience of work in a museum or heritage environment;
Have experience of museum documentation systems and collections care;
Exhibit excellent time management;
Be IT literate with a variety of programmes and functions;
Be reliable, practical and able to work without supervision;
Be able to work in a listed building with 100 stairs;
Desirable skills and experience
It is desirable that the successful candidate:
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Understands basic object conservation and care;
Is interested in either social history, archaeology, geology or photographic
collections;
Lives within 30 minutes travel time of the museum, in case of out of hours
emergency call out.
Notes
Applications should be made using the form found on the Council website
http://www.abingdon.gov.uk/town-council/job-opportunities-atc
The Closing date for applications is 12 noon on Friday 5th December, 2015
Applications should be sent by e-mail to jane.bowen@abingdon.gov.uk
Interviews will be held on Thursday 11th December. If you are unable to
attend on this day please mention this on your application form and we will
endeavour to find another date, if you are short-listed.
Short-listed applicants will be contacted by Monday 8th December
Date: 11 November 2014