ROYAL BOROUGH OF KINGSTON UPON THAMES
ROLE PROFILE
Department Area:
Kingston Museum
Library & Heritage Service
Learning & Children’s Directorate
Job Title:
Local History Officer
Grade:F
Post Number:
RELATIONSHIPS
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RESPONSIBLE TO:
 Heritage Team Leader & Borough
Archivist
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RESPONSIBILITY FOR:
 Volunteers, work experience
students, internees
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IMPORTANT INTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS
 Heritage Service colleagues
 Library colleagues
 Administrative staff
 Colleagues from teams and other Council directorates: Children’s Services and
Safeguarding, Learning and School Effectiveness, LAC, the Youth Service, Active
Kingston, Leisure Centres, Kingston schools & colleges
 RBK ICT staff
4
IMPORTANT EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS
 All relevant professionals for whom and with whom the Council does business
including other Local authorities and other Governmental/regulatory bodies
 National, regional and local organisations concerned with local studies, family
history and heritage such as ACE, the National Archives, English Heritage, Civic
Trust, Record Offices and other local history facilities, the Centre for Historical
Record
 The general public, donors, researchers, academics, schools and other educational
establishments
 Voluntary organisations, societies and community groups
 The Friends of Kingston Museum and Heritage Service, Kingston Tour Guides,
Kingston upon Thames Archaeological Society, the Kingston upon Thames Society
 The Heritage Lottery Fund and other grant awarding bodies
MAIN PURPOSE OF JOB
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To manage the Local History Room and maintain a public service with special
responsibility for collecting, preserving, cataloguing and making accessible to the public
printed, photographic, pictorial and oral material relating to the history of the Royal
Borough
To devise and supervise work programmes for the volunteer team and work experience
students in the Local History Room
To develop and maintain the Museum and Heritage Service web pages in consultation
with the Exhibitions Officer and Service Development Librarian: Information and EServices and the corporate ICT Team
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To manage the ADLIB cataloguing programme, including developments and upgrades,
in conjunction with corporate ICT exploring possible integration with the Library
Management System
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Prepared by: ……………………………Agreed by: ……………………………….
Signature Date: .................................. Signature Date: …………………………
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES/DUTIES OF JOB
Leadership
 To contribute to the ongoing development and improvement of the overall
service, including objectives to the Cultural Services and Lifelong Learning
Service Plan
Communications
 Encourages and actively engages in positive cross-communications and team
working
 Communicate clearly and appropriately with colleagues and members of the
public
 Provide advice on all aspects of the service
 Seeks, listens to and responds to the views and ideas of colleagues, volunteers
and customers
Professional knowledge
 Provide professional advice and information on all aspects of local history
 Represent the Heritage Service at professional meetings, courses and
conferences
 Keep informed of current developments in local history, developing links with
other authorities, local history services and appropriate local, regional and
national bodies
Operational
Public Services
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To supervise public access to the Local History Collections and Archives,
ensuring their safe custody and handling
To deal with personal, telephone, email and written enquiries from the general
public, academics, researchers and RBK colleagues
To organise and participate in local projects such as collecting oral history
recordings, HLF or other grant funded projects or wider professional initiatives
such as audience development projects
To advise the Learning & Engagement Officer and the Service Development
Librarian: Learning and Access and other colleagues e.g. the KAE Family
Learning Team on the use of local history resources for education projects
To give talks to schools and community groups on local history, fostering an
understanding of the borough’s history and heritage and promoting a sense of
place
To work with local libraries on promoting local history resources and widening
access to the collections e.g. through displays and talks
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To be responsible for the maintenance of equipment in the Local History Room
including PCs, micro/reader printers and copiers, liaising with corporate ICT
and maintenance engineers and keeping up to date inventories of equipment
To prepare promotional leaflets and other publications
To contribute to the research and development of in-house exhibitions
To assist Museum staff to mount exhibitions as required
To assist in making grant applications and exploring sponsorship potential
where applicable
Collections Management
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Be responsible for the conservation of local history collections, their storage,
including the development and implementation of an environmental monitoring
programme
To maintain catalogues and indexes for the use of researchers, including
computerised and online systems using ADLIB or similar systems
To monitor book lists, sales catalogues and similar publications and
recommend for purchase or acquisition items of historical interest relating to the
Royal Borough, including books, newspapers, photographs, maps and
ephemera
To negotiate with donors and maintain accession records
Volunteer Programme
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To devise and supervise work programmes for the volunteer team and work
experience students in the Local History Room
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To work with the Visitor Services Officer to organise the Volunteer Forum
ensuring good two way communication with volunteers and promoting volunteer
retention through recognising and rewarding their contribution to the service
Communication
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To develop and maintain the Museum and Heritage Service web pages in
consultation with the Exhibitions Officer, the Information and E-Services
Librarian, the corporate ICT Team and other colleagues as appropriate
To use new technologies to promote services in the most cost effective way
and to reach the widest possible audience, including the use of social media
such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs etc
Security and Health & Safety
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Have due regard for the health and safety of self, other staff, volunteers, visitors
and participants in learning programmes in accordance with current Health &
Safety regulations.
Be a key holder and ensure the security and preservation of the collections in
suitable, secure, environmentally sound controlled conditions
Performance
 Has high performance expectations that are transferred into clear measurable
targets
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Continually monitors performance against targets and communicates this to
others
Consistently achieves performance targets and celebrates success with team
General
 To develop, update and act on own personal development plan, and be ready
to share learning with others
 To work in accordance with RBK‘s Equal Opportunities, Health & Safety,
relevant policies and legislation
 To ensure that all activities and events adhere to current legislation (Health &
Safety, Moving & Handling, Human Rights etc) and local policies and procedures
(Library & Heritage Service Child Safety Policy, Protecting Vulnerable Adults, Anti
discriminatory practice etc).
 To work closely with partner organisation in developing joint strategies and joint
working
 Any other duties commensurate with the grade of the post, as may be required
from time to time.
Appointment and progression through the scheme will depend on an individual
meeting the criteria set out in the progression scheme, as determined through
the performance appraisal process.
ROYAL BOROUGH OF KINGSTON UPON THAMES
An equal opportunities employer
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Job Title: Local History Officer
Post No:
Grade: F
Essential
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Qualifications:
Experience of:
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Ability to:
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Educated to degree level
Postgraduate
qualification in Archives /
Local History / Museum
Studies / Librarianship
Desirable
N/A
Working with the public in a Local History or Archives Service
Managing Local History collections including collecting,
preserving, cataloguing and making them accessible to the public
Using computerised or online cataloguing systems for local history
and archive material such as ADLIB or similar systems
Training and supervising volunteers
Training customers to use local and family history resources
Developing and maintaining web pages
Preparing promotional material e.g. flyers, posters, leaflets
Working as part of a team
Manage a Local History Room and maintain an efficient, friendly,
customer focused public service
Communicate effectively in person, by telephone and by email
Work as part of a team and promote team working
Identify and respond to customer needs
Use new technologies to reach new audiences and widen access
to collections and services
Promote the Local History Collections by giving talks to different
audiences from school children to professional groups
Build and maintain relationships with users, partners and
stakeholders
Produce correspondence, maintain statistical records and write
reports with minimum supervision
Work to tight deadlines and balance conflicting work deadlines
Demonstrate self-motivation, manage time effectively and
organise work efficiently and effectively
Work on own initiative and as part of a team
Demonstrate a high level of information literacy
Represent the Museum and Heritage Service to outside agencies
Create a working culture that is open and responsive to change
Build strong relationships across the Council and with our key
partners.
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Consistently displays commitment to a ‘One Council’ Way of
working.
Continuously look for ways to improve services and develop new
ways of working.
Meets the criteria set out in the One Council Leadership and
Management Framework which focuses on Leading People,
Delivering Services and Personal Effectiveness:
Knowledge of:
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Other
Requirements:
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Management and conservation of local history records
Cataloguing of local history collections using computerised and
online systems such as ADLIB
National, regional and local research resources relating to local
history records
National developments and best practice in delivering local history
services
Work one late evening until 9pm on alternate weeks plus other
late evenings as required, some Saturday working to provide staff
cover and cover events such as Heritage Open Days and Bank
Holiday working for events such as May Merrie
Needs to be physically fit and capable of lifting.
Having a strong commitment to following our Six Steps to working
as One Council:
1. Recognise the need to continually learn and adapt.
2. We willingly share our knowledge and learning with others
3. We work collaboratively across teams, services and
partner organisations
4. Looks for ways of improving what we do and how we do it
5. We are comfortable with new technology and modern
methods of working
6. We are determined to make a difference to the lives of our
customers
Having a strong commitment to following our Six Steps to
delivering our Customer Commitment:
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We go out of our way to get it right first time
 We listen, understand and deliver
 We respond positively and politely
 We respect each customer as an individual
 We take responsibility for the customer’s issue or problem
 We work as a team to deliver the solution