Job Description

About the Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum (NHM) is a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre and commercial event space. We use our unique collections and unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects, both in our London and Tring museums, spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually.

We are at a pivotal moment in our history, as we launch a new strategy setting out our role as the natural world faces increasing threats. Building on our world-leading collection, global reputation for science and as one of the world’s leading visitor attractions, the NHM has ambitious plans leading up to its 150 ^th anniversary in 2031 making this a truly exciting time to be part of the NHM team.

Diversity and Inclusion

We welcome applications from everyone – diversity, inclusion and the feeling of belonging matters to us. By attracting people to work for us from a broad range of diverse backgrounds we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things. We offer a stimulating and professional environment in which to work. This is a remarkable place we look for staff who can work according to our values – we champion diversity, encourage creativity, we are connected, and we value evidence.

About NHM@Harwell

Over 300 scientists based at the Museum tackle important global challenges, spanning mineral scarcity, food security and biodiversity loss. The Museum is globally renowned for excellence in science and research and championing digital capacity and innovation.

The Museum has been awarded a substantial government investment of £182m, over 6 years, to create a new science and digitisation centre at the Harwell Science and Innovation Centre in south Oxfordshire. This is a once in a century opportunity to shape the future of the Museum, protect and share our unique collection and further our science.

The NHM@Harwell programme is made up of several major projects and workstreams which encompass:

• Designing and building the new centre, including collections, lab and other specialist spaces.
• Preparing and moving tens of millions of specimens from across multiple sites to the new centre. This role sits within this project (Moves@Harwell).
• Developing staffing and technology models for the new centre.
• Ensuring we pass successive government gateways for progressing the programme.
• Developing new and retaining existing research and other partnerships.
• Developing KPIs and benefits mapping, to provide information to senior managers, Trustees and DCMS as our funders.
• Engaging colleagues and professional users of our collections in the process and shaping of the new centre.

Moves@Harwell

The new centre will include a large collections store alongside new specialist laboratories and staff accommodation. As part of this development, the Museum will be moving over a third of its 80 million specimens and Library and Archive collections from its four sites (in London, Hertfordshire and Yorkshire) to the new site, plus undertaking substantial internal moves.

In addition to the need to catalogue, prepare, pack and move specimens and objects, there is also the requirement to move specialist laboratory equipment. The moves are currently scheduled to take place from late 2025, with preparation and planning having already commenced.

Job Summary

Working closely with the Library Collections Operations Team, a joint Team leader and five project assistants, assist in the preparation of Library materials for relocation. The material selected for relocation will include serials, books, maps, CDs and microform. The purpose of the project is audit and barcode the physical items to ensure that we have an accurate inventory of the library collections prior to the move. The process will enhance discoverability and enable electronic circulation and tracking of the collection.

You will provide joint leadership of the Audit and Barcoding Project Team supporting the project assistants in developing their understanding of the required processes in order to make their work more efficient and effective. You will take the lead on collection management and curation tasks including liaison with users. You will also be involved in uploading data to the Library Management System.

The post holder may be required to work at South Kensington or at our store in South London.

Main Responsibilities

• Jointly lead in managing the Audit and Barcoding project team in order to ensure that the collections are properly prepared prior to their move to Harwell.
• Provide training, support and guidance to the project assistants, specifically in ensuring that the required processes are understood and adherred to.
• Assist in dealing with queries and problem solving that will arise as the project progresses
• Assist with the quality control protocols and feedback to project assistants.
• Upload completed spreadsheets of serial part data for each title to the Library Management System (ALMA) and ensure items display correctly and are discoverable. This will include following protocols accurately and correctly.
• Support the team in transliteration of non-roman characters to enable accurate metadata to be created as required.
• Assist with collection management and curation tasks as necessary including contributing to the audit and barcoding activity as time allows.
• Provide assistance with the management of the collection move as required.

Person Specification

• Postgraduate qualification in Library and Information Science, or equivalent, recognised by CILIP. Proven experience of working in an academic or research library.
• Proven experience and in-depth understanding of print serials and book collections, particularly with holdings dating back to the nineteenth century and earlier.
• Proven experience of problem solving, particularly in a collection management environment.
• Evidence of a customer focused approach and ability to deliver excellent customer care.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to quickly establish effective working relationships with colleagues and users.
• Proven experience of working with library management and discovery systems.
• Demonstrable ability to maintain a consistently high level of accuracy and attention to detail while meeting agreed productivity targets.
• Ability to work effectively as part of team to deliver agreed objectives.
• Experience of supervising, supporting and motivating staff.
• Ability to quickly understand of computer applications used by Library and Archives, including standard computer software.