JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION

Job Title / Archivist
Salary Band / Salary: Band 5 £18,822 pa based on a FTE of £31,370 pa
Section/Team / Welcome and Visitors
Reporting to / Canon Chancellor
Reporting to job holder / No employed staff
-  Small team of volunteers
Date of issue / 2015
Overall Purpose of Post
To manage, preserve and develop the Cathedral’s Archive and Library for current needs and those of future generations.
Health and Safety
It is a general duty of all Cathedral staff to ensure they are familiar with the Health and Safety Policy and to adhere to it at all times.
Responsibilities and Accountabilities / Nature and Scope of Role
1 / Archive Management
To manage the creation and maintenance of the Cathedral Archive. / This includes:
·  managing the archive accommodation and developing proposals when needed for relocation and expansion
·  Cataloguing the archive collection
·  Establishing means of access to the Archive
·  Ensuring ongoing management of the Archive, including access, accruals and promulgating its use
2 / Library Management
To manage the Cathedral Library / This includes:
·  Ensuring that books and other material are appropriately and securely stored and preserved
·  Access arrangements are established and communicated
·  Dealing with enquiries for access to the library in a friendly and professional manner.
·  Establishing a strategy for disposals and acquisitions
3 / Preservation
To ensure that all Archive and Library material held at the Cathedral is properly preserved / This includes:
-  giving advice on its storage in secure and healthy conditions
-  assessing on-going preservation and conservation needs and recommending actions
-  providing professional advice to the Canon in charge on all aspects of preservation including electronic preservation
-  arranging for books and documents to be conserved or bound as appropriate by external conservators.
-  advising on digitisation of core collections to protect the originals, whilst improving access and security.
4 / Development
To consolidate, maintain and develop the Cathedral Archive and Library and the catalogues / This includes:
-  developing for the approval of Chapter a strategy for increased access to the Library resources and for the display of important parts of the collection
-  creating an up-to-date archival catalogue in electronic format that can be searched by Dean & Chapter colleagues
-  negotiating with partner/s to mount cathedral archives and library catalogues on-line in a sustainable manner
-  surveying cathedral departments to determine scale of uncatalogued archive collections
-  working out programme for cataloguing the archives to link in with Isabel Syed’s catalogue of the historic archive collection held in the Cathedral library and in Gloucestershire Archives.
-  Preparing applications for external funding for cataloguing, conservation, digitisation and learning and outreach projects
-  developing records management guidelines for the Cathedralto ensurethat appropriate material is regularly added to the archive to help future generations understand how the Cathedral worked in the early 21st century;
-  to give talks and lead tours of the Library
-  acquiring new publications in line with the collecting policy.
5 / Knowledge
To develop a strategy and operation to promote awareness, knowledge and understanding of the library and archive and serve the needs of enquirers and researchers / This includes:
-  training and supervising volunteers to managethe archive,answer routine enquiries and supervise researchers
-  responding to specialist or complex enquiries
-  advising on the provision of facilities for public access to the library and archive
-  transferring items to and from Gloucestershire Archives to enable adequate supervision of longer term research
-  advising the Canon in charge about learning and promotional opportunities for display and interpretation
-  undertaking research and reports to support Cathedral Projects, e.g. Fabric works, Project Pilgrim bid
-  contributing to major cross-departmental projects, e.g. Project Pilgrim, VEST group
-  working as a team member and taking responsibilities as required
-  assisting with Cathedral publications
6 / Inventory
To manage the completion and maintenance of the Cathedral inventory (as required under the Care of Cathedrals Measure). / This includes:
·  Creation and management of a programme for completing the inventory
·  Working with volunteers, who may have particular interests or skills, in undertaking aspects of the inventory task
·  Presentation of the inventory elements to the Cathedral’s Fabric Committee and Fabric Advisory Committee
7 / Managing Volunteers
To manage and foster a small team of volunteers to support the work of the Archivist / This includes:
·  Identifying potential volunteers
·  Training and supervision, and foster a team spirit
·  Establishing clear roles within the Library and Archive.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Attributes / Essential / Desirable
General / Be in sympathy with the aims and ethos of the Cathedral as a Christian organisation and have an understanding of the function of the Cathedral as a heritage attraction
Qualifications and Training / ·  Educated to degree level
Archivist qualification
Experience / ·  Experience of managing archival collections
·  Experience of dealing with customer queries
·  Experience of working as part of a team / ·  Experience of working in a supervisory capacity.
·  Experience of working with Volunteers
·  Developing and delivering training plans
·  Preparing and delivering presentations
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities / ·  Great communication skills
·  Friendly and approachable manner
·  Great customer service skills
Personal Qualities

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