Job Description and Selection Criteria
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Job description and selection criteria Job title Archives Assistant (Graduate Trainee) Division Gardens, Libraries, and Museums (GLAM) Department Bodleian Libraries Location University Archives, Special Collections, Bodleian Libraries Grade and salary Grade 3: £18,412 - £21,220 per annum Hours Full time (36.5 hours per week) Contract type Fixed-term for one year from September 2017. Reporting to Keeper of the University Archives Vacancy reference 128313 This post requires Disclosure Scotland and financial background checks. Please do not apply if you have already taken, or are currently Additional taking a postgraduate archive qualification. information You are required to submit a CV and supporting statement with your application, outlining how you meet each of the selection criteria for the role (see below for further details). Closing date 12.00 midday (BST) Thursday 20 April 2017 Introduction The University Welcome to the University of Oxford. We aim to lead the world in research and education for the benefit of society both in the UK and globally. Oxford’s researchers engage with academic, commercial and cultural partners across the world to stimulate high-quality research and enable innovation through a broad range of social, policy and economic impacts. Radcliffe Camera in Radcliffe Square We believe our strengths lie both in empowering individuals and teams to address fundamental questions of global significance, and in providing all of our staff with a welcoming and inclusive workplace that supports everyone to develop and do their best work. Recognising that diversity is a great strength, and vital for innovation and creativity, we aspire to build a truly diverse community which values and respects every individual’s unique contribution. While we have long traditions of scholarship, we are also forward-looking, creative and cutting- edge. Oxford is one of Europe's most entrepreneurial universities. Income from external research contracts in 2014/15 exceeded £522.9m and ranked first in the UK for university spin-outs, with more than 130 spin-off companies created to date. We are also recognised as leaders in support for social enterprise. Join us and you will find a unique, democratic and international community, a great range of staff benefits and access to a vibrant array of cultural activities in the beautiful city of Oxford. For more information please visit www.ox.ac.uk/about/organisation 128313 Page 2 of 9 Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) The Gardens, Libraries and Museums (GLAM) group includes the providers of the major academic services to the divisions, and also departments with responsibilities including, but extending beyond, the immediate teaching and research needs of the University. The collections embodied within these departments are an essential part of the University’s wider nature and mission. They are part of its heritage as the country’s oldest University and now form a resource of national and international importance for teaching, research and cultural life; they also make a major contribution to the University’s outreach and access missions. For more information please visit: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/glam/ The Bodleian Libraries The Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford is the largest university library system in the United Kingdom. It includes the principal University library – the Bodleian Library – which has been a legal deposit library for 400 years; as well as 30 libraries across Oxford including major research libraries and faculty, department and institute libraries. Together, the Libraries hold more than 12 million printed items, over 80,000 e-journals and outstanding special collections including rare books and manuscripts, classical papyri, maps, music, art and printed ephemera. Members of the public can explore the collections via the Bodleian’s online image portal at digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk or by visiting the exhibition galleries in the Bodleian’s Weston Library. For more information please visit: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ The University Archives The function of the Archives is to select, preserve and make available for administrative or research purposes the documentary records of the University and its departments. Dating from 1214 to the present, these include charters, statutes and title deeds; records of the University's legislative and executive bodies (for example, Congregation, Convocation and Hebdomadal Council); financial and central administrative records; records of students; records of University delegacies and committees; records of the Chancellor's Court; and departmental and faculty records. The University Archives does not contain any college records, which remain the responsibility of the individual colleges, or personal papers of individual members of the University, which are collected by a different section within the Department of Special Collections in the Bodleian Library. Some large departments of the University, such as the Bodleian Library itself and the University Press, manage their own archives. Although physically based in the old Bodleian Library since 1634, the Archives was a separate University department until 2010 when it became a unit within the Library’s Department of Special Collections. It now reports to the Keeper of Special Collections (Dr Chris Fletcher). Apart from the post of Archives Assistant now advertised, the Archives has a full-time equivalent staff of 2: the Keeper of the Archives (Simon Bailey) and the Assistant Keeper, currently split into two half time posts held by Alice Millea and Anna Petre. The one year post 128313 Page 3 of 9 of Archives Assistant has for more than 20 years been held by a graduate gaining a year’s experience before taking a postgraduate course in archives administration. There is also a part time (40%) post of Conservator, based in the Bodleian Libraries Department of Conservation and Collection Care that is devoted to work on Archives material. Most of the current work in the Archives is concerned with the administration and use of late 19th and 20th century material; the great majority of the holdings, probably more than 90%, are from this period and most of the enquiries received and the research undertaken relate to 19th and 20th century topics and individuals. All of the medieval records of the University have been published, chiefly by the Oxford Historical Society. The medieval, and some post- medieval, records are in Latin. Location The Archives office is situated on the top floor of the Tower of the Five Orders (now part of the old Bodleian Library) and is reached from the Library’s Upper Reading Room by a stone spiral staircase of approximately 65 steps. The older documents are stored there and on the floor below. A larger amount (approximately 75% of the total holdings of the Archives) is stored in the basement of the Weston Library (see below). Some other material is held in the Bodleian’s Book Storage Facility in Swindon. It will regularly be necessary for members of staff to visit and work in the Archives’ storage area in the Weston Library, often on their own. Occasional visits are also made to the University's central offices and to academic departments. The Bodleian Libraries have within the past few years completed a major renovation of the building formerly known as the New Bodleian, which reopened to users as the Weston Library in September 2014. University Archives material formerly stored in the basement of the Examination Schools in the High Street was moved to the new Weston Library in 2015. The Archives does not have its own reading room. Documents are transferred to the Rare Books and Manuscripts reading room in the Weston Library for the use of readers wishing to consult them and are the responsibility of reading room staff while they are there. For more information about the University Archives please visit: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/oua 128313 Page 4 of 9 Archives team Job description Overview of the role The role of the Archives Assistant is to support the work of the Keeper and Assistant Keepers and to participate fully in the provision of an efficient service to users of the Archives. He or she manages and prioritises a varied workload on a day to day basis without close supervision Responsibilities/duties Answering written and telephone enquiries some of which require use and evaluation of complex sources. Overseeing and carrying out the various procedures involved in making Archives material available to researchers and administrative staff; this regularly includes transferring documents from storage locations to the Weston Library reading room when required and returning them after use. It is sometimes necessary to supervise users consulting documents in the Archives’ storage areas. Arranging and describing modern records according to archival principles. Boxing, numbering, and labelling documents. Identifying, planning and configuring storage accommodation required in connection with new accessions and major moves of archival material. Some reading room duties in the Weston Library (which may include occasional evenings until 7pm). These duties will include issuing items from the reserve, invigilation, and assisting readers with enquiries. Assisting with the general administration and housekeeping of the archives. 128313 Page 5 of 9 Such other comparable duties as may be required by the Keeper or Head of Department. Other duties Participate in a regular Annual Review Undertake any necessary training identified Comply with health and safety regulations Comply with the policies and procedures set out in the Handbook for University Support Staff Any other duties that may be required from time to time commensurate with the grade of the job The Bodleian Libraries reserve the right to make reasonable amendments to the job description in consultation with the post-holder at any time. Weston Library Selection criteria Candidates for the post will be judged on the basis of the following criteria and should try to ensure that their application shows how they meet these criteria. As stated above, the post is intended for someone wishing to gain experience before seeking a postgraduate archive qualification and thus a degree is required.