Cataloguing Officer

About us:

Archives matter. Without records, we could not hold government to account, carry out pioneering research or learn from the past. The National Archives is the archive of UK Government and the courts. Our business strategy, Archives for Everyone, describes our vision to become an inclusive, entrepreneurial, and disruptive archive that harnesses emerging technology to reaffirm and transform our historic mission for the digital age.

The Cataloguing, Taxonomy and Data department’s role is to deliver the control, quality, currency and ongoing development of our catalogue records and the systems in which they reside. We specialise in manipulating and enhancing at scale the metadata which lies at the heart of activities across the organisation.

We are based in the beautiful surroundings of Kew, easily accessible by public transport, car and bike. Staff benefits include admission to a range of exhibitions at national museums and galleries; access to nearby Kew Gardens; on-site gym, therapists and wellbeing resources; restaurant, shop and staff bar. Our excellent Civil Service benefits package includes the opportunity to join the defined-benefit Civil Service Alpha Pension Scheme.


About the role:

We are recruiting a Cataloguing Officer to support the relocation of the Parliamentary Archives to Kew.

You will contribute to the quality assurance and ingest of metadata relating to the records being relocated. Your focus will be on carrying out the preparation and checking of the data that will allow public access to the records of Parliament at The National Archives. You will be supervised by a professional archivist based within the Cataloguing, Taxonomy and Data Department, which is responsible for metadata standards, editorial development and daily maintenance of The National Archives’ catalogue. You will also be part of a wider project team that includes experts from other departments.


About you:

You are seeking to develop your career in the archives, information or heritage sectors and would enjoy working with historic records. With experience of either cataloguing or editing online content, you are good at working with data and can demonstrate meticulous attention to detail. You are well organised, a good communicator and able to work independently.

This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 12 months. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the department and the project funding. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time.

For full details and to apply, please click the link following 'Museum Website' below.

Essential criteria:

- Experience of or demonstrable interest in working in the archives, information or heritage sectors.

- Experience of cataloguing in an archive, library, museum or similar environment or experience of editing online content.

- Meticulous attention to detail, demonstrating accuracy, precision and diligence in identifying and correcting errors in data.

- Strong IT skills, with a data mindset and competence in using Excel to perform data entry and manipulation tasks consistently and methodically.

- Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to summarise and explain complex information and engage with colleagues in other teams.

- Strong organisational skills, with the ability to work efficiently, sharing responsibility for meeting deadlines and delivering results that benefit The National Archives' public service.

- Ability to work independently, guided by standard procedures, to solve problems; sound judgement of when to show initiative and when to escalate issues to managers or other parts of the organisation.

Desirable criteria:

- Knowledge of the history of Parliament

Museum Website: https://nationalarchives.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/Careers/job/Kew/Cataloguing-Officer--Parliamentary-Archives-Relocation-_JR200610