An exciting opportunity has come up to join our team - we're looking for a person, or an organisation, to help us with the care and development of our archives and special collections.
We have an archive of over 2,000 items and part of The Gardeners' House plan is to create a permanent home for the collection.
This is a freelance, or contract, opportunity where you would deliver an agreed number of days across seven months.
We plan to continue to grow this library as a 'living archive', documenting the natural history of West Penwith.
Starting from September 2024, the consultant will have the following responsibilities:
● Provide an initial appraisal of the collections identifying any urgent concerns.
● Create a guide to essential documents for the Board of Trustees for the preservation, access and development of the collections including for example, and this is not exhaustive: examples of templates for collections management, preservation, donations, acquisitions.
● Provide advice and guidance on policy development in areas such as data protection, copyright, use of volunteers, identifying key policies for the Board of Trustees.
● Provide recommendations for the cataloguing of mixed collections such as archives and special collections including sources and shared catalogues.
● Provide Trustees with guidance on the best practice in how to promote the use of, and community engagement, with the collections. This is a key area for the project and innovative and creative ideas would be welcomed.
● The Gardeners’ House wishes to develop an accessible “living archive” and guidance on scoping aspirations, developing guidelines, preservation and potential digital preservation are required.
● Space for the collections and a reading area have been factored into the building project and the consultant will be expected to provide advice and guidance on layout, furniture and equipment.
● In addition, The Gardeners’ House, Penzance, will be seeking to appoint a suitably qualified archivist for the period of the funded project (from February 2025) and the consultant will be expected to provide advice and guidance as to the job description, the advertisement and recruitment process.
This is a part-time role, and we would expect you to specify the number of days you would commit to this project within the budget of £3,500, to be worked across a seven-month period.
Deadline for questions: 24 June 2024
Closing date for tender: 31 July 2024
Possible interview dates: Week of 5 August
Full details can be found through the link at the bottom of the page.
If you think you can support us with this and bring your expertise to the table, we'd love to hear from you. If you have any questions, please get in touch with us on letstalk@thegardenershouse.org
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