Overview

We Include. You Belong.

Our Belonging and Inclusion Strategy aims for everyone in the National Church Institutions (NCIs) to feel that they belong, and are valued for who they are and what they contribute. Together, our people contribute in different ways towards our common purpose, whichever NCI they work in and whatever their background.

Lambeth Palace Library was founded in 1610 as the library of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Since 2020 we have also held the archival collections from the Church of England Record Centre in our new building, and are the principal repository for the archives of the Archbishop of Canterbury and of the National Church Institutions in London.

The Library is freely open for public use, serving as a research centre specialising in church history, and with far wider-ranging archive, manuscript and printed collections, dating from the 9th century to the present day. Our collections include medieval manuscripts, early printed books, modern archives and digital records.

The Library's vision is to collect, preserve and make accessible the memory of the Church of England, so that its cultural and religious history can be explored and enjoyed by all. You can read more about our work (www.lambethpalacelibrary.info) and our values (https://www.churchofengland.org/about/careers/our-values-belonging-and-inclusion).

Post Introduction

For this exciting opportunity of Collection Care Assistant (Preservation and Conservation) we are looking for someone with practical preservation and conservation experience in the field of library and archives who will thrive as part of a team that also delivers a range of outreach activities.

You will have a good working knowledge of preservation programmes, including environmental monitoring, facilitating exhibitions and meeting reading room needs, and the skills to manage conservation needs across a range of materials and formats.

You will be strong in planning, organising and communicating, with the ability to work to deadlines. Your flexible and pragmatic approach to everyday working practice will suit you for a role in our busy Collections Care studio.  

Closing date: 1 February 2024 (midnight).

Interviews will take place on: 12th February 2024. Please note: You will be asked to bring a brief portfolio of preservation and conservation work; and undertake a brief practical test.

The Church of England is for everyone and we want to reflect the diversity of the community the Church serves across the whole country. Therefore, while of course we welcome all applications from interested and suitably experienced people, we would particularly welcome applicants from UK Minority Ethnic Backgrounds and other under-represented groups.

We offer a unique environment with opportunities for continuous learning, generous annual leave for work life balance, season ticket loans and a range of benefits including discounted entry to attractions and what we feel is a market leading package when it comes to our pension scheme.

Role Responsibility

The Role

• Provide mechanical cleaning to individual items and whole collections through our Preservation Housekeeping programme, including dust management, pest monitoring and the co-ordination of our collection quarantine procedures; 
• Download environmental monitoring dataloggers and help co-ordinate performance data for preservation reporting and actioning;
• Support the conservators in maintaining the preservation and a range of simple to complex interventive conservation treatments to our library and archive collections. The focus is on ‘running repairs’ flagged through reading room and other on-response requests but occasionally more in-depth treatments to core collections may be required to bound and flat material; 
• Help to prioritise preservation and conservation needs by supporting the preparation of condition assessment surveys of our collections and the development of appropriate disaster plans; 
• Produce protective boxes and cradle supports for displays, including the use of software managed machinery; 
• Assist in co-ordinating internal and external displays and exhibitions, including helping to prepare items physically, creating facsimiles, and supplying condition reports for external loans; 
• Communicate with visitors and assist in the supervision of volunteers, including helping to provide collection care training for professional peers and non-conservator groups, including safe collection handling training; 
• Assist manager in tracking studio development requirements such as ordering supplies, and any service or maintenance needs; 
• Comply with and help develop updates to health and safety procedures specific to collection care and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH); 
• Participate in, and where necessary deliver, role-appropriate outreach and engagement activities to support the Library’s vision to be accessible to all; 
• Improve role-appropriate collections knowledge through regular continuing professional development activities; 
• Engage with our readers and researchers to promote the use of the collections; 
• Work with colleagues to ensure the security and safe use of the collections.

The Ideal Candidate

The Requirements

Essential 

Skills/Aptitudes: 

• An interest in, and enthusiasm for, the history and materiality of historical library and archive collections;
• Basic understanding of preservation practice, including identifying pests, and making book cradles and boxes by hand; 
• Accurate measuring and data-inputting skills; 
• Trained at least to basic level in hand-skills in the conservation stabilisation of library and/or archive conservation, including in paper, leather and cloth repairs); 
• Good communication skills, both oral and written; 
• Ability to work with minimal supervision; 
• Good IT skills; 

 Knowledge/Experience: 

• Qualification or equivalent experience in the conservation of historical organic collections; 

Personal Attributes: 

• Able to work within a small specialist team and across teams;  
• Able to work within given timeframes and meet targets; 
• Able and willing to learn new IT software, new preservation systems and new technical processes, for example working with box-making software; 
• Adaptable and flexible, open to new ideas;

Education: 

• An honours degree or equivalent vocational qualification in conservation and preservation or equivalent experience; 

Circumstances:

• Occasional working at height, lone working in cold environment (Collection Storage) and manual handling are required;

Desirable 

Knowledge/Experience: 

• Knowledge of British history, with an interest in ecclesiastical history;  
• The successful completion of at least one unsupervised conservation project, post-qualification;
• An understanding and keenness to develop and support: the library preservation programme to include environmental monitoring, integrated pest management, safe collection handling, preservation housekeeping and salvage planning; and close working with Operations and Facilities Management teams on monitoring and responding to issues; 
• Understanding of social media as well as a keenness to help maintain the Library’s social media output, including finding ways to develop our profile within and outside the conservation community; 
• Be on the Institute of Conservation Professional Accreditation Pathway;
• A good understanding of COSHH and Health and Safety legislation. 

About Us

In the National Church Institutions (NCIs), we support the mission and ministries of the Church of England. We work with parishes, dioceses, schools, chaplaincies and other ministries, and with national and international partners including mission agencies, and other denominations and faith groups.-.  

Find out more about working for the National Church Institutions at Careers | The Church of England

NCI values

• We strive for excellence 
• We collaborate 
• We act with integrity 
• We show compassion 
• We respect others 

We believe our commitment to belonging and inclusion fuels our progress and drives us forward.  The NCIs are a safe, inclusive workplace for people of all backgrounds and walks of life. We welcome applications from people of all faiths and of no faith. We want to encourage applications from a diverse group of people who share our values.  Even if you have never thought about working for us before, if you have the skills and experience we’re looking for then we would like to hear from you. 

If there is anything we can do to support you in your application please get in touch via email to hr.recruitment@churchofengland.org

As a Disability Confident Leader, we actively look to attract, recruit and retain those of you who are disabled.  

• We are a member of the Armed Forces Covenant, and welcome applications from those of you who have served in our Armed Forces and their families.