Freelance Collections Officer offering regular support with pest management, conservation and documentation

Based at the Arts, Design and Media Archive of BCU, I am responsible for resolving enquiries, supervising researchers in the reading room, as well and cataloguing and preserving the collections

In my role at The Wilson, Art Gallery and Museum I assisted the Producers (Collections) in the day to day management of all areas of the collections but specialised in ancient history and numismatics, particularly Roman. I was involved in aspects of documentation and was responsible for the environmental monitoring and IPM of the collections, responding to and managing enquiries and working with/overseeing the collections volunteers. I also gave talks and tours for the archaeology, numismatics and local history collections and write content for The Wilson various digital platforms.Some of my major achievements included curating the Cheltenham Untold Gallery, overseeing the upgrade of the environmental monitoring system and cataloguing all of the ancient, medieval and modern British coins and tokens.

I was responsible for helping customers access information by locating books, and using our online resources in addition to resolving any other customer issues on point of contact. I also had responsibility for the admin of Adult learning, the newspaper subscriptions, supervising Code Club, helping maintain the Hive’s social media pages. I was also on the stock team and was responsible for planning and creating new book displays

My role was to identify and catalogue to publication standard, the Beau Street hoard: a coin hoard of over 17,000 Roman coins. In addition I was responsible for the packing and transportation of the hoard to its eventual home at The Roman Baths in Bath. My catalogue of the hoard and a chapter on the composition of the hoard was published in 2019.

I provided assistance and service in the Learning Resource Centre: for the issue and return of resources, helping students locate information and acting as a point of ICT assistance. I was also responsible for improving the catalogue for books in my section, for processing new acquisitions, and collecting statistical information to measure performance.

I was responsible for taking admission, selling gift shop items and general museum maintenance. I was also responsible for booking events, school trips and preparing rooms for such bookings

My role covered a wide range of heritage duties, in particular in the capacity of collections care being responsible for: environmental monitoring and action, documentation to SPECTRUM standard, creating and writing extensive content for the website as well as publicising, via talks/tours and researching the collections. I also represented the centre on regional television and live radio in addition to acting as liaison with external professional bodies.