Collections Inventory Assistant

Collections Inventory Assistant

Salary: £34,800

Closing date: Sunday 9, March 2025

Contract type: Fixed Term Contract (Until November 2026)

Wellcome Collection is a free museum exploring health and human experience, where you can enjoy exhibitions, museum and library collections, public events, and a vibrant shop and café. We also publish books and online stories.

This is a great time to join Wellcome Collection as we have recently introduced a new strategy and this role will play an important part in bringing to life our vision of a world where everyone’s experience of health matters. Your part in this will be to ensure our collections are truly accessible and are appropriately cared for to enable them to feature in exhibitions, loans, live programmes, media and for research.

Wellcome Collection is part of the Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation that supports science to build a healthier future for everyone. Wellcome Trust plans to spend £16bn over the next ten years, funding new discoveries in life, health, and wellbeing, and taking on three global health challenges: mental health, infectious disease and climate and health.

We are looking for four Inventory Assistants to join our team for a fixed term of 18 months as part of the Wellcome Collection Systems Transformation Project.

Where in Wellcome will I be working?

The Wellcome Collections Systems Transformation Project is a major initiative aiming to replace and modernise our current library, archive and collection management systems. The Inventory Assistants will play a key part in this process through inventory and audit of our collections, data clean-up and catalogue reconciliation tasks.

As part of the project, we are aiming to complete our existing inventories of collection objects including visual material, ephemera, early printed books, and manuscripts in various languages, and selected archival materials. We also plan to initiate audits on our post-1850 collections of bibliographic material, which includes serials, books, and pamphlets.

You will be working as part of the Collections Information team, which is in the Collections and Digital department at Wellcome Collection, reporting to either the Collections Information Lead (Inventory) or the Collections Information Lead (Metadata).

What will I be doing?

As an Inventory Assistant you will be responsible for data creation, data clean up, inventory tasks and reconciliation, working with data both within existing databases, but also within new library and collections management systems.

We are looking for someone who can:

1. Work collaboratively as part of a team to enable the completion of sections of the physical inventory of Wellcome’s collections, alongside the planned systems’ replacement and migration.
2. Check items against catalogue records identifying and helping to resolve documentation discrepancies and errors, such as inaccurate or missing data, to ensure catalogue data are robust and ready for export/migration.
3. Work systematically to ensure that all collections are documented to at least the minimal viable level required to meet Museum and Archive Service accredited status, in Wellcome’s collections management systems (currently Sierra and Calm) or other relevant applications (e.g. Excel, Quickbase, Goobi).
4. Assist in generating regular reports on inventory targets and key performance indicators.
5. Improve locations information and movement control processes.
6. Contribute to a diverse and inclusive culture across the organisation, collaborating across departments.

Is this job for me?

You are someone who enjoys collaborative working with collection materials and data and has excellent data creation and problem-solving skills using library, archive or collection management databases.

We are looking for someone who has:

1. Experience of handling unique, mixed material collections in a heritage setting.
2. Experience of inventory documentation, cataloguing, or accession listing in a library, museum, or archive setting.
3. Proficiency in using library, archive and collection databases, and spreadsheets (e.g. Excel, QuickBase) to sort and manage data, including text.
4. Significant hands-on experience of moving items following location and movement controls.
5. Good understanding and experience of appropriate documentation and cataloguing standards (e.g. MARC21, RDA, SPECTRUM, ISAD(G)).
6. Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

To apply please upload your current CV and complete our short application.

Interview dates: Week commencing 31st March 2025

You can view the full job description on our website.

You can read more about the benefits we offer our employees on our website.

Our Hybrid Way of Working

We understand that our colleagues have commitments and personal interests outside of work and we strive to build a flexible working environment, in which people can perform at their best.

At Wellcome we have a hybrid way of working which is 3 days in our Euston Road offices (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) with the remaining 2 days working either remotely or in the office.

Diversity and Inclusion is a priority at Wellcome.

We are committed to cultivating a fair and inclusive environment, where everyone can be themselves and thrive. We are happy to discuss flexible working options for all roles. We work to ensure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible to everyone. This includes making adjustments for people who have a disability or long-term condition. Please visit our website for more information on adjustments and accessibility or contact us at jobs@wellcome.org.

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