Lendrum Internship in Book Conservation - Durham

Lendrum Internship in Book Conservation - Durham

The Role and Department

In January 1833 Bishop William van Mildert donated 160 volumes to found the University Library, located on Palace Green and in the same year Durham's first university museum opened to the public. Today the University Library and Collections offers spaces, collections, expertise, and services supporting education, research, the wider student experience and cultural and educational outreach. Collections and services operate across a wide estate of libraries, archives, museums, galleries, and exhibition spaces, including the UNESCO World Heritage Site on Palace Green. Our nationally and internationally recognised collections span early books, archives and manuscripts, museum objects and art, print and electronic materials and include a repository of digitised materials, research outputs and research data. Our users encompass anyone engaging with our collections, services, and facilities in person or remotely, this includes university staff, researchers from around the globe, students in higher education from Durham and other universities, school pupils and teachers, Durham's local residents and tourists.

We are an ambitious and developing team with a focus on providing the best experience for our students, researchers, and the wider community. We are valued partners working with students, professional services and academics across the University, and professionals and organisations regionally, nationally, and internationally.

The University Library and Collections is made up of six sections: Collections; Customer Services; Education, Learning and Engagement; Research and Systems; Museums, Galleries and Exhibitions; and Finance and Administration. Staff work flexibly between the sections, seven enabled by cross-cutting groups, Collections, Education, Engagement, User Experience, Operations, Research, Staff Development and a Programme and Project Steering Group.

The post holder will undertake a range of activities and gain experience in some of the following:

Survey and assessment of the physical condition of collections, identifying causes of deterioration in book and archive collections

Assist with a wide range of preservation activities within an historic library setting

Application of preservation measures including construction of custom boxes and enclosures

Undertake supervised remedial treatments of books and associated items

Providing support where necessary to public-facing activities including exhibition development and delivery and other gallery-based activities.

Using systems, such as the Library Management System, enquiry management tools, museum collections management systems, content management systems supporting websites and the digital repository; in support of user services and collections management

Participating in short-term working groups and project work,

Contributing to communications, social media activity, user-experience-related work and user engagement

Contributing to schools education, wider public engagement and related activities

Administrative activities in support of work areas described above

They will also actively engage in staff development activities, including formal training sessions, reflection, and self-directed learning, to develop skills and knowledge appropriate to the role and context of the internship.

Further information about the role and the responsibilities is at the bottom of this job description.