About the job

Job summary

Archives matter. Without records, we could not hold government to account, carry out pioneering research or learn from the past. The National Archives is the archive of UK Government and the courts. Our business strategy, Archives for Everyone, describes our vision to become an inclusive, entrepreneurial, and disruptive archive that harnesses emerging technology to reaffirm and transform our historic mission for the digital age.

The Cataloguing, Taxonomy and Data department’s role is to deliver the control, quality, currency and ongoing development of our catalogue records and the systems in which they reside. We specialise in manipulating and enhancing at scale the metadata which lies at the heart of activities across the organisation.

We are based in the beautiful surroundings of Kew, easily accessible by public transport, car and bike. Staff benefits include admission to a range of exhibitions at national museums and galleries; access to nearby Kew Gardens; on-site gym, therapists and wellbeing resources; restaurant, shop and staff bar. Our excellent Civil Service benefits package includes the opportunity to join the defined-benefit Civil Service Alpha Pension Scheme.

Job description

Full job description attached (see below).

Person specification

About the role

We are recruiting two Cataloguing Officers to support a major digitisation project to make records of the Second World War-era National Farm Survey of England and Wales freely available online. This work is generously funded by Lund Trust.

You will create appropriate metadata for records being digitised and contribute to quality assurance and data ingest. As well as improving catalogue descriptions of the maps that form part of the National Farm Survey, you will contribute to the project more broadly, working with both original physical records and digital images.

About you

You are seeking to develop your career in the archives, information or heritage sectors and would enjoy working with historic twentieth-century maps. With experience of either cataloguing or editing online content, you are good at working with data and can demonstrate meticulous attention to detail. You are well organised, a good communicator and able to work independently.

This is a full-time, fixed-term post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the department and the project funding. You will be based primarily at our Kew site, with some scope for home working.

We would particularly like to encourage applicants from backgrounds currently underrepresented in archives, including those who identify as Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT+), from Black, Asian and minority ethnic cultural backgrounds, those who are neurodivergent, and those with hidden or visible disabilities.

How to apply:

If you are an internal applicant: please do not use the link on this page. Please apply via your employee Workday account.

If you are an external applicant: to submit your application please click the 'Apply at advertiser's site' button on this page.

You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement. In your personal statement please explain, using examples, how you meet each of the essential criteria given below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section. Ideally your personal statement will be about 1000 words.

Essential criteria:

• Experience of or demonstrable interest in working in the archives, information or heritage sectors.
• Experience of cataloguing in an archive, library, museum or similar environment or experience of editing online content.
• Ability to read and understand maps.
• Meticulous attention to detail, demonstrating accuracy, precision and diligence in identifying and correcting errors in data.
• Strong IT skills, with a data mindset and competence in using Excel to perform data entry and manipulation tasks consistently and methodically.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with the ability to summarise and explain complex information and engage with colleagues in other teams.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to work efficiently, sharing responsibility for meeting deadlines and delivering results that benefit The National Archives' public service.
• Ability to work independently, guided by standard procedures, to solve problems; sound judgement of when to show initiative and when to escalate issues to managers or other parts of the organisation.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,000, The National Archives contributes £7,290 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

Reasonable adjustments:

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact The National Archives via careers@nationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs
• Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.