Music Cataloguer
The British Library Expired |
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London, UK |
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A vacancy has arisen for a music cataloguer in the Content and Metadata Processing team at St. Pancras. The post holder will join a small team responsible for cataloguing printed and manuscript music materials. Tasks will include creating and deriving catalogue records for printed music using RDA and MARC21, supporting Legal Deposit claiming, and interpreting and implementing professional cataloguing standards.
The post holder will be an experienced cataloguer with good musical knowledge and excellent communication skills. You will have an analytical and flexible approach to problem solving, and the ability to make sound and timely cataloguing decisions. You will be able to work successfully in a team environment.
The role gives scope for the post holder to help to strengthen the British Library as a centre of excellence for cataloguing music-related materials, and to contribute to the development of best practices in relation to changes in bibliographic standards, in particular RDA development and the FAST subject vocabulary. You will work with the BL's important music collections, with the opportunity to contribute to the music outreach and events programme.
As one of the world’s great libraries, our duty is to preserve the nation’s intellectual memory for the future and make it available to all for research, inspiration and enjoyment. At present we have well over 170 million items, in most known languages, with three million new items added every year. We have manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazines, prints and drawings, music scores, and patents. We make our collections and programmes available to all. We operate the world’s largest document delivery service providing millions of items a year to customers all over the world. What matters to us is that we preserve the national memory and enable knowledge to be created both now and in the future by anyone, anywhere.
Main tasks
- Expected to demonstrate a willingness to take on a range of tasks and to develop new skills, as appropriate, in own or other departments/directories to support the delivery of the Library’s services as required by line management.
- To support the claiming of British published material from publishers via the Legal Deposit Office, monitoring websites, adverts etc. for new publishers not yet depositing
- To assist with the selection of printed material for purchase, by checking catalogues, etc
- To assist with the acquisition of manuscript material by eg checking catalogues, and liaising with those seeking to loan, present or sell suitable material
- To contribute to the formulation and development of cataloguing policy and to the interpretation and implementation of professional cataloguing, archiving, indexing and descriptive standards
- To catalogue printed music using MARC21, AACR2, Dewey DC, LCSH, NACO and Aleph, deriving records from external sources where appropriate;
- To sort, weed, arrange, describe and index manuscript material to ISAD(G) standards.
- To develop and maintain the necessary levels of expertise and knowledge, keeping up-to-date in relation to changes in bibliographic standards and record creation policies and procedures.
- To assist in the training of other team members as directed
- To oversee the receipt of legal deposit music material, sorting and counting for statistics and arranging in the basement
- To assist with the identification of material for binding or conservation treatment, and with the bidding process
- To answer specialist reference enquiries
- To contribute to outreach and events programme within own specialism as required
- Honours degree in music or equivalent qualification or professional experience
- A good reading knowledge of at least one major foreign language, preferably French, German, Italian or Russian
- Experience of cataloguing printed music using MARC21, AACR2, Dewey DC, LCSH and NACO (preferably with official NACO training) or of national and international standards for cataloguing archives and manuscripts
- Familiarity with cataloguing using an Integrated Library System such as Aleph, and BL cataloguing policies and workflows
- Experience of standard word-processing and other PC software
- Conscientious, with an orderly mind, and used to paying attention to detail
- Co-operative and able to work well with colleagues as part of a team
- Good time management skills
- Ability to prioritise and to meet deadlines
- Good written and oral communication skills
- Commitment to implement change by accepting and adapting to new ways of working and changing circumstances
- Familiarity with the standard music reference and bibliographical tools, and experience of musicological research in general
- Post-graduate musicological qualification or relevant professional experience
- A professional qualification in librarianship or archives studies, or substantial experience in a professional environment of cataloguing of printed books or archives, preferably in the field of music