Digital Preservation Officer
| Dyddiad hysbysebu: | 23 Medi 2025 |
|---|---|
| Cyflog: | £25,037 bob blwyddyn, pro rata |
| Oriau: | Rhan Amser |
| Dyddiad cau: | 23 Hydref 2025 |
| Lleoliad: | LE1 6AT |
| Gweithio o bell: | Ar y safle yn unig |
| Cwmni: | Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage |
| Math o swydd: | Parhaol |
| Cyfeirnod swydd: |
Crynodeb
About Us
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage is an internationally connected arts and heritage organisation that actively changes the UK’s creative and cultural landscape. We deliver high-quality, innovative programmes that centre perspectives from the African and African Caribbean Diaspora.
Our work includes Black History Month Leicester, the Annual Windrush Day Lecture and the flagship international dance festival, Let’s Dance International Frontiers. Serendipity has established a growing living archive documenting Black arts, heritage and culture, capturing the voices of practitioners and community activists, nurturing artists, and mentoring young people.
Building on over 15 years of heritage projects, including Lost Legends and Archiving the Past: Reflecting the Future, our current three-year initiative Unearthed: Forgotten Histories, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, continues this legacy by amplifying hidden histories through a digital living archive, exhibitions, educational resources, and public engagement.
Role Purpose
The Digital Preservation Officer will play a key role in safeguarding and developing Serendipity’s digital collections. The postholder will oversee the acquisition, management, and long-term preservation of digital assets, ensuring best practice in line with sector standards.
Working closely with the Heritage Manager and wider team, the Digital Preservation Officer will ensure Serendipity’s collections spanning audio, video, photography, and born-digital material are accessible, engaging, and inclusive. The role combines technical expertise with a commitment to widening representation and public access.
Key Responsibilities
Digital Preservation and Collections Management
Implement and maintain digital preservation standards and frameworks (e.g., OAIS, DPC, or comparable models).
Manage the ingest, cataloguing, and preservation of digital collections, ensuring metadata and file formats meet best practice.
Monitor and manage digital storage systems, ensuring security, integrity, and sustainability of collections.
Conduct regular audits, fixity checks, and risk assessments to mitigate threats such as digital obsolescence or data loss.
Provide technical advice and develop workflows for the preservation of born-digital, digitised, and audio-visual materials.
Engagement and Interpretation
Translate complex technical processes into accessible information for non-specialist audiences.
Work with communities, researchers, artists, and partners to ensure collections are engaging and relevant.
Contribute to exhibitions, public programmes, and digital platforms, using collections as a resource for learning and interpretation.
Research, Documentation, and Collaboration
Support the cataloguing and documentation of heritage projects to industry standards.
Collaborate with colleagues to ensure digital preservation aligns with Serendipity’s wider archive and programme.
Provide technical support for heritage projects, exhibitions, and digital engagement activities.
Assist with training and mentoring volunteers, students, and participants in digital archiving practices.
Organisational Support
Prepare progress reports and contribute to monitoring for funders and stakeholders.
Support disaster management and recovery planning for digital assets.
Contribute to raising the profile of Serendipity’s digital archive nationally and internationally.
Undertake other duties consistent with the role and organisational objectives
Person Specification
Essential Skills and Experience
Knowledge of digital preservation standards and frameworks (e.g., OAIS, DPC, or comparable models).
Experience in managing and preserving digital collections, including audio, video, photography, and born-digital materials.
Strong understanding of metadata standards, file formats, and digital storage systems.
Ability to translate technical processes into clear, accessible information for non-specialist audiences.
Experience of working with communities, researchers, or artists to make digital collections engaging and relevant.
Excellent organisational skills with a methodical approach to detail and problem-solving.
Commitment to widening access and representation within heritage and archives.
Desirable
Experience of working in a museum, archive, or heritage organisation.
Understanding of copyright, licensing, and data protection in relation to digital media.
Familiarity with sector tools for digital preservation and data management.
Interest in African and African Caribbean heritage and histories.
Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage is an internationally connected arts and heritage organisation that actively changes the UK’s creative and cultural landscape. We deliver high-quality, innovative programmes that centre perspectives from the African and African Caribbean Diaspora.
Our work includes Black History Month Leicester, the Annual Windrush Day Lecture and the flagship international dance festival, Let’s Dance International Frontiers. Serendipity has established a growing living archive documenting Black arts, heritage and culture, capturing the voices of practitioners and community activists, nurturing artists, and mentoring young people.
Building on over 15 years of heritage projects, including Lost Legends and Archiving the Past: Reflecting the Future, our current three-year initiative Unearthed: Forgotten Histories, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, continues this legacy by amplifying hidden histories through a digital living archive, exhibitions, educational resources, and public engagement.
Role Purpose
The Digital Preservation Officer will play a key role in safeguarding and developing Serendipity’s digital collections. The postholder will oversee the acquisition, management, and long-term preservation of digital assets, ensuring best practice in line with sector standards.
Working closely with the Heritage Manager and wider team, the Digital Preservation Officer will ensure Serendipity’s collections spanning audio, video, photography, and born-digital material are accessible, engaging, and inclusive. The role combines technical expertise with a commitment to widening representation and public access.
Key Responsibilities
Digital Preservation and Collections Management
Implement and maintain digital preservation standards and frameworks (e.g., OAIS, DPC, or comparable models).
Manage the ingest, cataloguing, and preservation of digital collections, ensuring metadata and file formats meet best practice.
Monitor and manage digital storage systems, ensuring security, integrity, and sustainability of collections.
Conduct regular audits, fixity checks, and risk assessments to mitigate threats such as digital obsolescence or data loss.
Provide technical advice and develop workflows for the preservation of born-digital, digitised, and audio-visual materials.
Engagement and Interpretation
Translate complex technical processes into accessible information for non-specialist audiences.
Work with communities, researchers, artists, and partners to ensure collections are engaging and relevant.
Contribute to exhibitions, public programmes, and digital platforms, using collections as a resource for learning and interpretation.
Research, Documentation, and Collaboration
Support the cataloguing and documentation of heritage projects to industry standards.
Collaborate with colleagues to ensure digital preservation aligns with Serendipity’s wider archive and programme.
Provide technical support for heritage projects, exhibitions, and digital engagement activities.
Assist with training and mentoring volunteers, students, and participants in digital archiving practices.
Organisational Support
Prepare progress reports and contribute to monitoring for funders and stakeholders.
Support disaster management and recovery planning for digital assets.
Contribute to raising the profile of Serendipity’s digital archive nationally and internationally.
Undertake other duties consistent with the role and organisational objectives
Person Specification
Essential Skills and Experience
Knowledge of digital preservation standards and frameworks (e.g., OAIS, DPC, or comparable models).
Experience in managing and preserving digital collections, including audio, video, photography, and born-digital materials.
Strong understanding of metadata standards, file formats, and digital storage systems.
Ability to translate technical processes into clear, accessible information for non-specialist audiences.
Experience of working with communities, researchers, or artists to make digital collections engaging and relevant.
Excellent organisational skills with a methodical approach to detail and problem-solving.
Commitment to widening access and representation within heritage and archives.
Desirable
Experience of working in a museum, archive, or heritage organisation.
Understanding of copyright, licensing, and data protection in relation to digital media.
Familiarity with sector tools for digital preservation and data management.
Interest in African and African Caribbean heritage and histories.