Consultant - Cataloguing of the IBE audiovisual collection

The consultant will assess, arrange, describe, catalogue and rehouse the UNESCO-IBE audiovisual collection, identifying preservation needs and priorities for digitization and access. The role involves on-site work in Geneva and requires expertise in archival studies and audiovisual collections.

Responsibilities

• Establish the composition, provenance, arrangement and historical value of the collection.
• Produce a reliable, searchable archival catalogue compatible with the IBE’s existing systems.
• Assess the condition of the media and identify urgent preservation needs.
• Improve physical storage through appropriate rehousing and labelling.
• Identify priorities and requirements for future conservation, digitization and access.
• Review existing inventories, related archives and available documentation; establish provenance and context.
• Conduct an initial survey to identify formats, volumes, groupings and any material requiring special handling.
• Develop an agreed arrangement and description methodology, with reference codes and a classification structure.
• Arrange and describe the holdings at series and sub-series level, adding more detailed description where justified by content or preservation needs.
• Create a structured catalogue in Excel with fields agreed with the IBE Documentation Centre, following relevant archival standards, including ISAD(G), and appropriate conventions for audiovisual materials.
• Record, as available and applicable, reference codes, titles, dates, provenance, scope and content, formats, quantities, languages, physical condition and locations.
• Identify holdings of particular importance for the history of education and document uncertainties or gaps in attribution.
• Prepare and harmonize catalogue information in French and English and make the metadata suitable for integration into the IBE TIND database.
• Collaborate with the Documentation Centre on validation, import testing and necessary corrections to the catalogue.
• Assess the preservation condition of photographic, film, magnetic and legacy digital media through appropriately qualified specialist expertise.
• Identify deterioration risks, handling restrictions, materials requiring urgent attention, and suitable storage conditions.
• Recommend preventive conservation measures, archival enclosures and priorities for possible conservation treatment and digitization.
• Identify any additional equipment or specialist services needed for safe examination, preservation or future transfer of content.
• Prepare a specification and quantities for the archival boxes, enclosures and other supplies required.
• Once supplies are made available and appropriate handling measures agreed, rehouse and label the collection in cooperation with the Documentation Centre.
• Complete and quality-check the catalogue, including the correspondence between descriptions, reference codes and physical locations.
• Prepare a final report summarizing the work completed, the collection’s historical value, outstanding issues and recommended next steps.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) or equivalent professional expertise in archival studies, history, history of education, information science or a related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience in archival arrangement and cataloguing, including historical research and the preparation of structured finding aids.
• Relevant experience with audiovisual collections and their descriptive and handling requirements.
• Access to specialist expertise in film, photographic and audiovisual conservation and preventive preservation.
• Ability to produce database-ready metadata and work with established archival description standards.
• Demonstrated capacity to undertake careful, practical work on historical collections.
• Excellent knowledge of English and French (oral and written).

Skills

• Archival Arrangement
• Cataloguing
• Historical Research
• Finding Aids Preparation
• Audiovisual Collections Management
• Film Conservation
• Photographic Conservation
• Audiovisual Preservation
• Metadata Production
• Archival Descriptive Standards
• Digitization Prioritization
• Collection Rehousing

Languages

English, French