About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum’s unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 900 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

About the NHM Unlocked Programme

Over 300 scientists based at the Museum tackle important global challenges, spanning mineral scarcity, food security and biodiversity loss. The Museum is globally renowned for excellence in science and research and championing digital capacity and innovation.

The Museum has been awarded a substantial government investment of £202m, to create a new science and digitisation centre at Thames Valley Science Park (TVSP) which is owned by the University of Reading. This is a once in a century opportunity to shape the future of the Museum, protect and share our unique collection and further our science. The Programme comprises several major projects and workstreams and this role sits within the Moves Project.

Moves Project

The new centre will include a large collections store alongside new specialist laboratories and non-technical works spaces. As part of this development, the Museum will be moving over a third of its 80 million specimens and Library and Archive collections from its four sites (in London, Hertfordshire and Yorkshire) to the new site, plus undertaking substantial internal moves.

The physical moves are currently scheduled to take place from 2028, with an extensive programme of preparation prior to that, which has already commenced. This includes audit, documentation, stabilisation and rehousing, curation, and packing, among other activities.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.

We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

This is an exciting opportunity to work with an outstanding physical library collection and develop practical experience in a library environment. As a Library Audit Assistant working on the NHM Unlocked project you will work with the Audit and Barcoding Team to help prepare Library collections prior to their move. The work involves systematically working through the Library collections, auditing, cataloguing, itemising, barcoding and recording conservation needs to ensure that we have an accurate record of Library holdings and that they are ready to move.

About you

Candidates should have an interest in Library and Information professional practice be accustomed to continuous manual handling and enjoy detailed work. The role will provide the postholder with the opportunity to gain experience in a range of library and archive activities, training will be provided. We recognise that many transferable skills could be applied to this role and we are keen to hear from individuals that are interested in working in a library and archive environment even if they haven’t been able to gain any library experience. If that is you, please use your application to explain to us why you are suited to the role and have an interest in working with Library and Archives, NHM Unlocked.

The post holder will be required to work at South Kensington and at our store in South West London. This post may be of interest to those seeking pre-Library school experience.

Due to the nature of this role the work pattern will be 100% on site.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here