RNS seeks two freelancers for Administration and Archive projects

 The Royal Numismatic Society is currently advertising two new freelancer opportunities:

1. Administrator
2. Archive assistant

Both are to cover a one-year project to get our records and administration in order. We would welcome applications from anyone who thinks they have the skills (they do not need to be a trained archivist).

About the administrative project
The RNS, like many learned societies, has evolved in the twenty-first century. We have things our founders could not conceive, such as a website and online meetings. But we need some assistance to get our administrative processes modernised so that the Society can run efficiently and effectively both for its trustees (Council members) who manage the RNS, but also for its members, who expect twenty-first century communications from us.

What you will be doing:
● Maintaining accurate membership records, compliant with GDPR for the Society
● Managing the administration of new members
● Being the point of contact for membership and member enquiries
● Managing the administration of Prizes, Funds, and calls for lectures
● Accurate filing and storage of committee and Society papers
● Identifying and booking rooms for Society meetings and hosting online meetings
● Developing evaluation and user research about our membership
● Arranging for the dispersal and disposal of excess book stock

You should apply if you have:
● Experience in administration in a cultural, charity, or educational role
● Experience in being proactive about providing good administrative service
● Ability to work unsupervised and on own initiative
● Ability to prioritise and manage committee and meeting deadlines
● Ability to engage professionally with membership
● Proficiency in Microsoft and Google administrative systems
● Accuracy and attention to detail

Desirable:
● An interest in numismatics

Budget:
The budget for this contract is £8,450. We estimate this task will take 48 days’ work, about half of which will be on site in Bloomsbury, London. One day a week for 12 months would be our preferred work pattern, but we are open to other working patterns, as long as they are distributed over a 12-month period. Please get in touch to discuss.

About the archives project
The RNS has a paper and digital archive of society minutes, awards and membership from 1836 to the present. These are currently housed in central London but it is anticipated we will have to move them within 2 years due to refurbishment works. This has provided the impetus for us to organise and rationalise our archival holdings, particularly those from the last 20 years. We are seeking an archive assistant to assist us with the assessment, organisation repackaging of our archival holdings. You will be supported by RNS council members who are museum and library professionals on site where the archives are, and also via Teams meetings when needed.

What you will be doing:
● Repackaging documents, for example putting papers into folders
● Assessing whether documents need to be kept, in line with our retention policies
● Sorting documents by date or alphabetically
● Listing documents accurately on a spreadsheet
● Renaming digital files with a specific reference and moving the files to different folders
● Comparing folders of digital files to identify duplicate or missing files
You should apply if you have:
● worked in an office and have good general IT skills
● the ability to work collaboratively and can use initiative
● an interest in working in an archive and gaining experience with heritage and cultural
collections

Deliverables:
The successful completion of this contract will be measured by…
● All known paper archives organised, described and repackaged
● All digital files to be organised, described and stored in designated area
N.B., We understand that archives can have surprises, so if the RNS archives have any materials
that require further work (for example, major unforeseeable conservation or technical issues),
we will be able to consider this contract complete without that further work.

Budget:
The budget for this contract is £3,900 to complete the task. We estimate this task will take 26 days’ work, most of which will be on site in Bloomsbury, London. One day a week for 6 months would be our preferred work pattern, but we are open to other working patterns. Please get in touch to discuss. The contractor is not expected to supply any materials for packaging or disposal. These costs will be covered by the RNS.

How to apply
Please send a CV of maximum two pages plus a cover letter of up to one page outlining how your experience meets the needs of this freelance project to megan.gooch@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

PDF – Freelance Administrator
PDF – Freelance Archivist

The deadline is 3rd July 2025. Contact Megan Gooch (megan.gooch@bodleian.ox.ac.uk) with any enquiries.

The anticipated start and end dates for both contracts are the 17th July 2025 – 16th July 2026.