The McDougall Trust invites tenders from consultants with the relevant skills, expertise and knowledge to advise the Trust on the ways and means of developing the archive collections held by the Trust, and related organisations, and making these material accessible to the widest possible clientele.

 

It is envisaged that the work will take in the region of the equivalent of 10 – 15 days, starting as soon as possible. Tenders should be submitted no later than 5pm, 30^th January 2009.

 

Background

The McDougall Trust is a registered charity, no. 212151.  Its major activities include the Lakeman Library, a specialist political library which focuses particularly on electoral matters.

 

Requirements

The following are required:

·        An understanding of the challenges and constraints faced by small independent libraries and archives.

·        Experience in advising archives on development and cataloguing projects and estimating likely expenditures required.

·        Knowledge of the charitable sector and funding bodies in the archives and heritage sector

It is desirable to have

·        Familiarity with the fields of contemporary history and/or political science

 

 

The outcomes from the consultancy should be a report that includes and addresses the following:

 

·         An overview of the contents and assessment of the size of the collections, their current physical location and condition,

·         A summary of preservation and conservation needs, and assessment of work required to assess, sort, and catalogue these collections to a level that would enable use and preferably to international standards.

·         The likely costs of preservation and conservation and cataloguing work.

·         Consideration of advantages and disadvantages of the following options:

1. That the collections be deposited elsewhere, in an existing (probably university) archive collections as an electoral reform archive.

2. That the collections be divided in some way – some to be retained physically within the Library (on criteria of contemporary relevance to be decided) and the rest to be deposited elsewhere. (For this option to suggest suitable ways of dividing the collections).

3. That the collections be retained and developed within the Lakeman Library. (In this case to suggest potential sources of external funding and their requirements)

 

 

Timescales and applications

It is expected that the work will take the equivalent of 10 – 15 working days.

Bids should be submitted by 5pm, 30^th January 2009.

Trustees will interview shortlisted applicants during February and the consultant will be expected to commence work as soon as possible after appointment.

It is expected that the final report and recommendations will preferably be submitted by the end of April

 

Further information can be obtained from David Clover [log in to unmask]

 

 

 

 

________________________

 

David Clover

Information Resources Manager/Librarian

Institute of Commonwealth Studies Library

and Academic Liaison Librarian - Social Sciences (Senate House Library)

University of London

28 Russell Square

London WC1B 5DS

Tel: 020 7862 8840

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