Collection Specialist at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Job Title: Collection Specialist
Job Status: Full-time
Location: New York, NY
Salary: $63,000 – $68,000
About The Metropolitan Museum Of Art
The Met presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world for everyone to experience and enjoy. The Museum lives in two iconic sites in New York City—The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters. Millions of people also take part in The Met experience online.
Since its founding in 1870, The Met has always aspired to be more than a treasury of rare and beautiful objects. We are committed to fostering a collaborative and respectful work environment with a staff as diverse as the audiences we engage. Our staff members are art lovers who are passionate about working toward a common goal: creating the most dynamic and inspiring art museum in the world.
At The Met, every staff member – from security officers to researchers to scientists and beyond – lives by our core values of respect, inclusivity, collaboration, excellence, and integrity.
Respect: Engage one another with collegiality, empathy, and kindness, always.
Inclusivity: Ensure that all are and feel welcome and valued.
Collaboration: Reach across boundaries to exchange ideas and work together toward our shared mission.
Excellence: Lead the cultural world in quality and expertise—and inspire curiosity and creativity.
Integrity: Hold ourselves to the highest moral standards, admit when we fall short, and then evolve.
GENERAL STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITES & DUTIES
You are the department’s dedicated position for collections information administration, supporting departmental staff and MCRW colleagues across the museum for all activities related to the documentation, research, care, and movement of art. You will provide administrative support for all general daily collections activity and is a critical team member in supporting the activity and shifting priorities of the Wing. You will work closely with the department’s Senior Administrator, Conservator, the Collections Team, Curatorial and Research staff.
Primary Responsibilies & Duties
- Create and maintain The Museum System (TMS) object records for the permanent collection and loans to the department and special exhibitions.
- Support the administrative activity of outgoing special exhibition loans.
- Coordinate with Registrar for incoming and outgoing shipment activity by creating notices for gifts, purchases, long-term loans and works on temporary exam.
- Oversee export of cataloguing information from TMS to museum website and maintenance of website collection pages.
- Support the activity of the collections staff through the creation of organizing documents, labels and tags, gallery labels, and resulting record updates, including collection-move data, dimensions, locations, components, etc., into TMS.
- Coordinate with MCRW staff, undertake annual inventory checks and resulting Annual Inventory Report.
- Maintain and communicate the most current standards for cataloguing and data entry for TMS and generate reports upon request from colleagues and outside scholars.
- Act as the main point of contact between the department and the Collections Information team.
- Participate in long term data entry clean-up projects for database records, as identified by the department and Collections Information.
- Train fellows, interns, and new staff members in cataloguing and data entry.
- Coordinate with MCRW Collections Staff and Curators to field requests for viewings of the collection in storage and access to the department’s Visual Resource Archive.
- Assist with fielding and responding to general questions from inside and outside the museum on the collection and database information.
- Other related duties as assigned.
Education And Experience
- BA degree required; MA in Museum Studies or Collections Management
- Demonstrated experience working with museum collections and art databases
- Knowledge of art historical research practices and online resources
- Extensive experience using The Museum System (TMS)
- Excellent organizational, proofreading, and analytical skills
- Familiarity with the following software: collection management software with a strong preference for TMS, Adobe Suite, and Microsoft Office Suite
Compensation Range
- Pay Range: $63,000 – $68,000/Annually
- The advertised pay scale reflects the good faith minimum and maximum salary range for this role. The advertised pay scale is not a promise of a particular wage for any specific employee. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may be dependent on a variety of factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s experience, education, special licensing or qualifications, and other factors.
Location Requirements
At time of employment, employees are expected to be located within commuting distance of the Museum. “Commuting distance” means that they are located in one of following states: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, or Pennsylvania (the “Tri-state and PA” areas), and be able to commute to and from the Museum in a single day.
Benefits Offerings
The Museum provides competitive compensation, and generous benefits and perks for all eligible employees. Note: Benefits Offering may differ based on Employee Status.
- Medical, dental, vision and life insurance
- 403(b) basic retirement plan and optional matching retirement plan with an outstanding employer match
- Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and 13 Museum holidays
- Long-term disability coverage
- Flexible Spending Accounts & Health Savings Account (pre-tax income for eligible health care expenses)
- Commuter benefits (pre-tax income for parking or mass transit expenses)
- Free financial-planning services
- Financial assistance for relevant coursework, seminars, and training programs
- 25% discount for staff in Museum shops
- A subsidized staff cafeteria
- Access to the Museums Council pass, which grants free admission to various museums and cultural institutions
Research shows that women and people from underrepresented groups often apply to jobs only if they meet 100% of the qualifications. We recognize that it is highly unlikely that someone meets 100% of the qualifications for a role. If much of this job description describes you, then please apply for this role.
The Met is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, The Met will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed in this process, please contact benefits@metmuseum.org.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, creed, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, age, mental or physical disability, pregnancy, alienage or citizenship status, marital status or domestic partner status, genetic information, genetic predisposition or carrier status, gender identity, HIV status, military status and any other category protected by law in all employment decisions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, compensation, training and apprenticeship, promotion, upgrading, demotion, downgrading, transfer, lay-off and termination, and all other terms and conditions of employment.