Administration Processes

As art handling administrator I am the first point of contact for the department, receiving requests, enquiries and information from across the gallery.

Requests

Requests come from a variety of departments including conservation, curatorial, framing, photographic and registrars and include activity across loans, exhibitions and acquisitions. 

A request might be as simple as moving a small painting from storage to the photographic studio or as complex as re-hanging an entire wing of the gallery.

At this early stage I assess the request and I look at where it might fit into our schedule. I have to consider a number of factors including conflicting demands, complexity, duration, as well as staffing levels.

Calendar

Our working schedule takes the form of a shared Outlook calendar with appointments which change rapidly. We assign certain colours to different types of tasks. Packs and unpack, for instance are turquoise. Whereas hang or rehangs for works going on or returning from loan are purple.

I review the schedule for the weeks and months ahead with the head of department and making adjustments and liaising with colleagues from the relevant department(s).

Forward Plan

Sitting above our schedule is a forward plan which takes a broader perspective on the department and includes exhibition installation, courier trips and staff holidays.

The Museum System (TMS)

Closer to the time that the task is carried out, I create a worksheet using The Museum System (TMS) which is our collections database. Details of the unique worksheet number is added to the Outlook appointment along with other details relevant to that job. Worksheets reports are generated and then printed on a daily-basis. This provides the team with the information they require to carry out the task. A signed worksheet is returned to me and I update TMS with any picture movements. For example, the NG6479 The Gare St-Lazare by Claude Monet might be removed for display for one day and I will update the database with this information. This data is fed live to the gallery website.

Loans and Exhibitions

I am a central to the loan programme which is the trigger for removing and rehanging works as well as packing and unpacking them. This is covered in the The Collection section under Loan Preparation

I also work on our exhibition programme which currently sits at approximately 8 openings per year. I support the senior technician and deputy assigned to the exhibition. I attend technical planning meetings and work closely with several key departments including exhibition registrars, conservation, creative, buildings and security. 

Systems, Security and Finance

Over the past 12 – 18 months the gallery has begun a shift to more online systems. This now means the documents I work with on a daily-basis are stored in shared drives and this makes work between colleagues and departments easier and more efficient. Only recently in collaboration with the collection registrars I have developed a master document for all information relating to loans to and from the collection, as well as touring exhibitions; both nationally and internationally.

In addition to these areas of work I also carry out a number of other tasks. This includes coordinating monthly security checks of works in store, monitoring the department budget, as well as raising POs and processing invoices, ordering supplies and managing the office systems and structures.  

Salvage Committee

Our head of department chairs the salvage committee and I organise quarterly meetings, take and distribute minutes and manage processes related to this area of incident management.

Data Protection and GDPR

I have the additional responsibility of being the GDPR data champion for our department. I implemented new systems and protocols in line with the legislation change in May 2018 and continue to align our data activities with current law and gallery policy.

Louise Marlborough, Administrator