My name is Annamaria Nizi and since May 2017 I have volunteered at the SBT’s Collections Department. I gained this fantastic opportunity from the University of Birmingham where I am currently a Postgraduate student at the MA in International Heritage Management.
At the SBT I worked on a project to digitise glass negatives in the SBT's archive collection. This included varied and diverse tasks such as: examining content, package status, dimensions, condition checking and intellectual property rights of the glass negative collection and associated catalogue records, digitisation and the production of metadata, and finally uploading all of the information to the collection management system, QI. I also produced written guidelines for a review of glass negatives at the Trust to help in developing future digitisation projects.
Thanks to Jennifer, my supervisor, who is constantly working to develop the department, I am not just broadening my skills and knowledge in the management of collections, but also understanding how to effectively add value to museums. The best part of my internship is when I carefully open the packs in which glass negatives are stored and I put the glass plate against the light: discovering old photographs of the Trust is such a surprise!
As a result of my time spent at the SBT I gained a proven ability in many of the duties a Collection Management Assistant is asked to cover and I had a lovely human experience as well. I am confident that thanks to this enjoyable experience I will find my own place in the working sector.
Thanks SBT!