Assistant Conservator, Book Conservation

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.

Thomas J. Watson Library is The Met's research library. With its collection of more than one million volumes, extensive digital collections, and online resources, Watson Library is one of the world's most comprehensive art libraries. The library's holdings reflect the global and encyclopedic nature of The Met, with books ranging in date from the late fifteenth century to current scholarship, in all fields covered by The Met.

The library's mission is to support the research activities of the Museum staff and to offer access and outstanding services to an international community of students and scholars. The staff of the Sherman Fairchild Center for Book Conservation are responsible for the preservation of Watson’s collection, and for other Met departmental collections, at the discretion of the Chief Librarian.

Please submit a cover letter with your application.

As the Assistant Conservator, you will contribute to conservation treatments and preservation functions for the library’s and museums’ collection of books and related objects. You will maintain, process and house library materials. You will develop, document, and report on treatments, workflows and conservation best practices. You will collaborate with Curators, Scientists, Collections staff, Registrars and other Museum staff. You will act as an allied professional within the wider conservation field through the and presentation and publication of your work within professional forums, social media and public educational programs.

• Evaluate, examine, treat and rehouse objects within both the special and general collections. This may include the cleaning, rebinding and repair of books with materials such as leather, cloth, vellum, photographs textiles, metals, plastics and more.
• Perform the physical processing for newly acquired or catalogued materials to render them shelf ready. This includes cleaning and rehousing objects, creating custom enclosures and inserts, mats, boxes, four-flap enclosures, and mylar sleeves, and labeling collections as needed.
• Select, develop, and build custom object enclosures for preservation.
• Conduct conservation triage and housing of fragile or damaged special collections materials to make them shelf ready.
• Advise and contribute to exhibition functions which include condition reporting, installation, and object supports.
• Supervise and support the professional development of interns or work-study students.
• Participate in pest management duties and emergency prevention and response training and practice. May serve as a departmental representative in Museum preservation and emergency-related teams.
• Conduct hands‑on training in essential preservation and conservation skills for library staff, interns, and volunteers.
• Participate in…