The University for the Creative Arts has campuses at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester and is home to 6,500 students from over 70 countries studying on courses in fashion, graphics, design, media, fine art and architecture.

Director of VADS
Based in Farnham

Be a Leader in Digital Knowledge Management for the Arts
Establish a National Data Service as an International Research Centre

0.5fte – £24,548 to £26,825 pa, pro rata (£49,096 – £53,259 fte)
with flexible working hours, for 12 months in the first instance (Ref: LLS MGT 8-162)

The Visual Arts Data Service (VADS), the national digital media services provider for the visual and creative arts, seeks an ambitious, energetic individual to direct its continuing provision of world-class services to education. The new Director will re-launch VADS as an exciting new centre for research and development in digital knowledge management at the UK’s first University for the Creative Arts.

As VADS new Director, you will be primarily responsible for:

• spearheading the development of VADS as a research centre with a national and international profile
• growing VADS’ reputation as a leading data services provider to arts organisations within the UK and abroad
• achieving growth targets to secure VADS future as a self-funding operation
• managing and developing a dedicated staff to action the business planning and strategic marketing required to deliver VADS’ new mission and vision

Ideal candidates will have:

• proven strategic communication skills and high-level negotiating capabilities
• recognised national research credentials in an appropriate field and a strong affinity with the creative arts
• the capability to deliver creative and innovative strategic vision
• a successful record of human resource and service leadership, management and development
• proven ability to attract funding and achieve financial targets
• experience of research grant and project management
• knowledge and understanding of digital media and knowledge management

VADS is in its twelfth successful year of operation. Its new mission is to support the provision of quality digital information in the arts by promoting international standards in the creation, archiving, dissemination and use of digital images.

For more information about VADS, please see vads.ac.uk or to discuss the post, please contact Rosemary Lynch, Head of Library and Learning Services, email rlynch@ucreative.ac.uk or telephone 01252 892704.

An application form and further details are available to download from the University’s Current Vacancies page. Alternatively contact the Human Resources Department on 01252 892681 (24 hours) or email HR@ucreative.ac.uk (quoting the above reference).

The closing date for receipt of applications: 9 December 2008
Interviews will be held on: 17 December 2008

We value diversity of our organisation and welcome applicants from all sections of the community.

Applications are invited for the post of Information Management Officer at VADS.

VADS is the online resource for visual arts, providing access to thousands of high quality digital images and a range of learning and teaching resources and websites which are free for educational use.

We are seeking to appoint a fixed-term Information Management Officer to support the work of the VADS team, based in the Library and Learning Services Department at the University for the Creative Arts. The post holder will work on specific projects including the ‘Enhancing the VADS Image Collection’ project recently funded by JISC.

You will have a degree in a relevant subject and preferably a postgraduate qualification in information management or librarianship. You will have excellent ICT and information management skills and experience in web editing. Most importantly, you will have a flexible and adaptable approach to work, the ability to learn quickly, and a keen interest in the use of ICT to support learning, teaching and research in the visual arts.

Salary: £19,264-£21,681 per annum
This post is offered on a fixed term contract until September 2009.

For more information see the University’s Current Vacancies page.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 9 December 2008.

VADS is to upgrade its online image archive after securing funding for a one year project from JISC – a joint committee of the UK further and higher education funding bodies.

VADS is based at the Farnham Campus of the University for the Creative Arts, where it has recently attained research centre status within the library. It was founded to provide services to the academic community 11 years ago, and since that time it has built an online collection of more than 100,000 images which are copyright cleared for teaching, learning, and research in the UK.

Yellow and brown slipware soup bowls, Michael Cardew © Managed by the Crafts Study Centre

Some three hundred educational institutions and museums have contributed to the VADS collection since its inception, including UCA’s own Textiles and Fine Art Departments and the Crafts Study Centre.

St Tropez, Pierre Auguste Renoir, 1898-1900 © Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

The JISC funding will allow VADS to enhance the online archive, improve image searching, undertake user and evaluation studies and to promote the archive’s use in teaching, learning and research.

Rosemary Lynch, Head of Library and Learning Services at UCA, said: “This funding highlights the valuable contribution that VADS makes to the higher education community and to creative arts practitioners. It comes at an exciting time for VADS, which has recently become integrated into UCA as a research centre – the first to be based in the university library.

UCA has hosted VADS for 11 years and is delighted to support VADS’ ambition to be a leading centre in the research and development of digital knowledge management in the creative arts.”

The VADS image library can be viewed at www.vads.ac.uk

Trouser suit by Christian Dior, 1968 © London College of Fashion/The Woolmark Company