OKPOP Collections Manager

State of Oklahoma•Tulsa, OK

1d•$50,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Collections Manager is responsible for the day-to-day care, documentation, movement, and access of OKPOP’s collections—3D objects, archives, photos, AV/born-digital media, and artworks representing Oklahoma’s impact on popular culture. Reporting to the Curator of Pop Culture, this role ensures professional standards in registration and preventive conservation while supporting the Storytelling department’s needs for exhibitions, education, and media production.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in History, Museum Studies, Library/Information Science, Art History, or a closely related field or equivalent combination of education and relevant experience.
Demonstrated experience with object handling, registration/cataloging, and preventive conservation in a museum or archive setting.
Working knowledge of collections documentation standards, storage materials, and exhibition prep.
Clear, professional communication; strong attention to detail; ability to manage multiple tasks and deadlines.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with Argus (or other CMS) and a Digital Asset Management workflow (e.g., Starchive).
Experience processing loans with private collectors, artists/estates, or studios (media, props/costumes, music archives).
Basic mount/housing skills or experience coordinating with fabricators/conservators.
Knowledge of copyright/permissions and community-informed, ethical practice.

Responsibilities

Collection Care & Registration Accession, catalog, and update records in the collections management system (e.g., Argus); maintain accurate metadata, provenance, location control, and credit lines.
Perform intake/outgoing processes, condition reporting, barcoding, object numbering, and movement logs.
Implement preventive conservation: proper handling, storage, housing, environmental monitoring, IPM, rotation schedules, and object preparation for display.
Maintain orderly, safe, and well-documented storage areas; conduct regular inventories.
Loans, Acquisitions & Documentation Process deeds of gift, loan agreements, and related paperwork; coordinate with donors, lenders, artists/estates, and studios.
Arrange packing/shipping/insurance with approved vendors; serve as courier when required.
Track rights and restrictions; document permissions for photography, digitization, and reuse.
Digitization, DAM & Access Prioritize and execute digitization projects; apply file-naming, metadata, and backup standards.
Coordinate with Digital/Media teams to ingest assets to DAM (e.g., Starchive) and fulfill internal requests while safeguarding preservation and rights.
Support researcher and staff access to collections materials per policy.
Exhibition, Education & Production Support Work with Exhibits to vet object feasibility, mounts, and environmental needs; prepare items for installation and rotations.
Provide accurate object data, images, and rights status for labels, curricula, and media pieces.
Pull, stage, and rehouse objects for education or production needs with appropriate supervision and handling.
Administration & Reporting Maintain up-to-date policies, procedures, and checklists; generate routine reports (accessions, loans, inventories, digitization progress).
Participate in emergency preparedness and collections risk-mitigation activities.
Train and coordinate volunteers or interns on basic collections tasks as needed.