Keara Cook
Hamburg,NY
Summary
Collections Assistant with 4 years of archival and collections experience. Skilled in object handling, cataloging, and building custom object mounts. Previous experience in museums across New York including Rochester Museum & Science Center, Fort Ticonderoga, and the Monroe County Archives. Interested in pursuing roles that help preserve our history and make it more accessible.
Overview
4
4
years of professional experience
Work History
Community Support Services Consultant
Erie County SPCA
02.2025 - Current
- Scheduling appointments for services offered to the community both in person and over the phone; end of life services, stray intake, surrender intake, vet care
- Providing the community with resources and information on animal care, food, and other local shelters, upcoming events, etc.
- Coordinate pick up of animal in need when owner is unable to bring their pet in person
Museum Guest Services, Inventory & Sales Lead
Fort Ticonderoga
06.2023 - 10.2024
- Inventory Management
- Experience with Blackbaud software
- Ensuring inventory accuracy
- Restocking merchandise as needed
- Purchasing merchandise for the store as needed
- Working with vendors to create new products relevant to the museum and its collection.
- Design and creation of promotional material for new products
- Day to day retail management
- Working with guests both in person and over the phone to place and process orders as well as book admission for special events.
- Preparation and coordination of monthly living history events.
- Keeping guests informed on the daily schedule as well as answered questions relating to Fort Ticonderoga and its history.
- Creating employee shift schedules on a weekly basis
Resident Assistant
St. John Fisher College
01.2021 - 05.2023
- Community Building and Programming; knowing all residents by name, connecting and supporting residents by frequently interacting, facilitating interaction between students, accompanying residents to events on campus, creating a thoughtful relationship with residents, managing community concerns and roommate conflicts, responding promptly to community issues, creating programs that use helpful and engaging information.
- Safety; enforcing the Student Code of Conduct and college policies, knowing emergency protocols while “on duty”, being able to quickly relay information in an emergency, create and maintain a safe environment for students, demonstrating appropriate confrontation skills, responding to potential incidents at a moment’s notice.
- Student Support; provide guidance to students, referring students to appropriate college resources, maintain boundaries with students, provide clear and accurate information, actively listening to student concerns, be knowledgeable about college policies and procedures, maintaining privacy in confidential situations.
- Administrative Responsibilities; Checking mailbox and emails daily and responding to them promptly, attending weekly staff meetings, submitting weekly reports, attending RA training, posting and removing flyers in a timely manner, completing paperwork in a timely manner, assisting with health and safety inspections and room inspections, completing projects when a supervisor assigns them.
- Building Responsibilities; Being responsible for all assigned keys and using them appropriately, assist students with lockouts, conducting check-in/check-out room inspections, processing work orders as needed.
- Other Responsibilities; participating in departmental opportunities as assigned, assisting in the RA recruitment and hiring process, assisting with student orientation as needed, additional on-duty coverage as needed.
Collections Intern
Rochester Museum & Science Center
09.2022 - 12.2022
- Handled, researched, and processed collections of objects from various collection type.
- Assisted in the movement of large-scale collections of objects across the museum building and to and from offsite storage.
- Completed inventories and documentation providing the museum with better intellectual control of the collections.
- Assisted other departments in the museum as needed.
- Made custom mounts in order to properly store items.
Intern
Monroe County Archives
09.2021 - 05.2022
- Restoring and refiling damaged files in a manner that best preserves the material.
- Creating an index/organizational system to track all items.
- Accessioning all items held in the archive into the new index.
- Creating policies and forms concerning accession and care of all items.
- Creating finding aids for items in the archive.
- Creating both long term and short-term goals for the institution.
- Helping students and professors find materials that are beneficial to their research.
Education
Master of Arts - Museum Studies
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD12-2027
Bachelor of Arts - History
St. John Fisher College
Rochester, NY05-2023
High School Diploma -
Hamburg High School
Hamburg, NY06-2019
Skills
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Multitasking
- Time management
- Mount making
- Reliable inventory management
- Attention to detail
- Flexible and adaptable
- Artifact handling
- Excellent communication
Languages
Sign Language
Timeline
Community Support Services Consultant
Erie County SPCA
02.2025 - Current
Museum Guest Services, Inventory & Sales Lead
Fort Ticonderoga
06.2023 - 10.2024
Collections Intern
Rochester Museum & Science Center
09.2022 - 12.2022
Intern
Monroe County Archives
09.2021 - 05.2022
Resident Assistant
St. John Fisher College
01.2021 - 05.2023
Master of Arts - Museum Studies
Johns Hopkins University
Bachelor of Arts - History
St. John Fisher College
High School Diploma -
Hamburg High School
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