Arts@work profile — LIBBY MELZER

Libby Melzer is the Team Leader for the Paper Conversation section at the Grimwade Centre for Cultural Materials Conversation (University of Melbourne).

Libby holds a Bachelor of Applied Science - Conservation of Cultural Materials from the University of Canberra specialising in paper conservation and a Master of Arts (Art History) from the University of Melbourne.

Read more about Libby’s career journey below.

What did you study and what inspired you to pursue this path?

I’ve always had this connection to the visual arts growing up - my parents ran an art gallery for a while, and then they had a picture framing business. And when we had this picture framing business, people would bring damaged artworks to us, which we would take to a conservator. I remember visiting his studio when I was a teenager and thinking: ‘This looks like a lovely profession – I would like to do that’. It had a very tactile nature; a close and intimate relationship with very beautiful and special things.

I initially started with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and journalism. I got disillusioned by that and went to work in an art gallery for a while, and from there decided I wanted to pursue conservation. At that stage, the training in conservation was a Bachelor of Applied Science at the University of Canberra. So, I packed up and moved to Canberra, where I spent five years studying and working at the National Archives of Australia. Then I took up an internship at the University of Melbourne Art Conservation Service, which later became the Grimwade Centre. After a couple of years, I did a Master of Arts in Art History at the University of Melbourne specialising in the materials of medieval manuscripts, specifically medieval parchment.

What is your current occupation?

I’m the Team Leader, Paper Conversation at the Grimwade Conservation Services, University of Melbourne. More generally, I am a paper conservator, with a specialisation in parchment.

What aspects of your role do you enjoy the most?

Having a close association with really special things, where special constitutes a very broad range. For example, I worked on the preparation of the Magna Carta to go back on display at Parliament House in Canberra. The Magna Carta is a very significant and important item - it's one of the foundations of modern democracy. But you also get times where people entrust you with something that is really important to them even though it has no financial value.

For example, people will often bring us portraits and possessions of their loved ones who have died. This personal significance often feels like a much greater responsibility than monetary value.

Both of these are examples of why I enjoy this work – you get to care for these things which are important and special in different ways.

Thinking back, what was a highlight of your tertiary study?

The highlight was definitely the Masters in Art History. When I did the Masters, it was tied to a bigger project looking at medieval manuscripts, primarily in the State Library of Victoria. I spent many months going down there every day to look at manuscripts, including one of the oldest books in Australia, a copy of Boethius's De musica dating to around 1100. As a part of that, I got to compare these materials to those held in British and French collections. I was given the chance to spend time looking at really old manuscripts in the British Library and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, so that was absolutely the highlight.

It was nice to be doing an Arts-based degree with an incredibly broad scope – there was no definitive outcome that I had to achieve. I had a very broad brief and it was an incredible luxury to go into this great depth without being tied to some sort of particular outcome.

Were there any co-curricular activities you found particularly valuable?

Going to the University of Canberra, I arrived without ever having been to Canberra before. I found that the cohort of students I went to school with are people I still feel very connected to today and whose careers I follow. At the time, there weren’t many activities run by the university as a whole, but the activities of the conservation students were very important. We were very close and did things together – it was essential to getting through having moved to a new city on your own.

I got a bit involved with student politics, which teaches you about human nature. You meet the same types of people later on professionally and you recognise certain behaviours.

How do you think your humanities education has shaped you personally and professionally?

I think doing a research degree, in particular, was very important. It was all about having a capacity to take this very broad subject and distil it down to something that’s quite meaningful, focused and purposeful. It’s not a luxury a lot of people have, and I’m not sure it’s exactly what the University of Melbourne hoped I would do, but it was wonderful. It’s given me a lot more confidence to take a big pile of crazy mess and pull something clear and concise out of it.

Having gotten a critical mass of knowledge in this very particular, and somewhat obscure topic has created opportunities, which have just flowed on.

The other thing I really appreciated is continuously having one foot in each camp: science and art history. It gives you the capacity to both distil and apply scientific information and then also communicate that information in both directions – between the art historical and the science sides.

What career advice would you give to current students or recent graduates?

I’m very supportive of getting a general education – the broad kind of experience offered by a humanities degree opens up opportunities, but also don’t be afraid to follow something that you really love, which I did with medieval manuscripts. I was drawn to it, and I followed it, and because of that, I have a niche which is my area now. I think where people get themselves in a bind is where they mistake something they’re truly interested in with something that is just ambition. So, if you’re just focusing on ambition – you want to be the head of something, etc. – then you’re going to set yourself up to fail. But if you can find the thing that you’re truly drawn to, then I suggest you follow that, and a career will probably present itself to you. In the meantime, you might need to take what you can get, but keep following what you’re truly passionate about.

And don’t ever burn any bridges – make as many contacts as you can because I think it’s the people you know that will help you out. Maybe not with a job opportunity, but with advice or a connection. I think those kinds of relationships are completely invaluable going forward.

Finally, what book have you recently read that truly captured your attention?