Empire State Digital Network Metadata Specialist

Description

Located in New York City, the Metropolitan New York Library Council (METRO) is a nonprofit member services organization serving more than 260 libraries, archives, museums, and cultural heritage nonprofits in New York City and Westchester County. METRO has an almost 50-year tradition of providing a range of programs and services to its members, including grants, consultative and digital services, collaborative initiatives, and professional development and training. We are seeking an enthusiastic, dedicated individual to join the Empire State Digital Network (ESDN), a statewide initiative to deliver content from New York’s cultural heritage institutions to the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).

POSITION OVERVIEW
The ESDN Metadata Specialist is a full-time, newly created position for one year with the possibility of extension. This position is open to open to early-career and experienced information professionals. Candidates should be interested in facilitating the harvesting and ingestion of metadata records from libraries, archives, and cultural heritage organizations throughout New York State. The Metadata Specialist will then transform metadata from various systems and schemas into approved data models for contribution to DPLA.

In coordination with the ESDN Manager and Technology Specialist, the Metadata Specialist will participate in the investigation, evaluation, and selection of key technologies to meet program objectives. This person will also serve as a primary contact point for inquiries about metadata sharing for the Empire State Digital Network and will be responsible for provenance tracking of ingested metadata.

Candidates should be enthusiastic about supporting expanded access to digital collections from New York libraries, archives and cultural heritage institutions via the DPLA. Creativity, flexibility and the ability to follow and anticipate developing technologies will be essential.

IF YOU FILL THIS POSITION, YOU WILL BE ASKED TO:

• Work with the project manager and technology specialist to establish and achieve short-term goals of ESDN.
• Work directly with data harvesting and aggregation tools such as REPOX.
• Have hands-on experience with metadata transformations and cross-walking tools and scripts.
• Be comfortable and familiar working with XML and XML manipulation, for example XSLT, XPath, schema validation, etc.
• Apply analytical and problem solving skills combined with attention to detail for complex, detail-oriented work.
• Work closely with project partners and provide leadership in creation of statewide best practices for metadata creation, metadata analysis, and project workflow improvements.

THE IDEAL CANDIDATE WILL HAVE:

• Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science or a related degree.
• Experience working in a library, archive or cultural heritage organization, or affiliated educational, non-profit, or professional organization.
• Practical experience with all aspects of metadata creation including selection and implementation of metadata standards, quality control, and crosswalking/mapping data sets.
• Demonstrable knowledge of metadata standards including DC, MODS, METS, MARC, MARCXML, PBCORE
• Experience working with protocols and data models such as OAI-PMH, OAI-ORE, ResourceSync, Europeana Data Model (EDM), DPLA MAP, Linked Open Data, RDF.
• Familiarity with traditional cataloging practice and rules such as AACR2 and RDA.
• Familiarity with one or more scripting languages and APIs.

POSITION DETAILS:
This position will remain open until filled. The ESDN Metadata Specialist reports to the ESDN Manager. The salary range is $55,000-65,000, commensurate with experience. METRO provides excellent benefits, pension, and leave package. Position may entail four-day, 35-hour workweek. METRO’s offices are located at 57 E. 11th Street in New York City.

APPLICATION DETAILS:
The application period ends April 18th, 2014. Please send a resume or cv and a cover letter as a PDF attachment to info@metro.org with “ESDN Metadata Specialist” in the subject line. No phone calls, please.