Digital Collections Archivist

Description

The NYC Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) protects public health and the environment by supplying clean drinking water, collecting and treating wastewater, and reducing air, noise, and hazardous materials pollution. DEP is the largest combined municipal water and wastewater utility in the country, with nearly 6,000 employees. We deliver 1.1 billion gallons of high quality drinking water per day to 8.3 million New York City residents and more than 1 million people in Upstate New York, and we collect and treat an average of 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater per day.

The selected candidate will serve as the Digital Collections Archivist as part of the Records and Archives Management office. This newly created position will administer the recently acquired digital asset management system (Extensis Portfolio), direct digitization projects, acquire and describe born digital records, implement a strategy for preserving digital assets, and improve on ways to provide access to digital assets based on user needs. This position will monitor system hardware and storage needs and interface with the agency’s Information Technology group on behalf of the unit. 

Responsibilities:

• Administer digital asset management system including service contracts, software upgrades, creating user accounts with variable security and access rights, etc.
• Develop, implement, and document workflows and procedures for the capture, storage, and delivery of digital assets and associated metadata
• Establish procedures and schedules to systematically receive born digital records from agency creators (starting with press office photography, capital construction photography, and serial reports/publications); lead efforts to locate and transfer high value born digital records from agency creators to archive.
• Import descriptive metadata into Extensis Portfolio from collection inventories
• Update collection inventories with technical digital metadata
• Plan and direct digitization projects and perform ad-hoc digitization as required
• Maintain and report metrics on digitization projects, born digital acquisitions and other significant information that demonstrates work progress and the merits of the unit’s digital program
• Collaborate on the development of metadata to enhance access to digital assets including controlled vocabularies
• Improve access to digital assets by observing and analyzing user trends and needs
• Investigate, propose, and implement a strategy to preserve digital assets
• plan for growth and replacement
• Develop, document, and provide training for digitization projects and for using Extensis Portfolio
• Fulfill agency obligation to Local Law 11 of 2003 which requires city agencies to transfer electronic copies of official publications to the Department of Records and Information Services
• Contribute to grant writing that supports digital projects
• Oversee hardware and software needs such as support contracts and backups;

Minimum Qual Requirements
1. A master's degree from an accredited college in Library Science, Archival Science, American History, Political Science or a related area, plus two years of full-time experience in archival or library science, one year of which must have been in a supervisory capacity of incumbents performing at a professional level; or
2. Education and/or experience equivalent to "1" above. However, all candidates must have a master's degree from an accredited college and the one year of supervisory experience as described in "1" above.

Preferred Skills

• Aptitude for complex, analytical work with strong attention to detail
• Desire and ability to work in a collaborative team-oriented environment
• Ability to communicate effectively on technology issues with technical and non-technical staff
• Experience implementing and managing a digital asset management system and directing a digitization project
• Working knowledge of metadata and archival description standards DACS, EAD, MODS, METS, and Dublin Core
• Working knowledge of digital preservation standards such as PREMIS, OAIS, and TDR
• Familiarity with digital preservation, digital imaging, and digital forensics  software and applications
• Strong command of archival theory and experience working in an archive, library, or museum
• Experience establishing and customizing open source software applications
• Experience working with relational databases
• Familiarity with archival description software applications such as Archivists’ Toolkit, ArchivesSpace, and/or Archon
• Proficiency with Adobe Photoshop
• Experience with a wide range of operating systems, storage systems, and file formats

To Apply go to https://a127-jobs.nyc.gov/ and search for job ID 178095.

Work Location
420 East 38Th St., New York, NY
Residency Requirement
New York City residency is generally required within 90 days of appointment. However, City Employees in certain titles who have worked for the City for 2 continuous years may also be eligible to reside in Nassau, Suffolk, Putnam, Westchester, Rockland, or Orange County. To determine if the residency requirement applies to you, please discuss with the agency representative at the time of interview.
Recruitment Contact
Recruitment Contact: GRACE PIGOTT
Recruitment Email: RECRUIT@DEP.NYC.GOV