Digitization Specialist

Description

The Dalhousie University Archives seeks a creative, collaborative, detail oriented individual for the position of Digitization Specialist, Elisabeth Mann Borgese Digitization Project. Reporting to the Elisabeth Mann Borgese Digitization Project Manager, the position will have a particular focus on the digitization of materials from the Archive of Elisabeth Mann Borgese and the uploading of these digital objects into the University Archives' on-line holding system, AtoM.
Elisabeth Mann Borgese is an important international figure who spent nearly twenty-five years working at Dalhousie. In the 1960s, Elisabeth and Arvid Pardo (then Maltese Ambassador to the United Nations), put forward the revolutionary concept that the oceans are "a common heritage of mankind" as part of the negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). In 1972, Elisabeth continued her work in oceans by establishing the International Ocean Institute (IOI). Elisabeth came to Dalhousie as a Senior Killam Fellow in 1979, but soon after she was made a full professor in the Department of Political Science. During her time at Dalhousie, she taught undergraduate and graduate students and continued to work with the IOI. Among her many awards and honours, she received five honorary doctorate degrees and the Order of Canada. She passed away in 2002.
Main Areas of Responsibility:

- Undertakes the bulk of digitization work on the Borgese Digitization Project Team.

- Assists the Project Manager with the achieving the overall goals for the project including priority setting, quality control, maintenance of the digitization equipment and report writing.

- Works with the Project Manager to determine workflows and best practices for the project and coordinates the communication of these standards to the other members of the Team.

- Responsible for implementing the technical work processes for the project, including adherence to the Dal Libraries' digitization standards.

- Works with the other Team members to achieve the designated weekly outputs, ensuring work processes and standards are adhered to and the digital content produced is of the best quality possible, and is managed and preserved in an effective manner.

- Undertakes the digitization of material from the Borgese Archive and the uploading of the digital content to the Borgese finding aid in the Archives' online catalogue.
The Dalhousie University Archives serves the dual role of the University's official records repository and as a research centre supporting the learning, teaching and research needs of the Dalhousie University community and the general public. It serves as the primary cultural archives for the province with large holdings in theatre, literature, music, and film along with significant collections related to labour, business, the environment and sustainability, law, medicine, and Dalhousie faculty and alumni. The Archives is part of the Dalhousie University Libraries. The Archives also participates in local, regional, national and international archival associations and partnerships.

Qualifications:
Required Education and Experience

- Educational background in library, archival or information sciences or equivalent experience.

- Experience with technology developed or adopted by the archival community for digitizing manuscript material and managing digital content.

- Knowledge of metadata standards, reformatting guidelines, and issues pertaining to institutional repositories.

- Knowledge of digitization and digital preservation practices.

- Understanding of principles of database management with specific knowledge of current archival holdings systems, in particular AtoM.

- Experience processing/cataloging manuscript collections. Knowledge of or experience with current practices for processing/cataloging both analog and digital archival collections. Familiarity with RAD, MARC, AACR2, and LC cataloging standards.

- Excellent communication and organizational skills, accuracy, and attention to detail. Ability to think creatively, and work both independently and collaboratively in a production-oriented, collegial environment.

Compensation:
Hourly rate: $17.00 per hour plus 4% vacation

Additional information :
Duration of the Contract: 16 weeks - 35 hours per week
Start date: 9 February 2015