Digital Accessioning Archivist

Description

Yale University offers exciting opportunities for achievement and growth in New Haven, Connecticut.  Conveniently located between Boston and New York, New Haven is the creative capital of Connecticut with cultural resources that include two major art museums, a critically-acclaimed repertory theater, state-of-the-art concert hall, and world-renowned schools of Architecture, Art, Drama, and Music.

Position Focus:  The Yale University Library (YUL) is seeking a Digital Accessioning Archivist for Yale Special Collections to fill a two-year position. Under the supervision of the Digital Archivist in the Manuscript Unit of the Beinecke Library, and in collaboration with the Born Digital Working Group, the position will help establish a centralized born-digital accessioning service for special collections units in Yale’s libraries and museums.

This position will contribute to the development of best practices and workflows for accessioning born-digital material, undertake the hands-on work of disk imaging, train and supervise the work of student assistants and other staff, and make recommendations related to post-term digital accessioning sustainability. In addition to helping YUL achieve its goal of eliminating current backlogs of digital media in units across Yale’s special collections community, this position will play an integral role in developing and implementing scalable workflows for incoming acquisitions of born-digital material. This will involve managing media received from different units across campus, conducting quality assurance on both processes and products, and preparing files for ingest into the Library’s digital preservation system. This position is a unique opportunity to collaborate with a team to help build a born-digital accessioning program from the ground up, while also gaining extensive hands-on experience with disk imaging and forensic tools. Also completes special projects as assigned. Participates in Library-wide planning and committee work as appropriate, and is expected to be active professionally.

The Beinecke’s Manuscript Unit, which is a division of Technical Services, supports the Beinecke's robust acquisition program and is responsible for the accessioning, processing, and cataloging of its manuscript collections, including born-digital materials. For more information about the Beinecke Library, please see:  http://www.library.yale.edu/beinecke.

The Born Digital Working Group consists of staff from Beinecke Library, Manuscripts and Archives, the Yale Center for British Art, and YUL’s Preservation department, and is leading Yale’s efforts to enable all special collections in its libraries and museums to acquire, ingest, preserve, and provide access to born-digital archival materials with the same level of stewardship and care as is devoted to Yale’s physical collections.

Required Education, Skills and Experience: 
• Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited library school or equivalent accredited degree, with formal training in archival theory and practice. In selected instances, a post-graduate degree in museum studies or a related discipline in the humanities or social sciences may be substituted for a master’s degree in library science.
• Qualified individuals new to the library profession are welcome to apply.
• Experience arranging and describing or providing public services for manuscript and/or archival collections.
• Experience working collaboratively and independently with varied groups within a complex organization and rapidly changing, team environment.
• Demonstrated knowledge of archival theory and practice may be substituted for formal training.
• Demonstrated knowledge of current national data content and structure standards related to the archival control of collection materials.
• Demonstrated knowledge of archival and library management systems.
• Demonstrated job or school experience with basic preservation and conservation standards for archival and manuscript collections.
• Demonstrated excellent oral, written, and interpersonal communications and analytical ability.
• Demonstrated record of designing projects and bringing them to a conclusion in a timely fashion.
• High level of proficiency with computers and desktop applications and an aptitude for learning new technologies. Demonstrated ability with digital forensics/disk imaging hardware and software.
• Ability to plan and manage complex projects and bring them to conclusion in a timely fashion while also paying close attention to detail.
• Ability to adapt readily to change. Creativity, flexibility, and ability to exercise initiative and sound judgment. Demonstrated ability to work cooperatively within and across departments in a team-based environment.
• Excellent communication and organizational skills, including the ability to take direction, accept constructive criticism, and work well in a team-based environment.
Yale University assigns ranks to librarian positions based on a combination of professional experience and accomplishments (see range assigned to this description as noted in the posting position title). Librarian ranking information can be found at: http://www.library.yale.edu/about/departments/lhr/rank.html.

Preferred Education, Skills and Experience:  Experience working in an archives, or related experience. Comfort working with obsolete hardware and software. Ability to work comfortably in a Linux environment.

The University and the Library
The Yale University Library, as one of the world's leading research libraries, collects, organizes, preserves, and provides access to and services for a rich and unique record of human thought and creativity. It fosters intellectual growth and supports the teaching and research missions of Yale University and scholarly communities worldwide. A distinctive strength is its rich spectrum of resources, including around 12.8 million volumes and information in all media, ranging from ancient papyri to early printed books to electronic databases. The Library is engaging in numerous projects to expand access to its physical and digital collections. Housed in eighteen buildings including the Sterling Memorial Library, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and the Bass Library, it employs a dynamic and diverse staff of approximately five hundred who offer innovative and flexible services to library readers.  For additional information on the Yale University Library, please visit the Library's web site at www.library.yale.edu.

Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library - Technical Services
Within the University Library, Technical Services departments pursue a course of continual change and innovation in building integrated, university-wide information access systems. These systems are designed to provide readers timely access to new materials in all formats as well as a high-quality bibliographic record of Yale's extraordinary library collections, which have developed over the last three centuries. Our collections continue to grow at more than 200,000 volumes per year, including an increasing number of materials in digital form.

Salary and Benefits:
We invite you to discover the excitement, diversity, rewards and excellence of a career at Yale University. One of the country's great workplaces, Yale University offers exciting opportunities for meaningful accomplishment and true growth. Our benefits package is among the best anywhere, with a wide variety of insurance choices, liberal paid time off, fantastic family and educational benefits, a variety of retirement benefits, extensive recreational facilities, and much more.

How to apply:  Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.  Applications, consisting of a cover letter, resume, and the names and contact information of three professional references should be submitted by applying online at http://www.yale.edu/jobs. The STARS req. ID for this position is 34197BR.  Please be sure to reference 34197BR in your cover letter.

Yale University considers applicants for employment without regard to, and does not discriminate on the basis of an individual’s sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, or national or ethnic origin; nor does Yale discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.