Mass Digitization Coordinator

Description

The Digital Imaging Unit of the New York Public Library is hiring a Mass Digitization Coordinator to serve as a primary architect of a range of new digitization streams -- e.g. rapid book scanning, high-speed microfilm digitization, and experiments with new approaches -- with the goal of dramatically increasing the volume, speed, and range of NYPL's digitization activities. The Coordinator will also help refine existing workflows and explore new options for large-scale reformatting through vendors and partnerships in order to deliver as much material as possible through the Library’s own online collection portals and other digital library access sites like the HathiTrust Digital Library and the Internet Archive.

The position will report to the Manager of Digitization Services, and will work closely with Curators, the Metadata Services Unit, the Special Collections units and divisions, Permissions and Reproductions, the Rights and Information Policy Group, and many others at the Library. This is an exciting opportunity to play a key role in the migration of library resources to the Internet: furthering the NYPL’s mission while working hands-on with exceptional collections using state-of-the-art equipment in a collegial and productive environment.

About the Department

The Digital Imaging Unit is part of NYPL Labs.  Based dually at the Library's landmark central branch on 42nd Street, and at its cutting-edge services center in Long Island City, NYPL Labs is an interdisciplinary team working to reformat and reposition the Library's knowledge for the Internet age. Labs combines core digital library operations (digitization, metadata, permissions/reproductions etc.) with an award-winning tech/design and outreach team focused on deepening engagement with digital collections and library data, and fostering new forms of research and creativity.

Principal Responsibilities:

Reporting to the Manager of the Digitization Services, the Mass Digitization Coordinator:

• Aids in materials movement logistics in order to keep new and existing digitization flows steady
• Coordinates logistics of large vendor and partner projects
• Helps build new book-scanning workflows with an Internet Archive Table-Top Scribe machine and testing of imaging and asset processing workflows to determine optimal configurations
• Supervises a Library Technology Assistant II position
• Helps build out high-speed microfilm digitization capacity and workflows
• Creates thorough documentation of mass digitization specifications, workflows, and outputs
• Liaises with the Library’s curators, librarians, special collections archives and special formats processing staff, metadata staff, repository development team, copyright analysts, and others on a wide variety of projects
• Assists with the selection of new equipment and keeps track of trends in digital reformatting
• Explores new possibilities for creating broad public access to digital collections
• Assumes additional responsibilities as required

Key Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal and oral and written communication skills
• Excellent problem solving and critical thinking skills
• The ability to establish priorities, follow project timelines, and meet deadlines while working independently and with minimal supervision
• The ability to identify opportunities for, and implement solutions to achieve, greater efficiency in a production environment
• Exceptional organizational skills
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Flexibility and reliability

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of two years relevant work experience within an arts or cultural heritage environment, or an equivalent combination of education and experience
• Successfully demonstrated experience with production work, production scheduling and attainable goal setting.
• Experience with handling art and/or library special collection materials, ideally within a digitization context
• Successfully demonstrated experience training, supervising and evaluating staff and demonstrated experience in workflow planning and management, production of statistics, and an understanding of bibliographic records.
• Successfully demonstrated working knowledge of information technologies associated with digitizing books, documents and visual materials including experience with Adobe Photoshop CS.
• Awareness of leading trends in digitization, and an eagerness to expand the scope of digitization possibilities at NYPL