Special Collections Operations and Systems Coordinator

Description

Under the direction of the Associate Director for Special Collections, and in close collaboration with staff within Special Collections and in units throughout the Library, the Special Collections Operations and Systems Coordinator (OSC) will facilitate the integration of operations and implementation of systems within Special Collections and across the Library.

NYPL’s Special Collections is a recently established organizational unit created to manage the acquisition, processing, preservation, and security of the Library's distinctive collections. Formed by merging the Preservation, Archives, and Special Formats Processing departments, it reports directly to the office of the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries.

Special Collections is undertaking a comprehensive analysis of its operations and data architecture in order to better integrate the functions of existing programs within Special Collections, to more effectively plan and communicate the department’s work, and to inform the adoption of appropriate systems, such as ArchivesSpace. The OSC will play a pivotal role in coordinating this analysis, communicating its output, and supporting the implementation of subsequently planned actions.

Principal Responsibilities:

Working closely with the Associate Director of Special Collections, the entire Special Collections staff (n=75), and partners throughout NYPL, the Special Collections Operations and Systems Coordinator will:

Document the operations and practices of Special Collections.

• facilitate the production of new documentation
• create documents, flowcharts, and presentations to represent overview of Special Collections work processes, their relationships, and dependencies
• gather, revise, and integrate existing documentation for specific operations

Develop and maintain standard queues, reports, and statistics.

Develop and maintain the internal site through which documentation and reports are shared with the entire Library and external partners as appropriate.

Develop a data architecture for Special Collections.

• gather legacy operational data
• analyze and document existing systems used for data entry, storage, and sharing
• create new or integrate existing data standards
• develop data management policies

Support selection, implementation, and integration of systems

• develop functional requirements for selecting and developing Library systems
• evaluate existing and potential technical systems for use by the Library
• identify areas for potential integration between Special Collections and Library systems
• work with stakeholders to implement and integrate systems into Special Collections operations
• serve as Special Collection’s primary liaison with internal and external technical support and application developers

Key Competencies:

• Accountability and Professionalism
• Customer Service
• Collaboration and Teamwork

Job-Specific Knowledge and Skills

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Library Science, Information Science, Computer Science, Public Administration, Archival Studies, Preservation, or other relevant field.
• Strong command of archival theory and best practices in archives and special collections.
• At least two years working in a research library or archive, preferably within a special collections context.
• Understanding of and experience applying metadata standards in a library or archival context.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively.
• Excellent writing skills and attention to detail.
• Experience developing and maintaining documentation.
• Experiencing performing business and/or systems analysis.
• Experience facilitating meetings -preparing agendas, leading discussions, producing and sharing minutes and follow-up assignments- strongly preferred.
• Training and experience in project management preferred.
• Demonstrated experience working with library/archival systems.
• Demonstrated familiarity with principles of data architecture.

Preferred Qualifications :

• Experience collaborating with internal teams and vendors on application development preferred.
• Experience with Archivists’ Toolkit, ArchivesSpace, ConservationSpace, CollectionSpace, Aeon, and/or The Museum System preferred.
• Experience with Ruby on Rails, MySQL/Postgres, and Linux preferred.
• Experience training staff in the use of software/systems preferred.