Digital Collections Librarian

Description

Swarthmore College is a highly selective liberal arts college located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, whose mission combines academic rigor with social responsibility. Swarthmore has a strong institutional commitment to inclusive excellence and nondiscrimination in its educational program and employment practices and encourages candidates who will further advance the goal of fostering a diverse and inclusive community. As one of the nation’s finest institutions of higher learning, Swarthmore College is global in outlook and draws students from around the nation and world. The 425‐acre campus is a designated arboretum, complete with gardens, rolling lawns, a creek, wooded hills, and hiking trails in the Crum Woods. 

As a member of the Digital Initiatives + Strategies Department, the Digital Collections Librarian provides strategic and innovative leadership, operational planning, and management for the digital asset management and preservation program for the Swarthmore College Libraries. The incumbent will help shape future directions for digital asset management and preservation systems, and will develop and implement strategies, best practices, standards, and technologies that support discovery, access, management, and preservation of the Libraries' digital assets. The incumbent leads projects to implement a range of technological solutions, and serves as a member of Swarthmore and TriCollege Libraries' project teams which require expertise in this area.

The Digital Collections Librarian is responsible for both the development and maintenance of our digital collections across their life-cycle. They will reach out to campus constituencies, analyze materials for suitability for our collections, identify potential projects, and establish priorities based on the content's cultural, academic, or historical value. They will pursue opportunities for collaborative projects across institutions and will seek grant funding where appropriate. In addition, they will manage oral history projects, which currently focus on capturing the experiences of our alumni involved in activism during the Civil Rights Movement.

This position will collaborate with subject librarians and faculty in the use of our digital collections in teaching and research and will work with other staff engaged in the digital projects and provide expertise on maintenance and preservation of project outcomes. Perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements:

• Master's degree from an ALA-accredited program.
• 2 years’ experience working with digital collections or archives.
• Experience processing analog, analog-to-digital, or born-digital collections.
• Experience working with digital asset management, digital repository, and/or digital library systems (e.g. DSpace, Fedora, CONTENTdm).
• Knowledge of strategies for digital object creation, curation, and preservation.
• Knowledge of digital preservation systems, standards, best practices, and the OAIS reference model.
• Familiarity with a variety of digital library standards for file formats and metadata content, structure, and values.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively
• Ability to work effectively in teams that encompass a range of roles and knowledge
• Flexibility, intellectual curiosity, and willingness to take initiative.

Preferred:

• Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Certificate or significant coursework in archival management or digital librarianship.
• Demonstrated experience in managing digital collections projects.
• Understanding of archival theory and best practices as they relate to the processing and management of digital collections
• Experience with tools used to capture, manage, and deliver born-digital materials (e.g. Archive-it, forensic hardware, FTK, BitCurator, BagIt).
• Experience with archival collection management systems such as Archivists' Toolkit or ArchivesSpace.
• Ability to analyze a range of tools and technologies, and to implement those which improve workflows, access, or preservation of digital objects.
• Experience conducting oral history interviews.
• Working knowledge of web design and development and familiarity with one or more current scripting and programming languages (e.g. JavaScript, PHP, Python, Ruby on Rails HTML, CSS)
• Familiarity with Git or similar versioning control systems, or with Linux/Unix environments.
• Strong decision-making and project management skills.

This is a full-time position that offers a competitive benefits package and paid time off.  Click here to view employee testimonials and learn about what it’s like to be a part of the Swarthmore community!

Swarthmore College actively seeks and welcomes applications from candidates with exceptional qualifications, particularly those with demonstrable commitments to a more inclusive society and world. Swarthmore College is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.