Vermont Digital Newspaper Project Librarian

Description

Reporting to the Project Director at the University of Vermont in Burlington, and in close collaboration with the state-wide Vermont Digital Newspaper Project Management Group - including colleagues at Vermont Department of Libraries in Montpelier, the Ilsley Public Library in Middlebury, the Vermont Historical Society in Montpelier - the Project Librarian will be responsible for the day-to-day coordination and management of the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project (VTDNP), including technical and administrative activities, overseeing all microfilm-to-digital conversion activities for historic newspapers, managing relationships with vendors and external partners, assisting in outreach activities, including the development of the project web site and blog.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Manages project staff and coordinates project workflows.
• Trains and supervises the Digital Support Specialist (.5 FTE) and coordinates Cataloging/Metadata Professionals (.2 FTE) workflows for microfilm inventory and metadata collation.
• Works with Project Management Group, Advisory Committee members, the Library of Congress, and partners at other institutions to develop the VTDNP.
• Assists in Request for Proposals (RFP) process to evaluate vendors for digitization, metadata, and optical character recognition output.
• Works with vendors to ensure quality microfilm duplication and deliverables for digital assets, and to negotiate budgetary issues.
• Evaluates newspaper microfilm quality and suitability for digitization.
• Oversees digitization, metadata capture, and OCR output; performs quality review of all assets and related activities for digitizing historic newspapers.
• Develops delivery schedules; maintains tracking system for microfilm and digital deliverables.
• Manages the development of the project website and blog.
• Creates documentation, and maintains complete and accurate records of all work performed.
• Reports microfilm selection data and digital deliverables fulfillment, including titles, reels, and page counts.
• Collaborates with Project Director to deliver progress reports on specified semi-annual schedule.
• Responds to public, professional and scholarly inquiries.
• Engages in scholarly and creative activity and in service to the profession, as required of library faculty members.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required

• Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited school or international equivalent.
• Demonstrated project management experience.
• Quality control experience.
• Experience with and a solid understanding of digitization and/or microfilm conversion projects, including microfilm inspection and assessment for digitization.
• Experience with standards-based metadata schemas (non-MARC and MARC) and principles governing standards in digital libraries.
• Knowledge of newspapers or serials, and ability to assess complex relationships between titles.
• Strong interpersonal, organizational, and communication skills, the ability to work with a variety of people.
• Demonstrated ability to pay attention to detail.
• Flexibility and willingness to shift priorities according to current needs.
• Demonstrated commitment to scholarship/professional development.
• Commitment to diversity and inclusion.
• Some travel is required.

Preferred

• National Digital Newspaper Program prior experience.
• Supervisory experience.
• Familiarity with XML.
• Knowledge of Italian and/or French.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This position is funded through August 31, 2014 by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to continue digitization of Vermont’s microfilmed newspapers as part of the Vermont Digital Newspaper Project, Phase 2. The VTDNP, a state partner in the National Digital Newspaper Program developed by NEH and the Library of Congress, will digitize 100,000 pages of historical Vermont newspapers published between 1836 and 1922 in English, French, and Italian. The digitized newspapers will be included in the Library of Congress’ Chronicling America database:

SALARY & APPLICATION INFORMATION

Faculty member will be hired at the Assistant Professor level.  Salary minimum: $50,677 Generous benefits package includes: TIAA/CREF (or alternative plan), managed health care plan, and 22 days of annual leave. Position open until filled; screening will begin immediately. Anticipated start date is January 2013.

The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through their research, teaching, and/or service. Applicants are required to include in their cover letter information about how they will further this goal.

Apply online at http://www.uvmjobs.com with letter of application, résumé, and names and contact information of three professional references. Job Requisition Number: 0040661.