Historic Maryland Newspapers Librarian

Description

As the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore area, the University of Maryland Libraries serve 37,000 students and faculty of the flagship College Park campus. The University of Maryland Libraries share the teaching, learning and research goals of the university. Its role as a key academic resource is evident in its service to the academic community and its actionable strategic plan.

With collections including 3.7 million volumes and more 350 databases, the University of Maryland Libraries allocate 75 percent of its materials budget to electronic resources. Maryland ranks 50th among the 115 member libraries of the Association of Research Libraries and has an operating budget of $23.7 million. The University of Maryland Libraries benefit from being situated geographically within minutes of the nation's capital and its departments, agencies, and research centers. 

Position Summary/Purpose of Position: The University of Maryland Libraries seeks a self-directed, production-oriented individual for the position of Project Manager with the Historic Maryland Newspapers initiative, a two-year project (with the possibility for renewal) funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and supported by the Library of Congress (LC) under the auspices of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). Historic Maryland Newspapers will select, digitize, and contribute to the Library of Congress' Chronicling of America collection approximately 100,000 pages from historically- and culturally-significant newspapers from across the state of Maryland.

This position is funded by a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant to begin digitization of Maryland's microfilmed newspapers. Historic Maryland Newspapers, a part of the National Digital Newspaper Program developed by NEH and the Library of Congress, will digitize 100,000 Maryland newspaper pages between the years of 1836 and 1922 during the two-year grant period. Newspapers digitized as part of the grant award will be included in the Library of Congress' Chronicling America database at http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
The Project Manager will oversee the day-to-day activities of the Historic Maryland Newspapers project and ensure that the project's objectives, milestones, and requirements are met. This position will report to the Manager, Digital Stewardship, and will be based at the University Libraries at the University of Maryland in College Park. Specific duties may include (but are not limited to):

• Works with vendors to ensure quality deliverables and negotiate budgetary issues
• In coordination with the Project Director, assists in managing the project budget
• Reviews responses to the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the microfilm duplication, digitization, and optical character recognition
• Oversees quality control (using both qualitative and quantitative measures) of digital assets produced by the project. Also, track and deliver all data to the Library of Congress
• Develops and maintains tracking system for microfilm and digital deliverables
• Supervises student employees performing microfilm shipping, quality control and other duties
• Gathers project statistics and serve as a point of contact for the Advisory Board and interested members of the public
• Supports collaboration of the project Advisory Board including by making logistical arrangements for an in-person meeting and managing online collaboration tools
• Receives and edits title essays (500 words for each title digitized)
• Manages the development of the project website
• Creates documentation, and maintains complete and accurate records of all work performed
• Delivers progress reports on specified semi-annual schedule to the Library of Congress and the NEH
• Performs site visits to inspect master microfilm suitability
• Attends annual NDNP meetings in Washington, D. C.
• Performs other duties, as assigned 

Minimum Qualifications:

• Demonstrated ability to pay attention to detail;
• Strong organizational and communication skills;
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize tasks and document decisions and procedures; Demonstrated ability to learn new tasks and software applications quickly;
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with vendors and geographically dispersed colleagues;
• Familiarity with digital conversion, and/or digital curation initiatives.

EDUCATION:
Required: Master's degree from an ALA-accredited program or foreign equivalent

EXPERIENCE:
Required: Experience and a solid understanding of digitization and/or microfilm conversion projects, including microfilm inspection and suitability for digitization; experience with XML and 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; quality control experience; ability to learn new tasks and software applications quickly; excellent organizational skills. 

Preferred: Experience with preservation microfilming and knowledge of best practices; training or experience with newspaper digitization initiatives; knowledge of the German language; demonstrated project management experience; supervisory experience.