Digital Infrastructure and Preservation Librarian

Description

Position Summary:

As part of a larger functional team, comprised of personnel from the Libraries Systems Office, the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, and Manuscripts, Archives and Special Collections at Washington State University, this position will be the primary technical advocate for the creation and curation of sustainable digital collections.  This position will support existing digital repository software solutions including:  CONTENTdm, Omeka, Mukurtu, and Scalar.  This position will also take a lead role in crafting the overall digital infrastructure and preservation plans at the Washington State University Libraries. The WSUL’s current digital preservation strategy is executed by a collection of lightweight micro-services written, primarily, in Ruby. This full-time, 12-month, tenure-track position reports to the Head of Systems and Technical Operations at the Washington State University Libraries in Pullman, Washington.

The University

Washington State University, one of the two research universities in the state, was founded in 1890 as the state’s land-grant institution and is located in Pullman with campuses in Spokane, Vancouver, Everett and the Tri-Cities. Due to its strong emphasis on excellence in research and education, the Carnegie Classification™ has designated WSU as RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity). Current enrollment is over 30,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. The University offers more than 200 fields of study, with 90 majors for undergraduates, 76 master’s degree programs, 64 doctoral degree programs, and 3 professional degree programs. Academically, the University is organized into 11 colleges (Agriculture, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences; Arts and Sciences; Business; Communication; Education; Engineering and Architecture; Honors; Medical Sciences, Nursing; Pharmacy; Veterinary Medicine) and a Graduate School. For more information, please visit www.wsu.edu.

The Libraries

The WSU Libraries (http://libraries.wsu.edu), one of two Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in Washington State, houses over two million books and over 30,000 journal and magazine subscriptions.  The Libraries are a part of the Orbis Cascade Alliance and are deeply invested, along with our partner libraries in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, in the activities of the shared Unified Resource Management and shared Discovery environment.  The Libraries also houses and co-directs the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation (http://cdsc.libraries.wsu.edu/), a collaboration with the College of Arts & Sciences that fosters digital projects across all disciplines and is home to national programs such as the Tribal Stewardship Cohort Program, The Sustainable Heritage Network (http://sustainablerheritagenetwork.org ), the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal (http://plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu) and Mukurtu CMS (http://mukurtu.org).

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Digital Infrastructure and Preservation:

•       Lead the implementation, management, and assessment of discovery and repository tools for digital    collections.

•       Manage and improve established digital preservation procedures.

•       Provide leadership in crafting the overall vision for the development of digital collections infrastructure and services at Washington State University.

•       Serve as a university resource for students and faculty with respect to data stewardship, digital preservation and digitization standards and issues.

•       Actively seek partnerships across the University to identify and preserve at risk digital and analog content.

•       Provide technical support and training for CONTENTdm, Omeka, Mukurtu, and Scalar.

•       As appropriate serve as official WSU Libraries’ representative to institutional, regional and national organizations at the request of the unit head, Associate Dean, or Dean.

Scholarship, Service, & Professional Development:

•       Participate in faculty governance, and service as a library faculty member.

•       Conduct research and publish in areas of library and information science and other scholarly subjects.

•       Engage in library-wide initiatives as appropriate.

•       Maintain current awareness of digital library trends, content management technologies and Library Information Systems by reading professional literature, participating in professional organizations and committees, and attending workshops, institutes, seminars and conferences at local, state, regional, national and international levels.

•       Share relevant knowledge gained from professional activities and uses that knowledge to improve information systems operations and knowledge in the libraries.

Required Qualifications:

Master’s degree from an American Library Association (ALA)-accredited Library and Information Studies program at date of hire; excellent interpersonal, verbal, written, organizational, problem-solving and planning skills; ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively both as a team member and independently and to promote teamwork among colleagues.

Preferred Qualifications:

•       Experience working with or supporting a Content Management System (CONTENTdm, Omeka, or Mukurtu preferred).

•       Documented experience managing complex projects.

•       Familiarity with current trends in digital library initiatives, digital curation and digital preservation standards.

•       Experience with at least one web-based application development language or such as PHP, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and AJAX.

•       Familiarity with current trends in data stewardship and data management plans.

•       Experience using version control for collaborative development and/or documentation (e.g., Git).

•       Strong attention to access, privacy and security issues.

•       Commitment to working with diverse communities.

•       Willingness to participate in an open-source community.

Compensation/Benefits: 

Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.  Washington State University has comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, life, and long-term disability insurance, in addition to excellent retirement programs and a generous leave program. 

Work Location: Pullman, Washington
Salary: Competitive and commensurate with qualifications  
Position Details: Librarian 2, full-time, 12-month, permanent, tenure-track
Applications must be received by the closing date:  March 29, 2020
Online applications are required and will include curriculum vitae, cover letter, contact information for three references.  To apply: https://www.wsujobs.com/postings/50698

Questions may be sent to the search committee via Bonny Boyan, boyan@wsu.edu, 509-335-1535.