Digital Asset Manager

Description

The Digital Asset Manager will join the Obama Foundation in selecting and implementing an enterprise digital asset management system (DAMS) that will serve the diverse day-to-day needs of its staff and partners, as well as support digital assets related to Museum collections and the future Obama Presidential Center’s digital experiences. Through the creation and documentation of metadata standards, workflows to catalog, ingest, and approve assets, as well as training procedures, the Digital Asset Manager will help to centralize Obama Foundation digital assets, ensure they are appropriately described, and prepare appropriate assets to be available to staff, partners, and eventually to the public.

Outcomes

The Digital Asset Manager will be responsible for achieving the following outcomes:

• Within 60 days of hiring, the Digital Asset Manager understands the universe of digital assets currently held by or expected to be acquired by the Obama Foundation.
• Within 90 days, a digital asset management system to support cross-Foundation needs is selected, following the initiation of an RFP process that is expected to begin prior to the Digital Asset Manager’s start date.
• Within four months, a prioritized plan of work for ingesting and cataloging existing Foundation assets has been drafted.
• Within five months and with the support of a third-party metadata consultant, a draft metadata schema that supports museum, collection, marketing, program, and archival needs has been developed for cross-Foundation digital asset management.
• Within six months, an initial set of cataloging and approval workflows is developed.
• Within seven months, an initial DAMS metadata schema for the Obama Foundation is agreed upon and can begin to be implemented.
• Within nine months of hiring, the selected digital asset management system is configured for preliminary implementation and rolled out for Beta testing with a selected group of internal stakeholders.
• Following Beta testing of the digital asset management system, policies and guidelines for usage are developed and a plan for onboarding relevant Foundation staff members in use of the system exists.

Responsibilities

In addition to the outcomes listed above, we imagine that the Digital Asset Manager will also spend their time in the following ways:

System Procurement and Implementation:

• Participates in the selection process for the Obama Foundation’s first digital asset management system (DAMS) and leads the subsequent implementation process.
• Prioritizes and catalogs digital assets for an initial bulk upload of digital assets. Coordinates migration of existing assets in custom database to new DAMS.
• Considers roles and permissions needs during implementation based on understanding of future usage.
• Works with Foundation developers and technical staff to integrate DAMS with other Foundation systems, starting with collection information management system (CIMS).

DAM Strategy:

• Supports the development and implementation of and ongoing changes to Foundation-wide metadata standards.
• Develops cataloging processes and other relevant workflows for ingesting, describing, managing, and approving the use of digital assets.
• Ensures digital assets contain appropriate descriptive metadata, rights information, and credit information. Works to make sure digital assets can be distributed to and accessed by the general public to the greatest extent possible.
• Acts as an internal expert on Foundation-held digital assets and rights to use those assets.
• Coordinates with Legal team and other staff on policies related to image rights, licensing, and usage.
• Stays up to date on developments in the fields of digital asset management and preservation, including fair use and copyright.

System Management and Maintenance:

• Serves as system administrator for DAMS once deployed, including managing user accounts, permissions, and security settings. Administers authority control, including ongoing development/management of local authorities across systems in collaboration with the Museum team.
• Performs ongoing quality control checks for assets and data added by other Foundation staff, volunteers, interns, and/or vendors.
• Works with Foundation staff across departments to create a strategy and process for distributed additions of assets and metadata. Develops guidelines, materials, and trainings to promote the use of the DAMS by Foundation staff, helping to distribute cataloging responsibilities and allowing staff to self-serve to the greatest extent possible while maintaining quality control.
• Maintains prioritized list of system issues or needs. Communicates with selected DAMS vendor regarding performance issues, technical support, ongoing customizations and updates, and any contract maintenance.
• Coordinates with Foundation developers and technical staff to maintain integration with CIMS and to-be-developed integrations between DAMS and other systems.