Digital Production Technical Manager

Description

The Digital Library Program creates and provides access to unique digital collections to support research and teaching. The Digital Production Technical Manager supports the Program by providing leadership and oversight of the Digital Production Unit’s activities. The Manager directs and oversees the Unit’s daily operations in converting a wide range of materials to digital formats, providing thorough quality control, and ensuring that standards and best practices are followed.

The Manager is responsible for maintaining a state-of-the-art digitization facility to ensure the unit is capable of meeting current and future needs. Working closely with the Digital Projects Librarian, this position plays a key role in managing a strategically important unit’s operations at both project- and program-level, establishing and implementing procedures and workflows, while following industry standards.

Salary information: MR09

Responsibilities & Duties

Digital Production Unit Management

• Leads the Digital Production Unit daily operations by coordinating and overseeing all aspects of the digitization process, tracking, and quality control activities.
•  Works closely with the Digital Projects Librarian and coordinates with other departments to determine the most effective and efficient solutions for digitization.
• Plans, directs, and prioritizes multiple projects and tasks in order to meet the annual goals of the Digital Library Program, and other deadlines as they arise.
• Manages the storage and organization of digital content on servers prior to, and following, ingest into the digital collection.
• Oversees the handling and storage of materials being digitized – often unique, fragile primary source materials – in accordance with nationally established standards.
• Coordinates the fulfillment of image and thesis digitization requests.
• Makes recommendations for budget requests relating to equipment, software, and staffing
• Supervises and trains Student Library Assistants in digitization procedures, quality control, and metadata creation.
• Hires Student Library Assistants, sets and manages schedules, and authorizes timesheets.

Digitization & Quality Control

• Maintains, configures, and calibrates the equipment, hardware, and software used in the Digital Production Unit; troubleshoots and problem-solves to achieve the highest quality and efficiency.
• Establishes and follows digital production workflows and guidelines, and maintains shared documentation for project- and program-based work.
• Applies national standards to local digitization procedures for a variety of material types (text, image, audio, and video).
• Oversees creation of some metadata for digital collections.
• Manages quality control for material digitized in-house and from digitization vendors.
• Tracks the digitization process – including the transfer of physical items between departments – and documents progress in project management software and/or spreadsheets.
• Creates, edits, and/or runs scripts for quality control checks, and for image and text file manipulation and management.

Digital Production Development

• Maintains knowledge of developments in digitization standards and digital library practices.
• Monitors national and international trends in digital preservation policy and practices.
• Assists in creation and updating of policies, procedures, guidelines, and best practices for digital production, quality control, and project management by providing critical analysis and evaluation of the Digital Production Unit’s current practices.
• Monitors, assesses effectiveness and efficiency of digitization procedures and workflows, and recommends/implements improvements.
• Reviews and revises departmental documentation on a regular basis.
• Evaluates requirements of digitization projects and makes recommendations for appropriate methods of capture.

Planning and Collaboration                           

• Participates in Digital Library Program and project meetings.
• Contributes to program and project planning discussions.
• Compiles production data and statistics for analysis in planning process.
• Reports on the digitization program’s activities at departmental and library-wide meetings.
• Represents the library in university, state, and national forums and meetings, in person and online.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Advanced knowledge of, and demonstrated ability to operate digital imaging equipment and software.
• Demonstrated ability to apply national digitization standards and best practices.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to prioritize and monitor varied workloads, balancing urgent tasks and ongoing maintenance of the unit.
• Well-developed time management skills and the ability to meet deadlines.
• Analytical skills, with an emphasis on detail and accuracy, and the ability to find creative solutions.
• Ability to lead, train, and supervise staff and students.
• Ability to effectively communicate, both in writing and verbally.
• Ability to be self-motivated, work independently and as part of a team.
• Advanced Adobe Creative Suite skills, particularly Bridge and Photoshop, in both Windows and Mac environments.
• Knowledge of handling a variety of library materials, including unique special collections materials.
• Experience creating digital surrogates using a variety of digitization equipment and capture software.
• Experience implementing nationally recognized standards for digitization and preservation within the cultural heritage field, including thorough knowledge of file formats and color management.
• Experience handling fragile special collections materials.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Information Technology or Information Science.
• Knowledge of digital image analysis software, particularly for cultural heritage materials.
• Knowledge of digital preservation trends and best practices relating to cultural heritage collections.
• Experience with digital camera systems and capture software.
• Experience with image analysis software.
• Experience creating metadata.
• Academic/research library experience.
• Project management experience.
• Supervisory experience.

Application Procedures

A background check is required prior to hiring.  In order to be considered for candidacy, you must submit a cover letter addressing the above qualifications and a current resume.  

For assistance or questions about using the UT online application system, contact University of Tennessee Human Resources:

105 Student Services Building, Knoxville, TN 37996-0213

Office Hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

(865) 974-8847