Systems Librarian

Description

The Center for Jewish History (NYC | cjh.org) is the collaborative home to five in-house Partners—American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute, Yeshiva University Museum, and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research.  When the Center opened its doors almost twenty-three years ago, it made a commitment to preserve the collections housed within its walls and make them accessible to scholars, students, and diverse audiences by implementing a unique, shared services model across all five partners.

The Center for Jewish History seeks a creative, pragmatic, and insightful individual to become our Systems Librarian. Primary responsibilities include the management of the shared integrated library system and discovery layer as well as coordinating metadata remediation projects, generating and maintaining customized reports, training staff, creating and maintaining documentation, and troubleshooting. The successful candidate can see both the forest and the trees, and will be able to balance system-wide implications with a detail-oriented focus and perspective.

The Systems Librarian will report to the Senior Manager for Metadata and Discovery. The Metadata and Discovery Services department is tasked with coordinating the interoperability and integration between Center systems that control, describe, preserve, and provide access to the rich physical and digital holdings of the five Partner institutions. The Systems Librarian will work closely with department members, as well as the Center’s Information Technology department, vendors, and stakeholders in the Center and Partner community to ensure that the physical, digital, and electronic holdings available at the Center are discoverable and accurately described.

The salary range for this position is between $62,000 and up to $70,000, based on experience.

Responsibilities:

• Oversees the maintenance of library systems, technologies, and software related to the description and discovery of the physical and digital holdings of the Partners and Center.
• Develops and refines workflows to effectively describe physical and digital holdings within Center library systems and externally in OCLC products.
• Troubleshoots application and software problems in collaboration with Center’s Information Technology department and colleagues in Metadata and Discovery Services.
• Collects statistics for systems usage to assist with future resource allocation, identifying trends in use of systems, improving the description of resources, and gap analysis.
• Utilizes and tests a variety of software tools to extract and manipulate data from various sources.
• Cooperates in the development, creation, promotion, and assessment of system-based policies and best practices.

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s in Library and Information Science from an ALA-accredited library school.
• 3-5 years experience working within Integrated Library Systems and other library systems software in a special library setting.  
• Strong background in cataloging and knowledge of descriptive standards (like MARC, AACR2, DACS, RDA, Dublin Core, and/or EAD), authorities, and tools (like OCLC Connexion, Cataloger’s Desktop, and MarcEdit).
• Commitment to programmatic and systems-based solutions for correcting and optimizing description across library systems.
• Expertise in organizing and manipulating data using spreadsheet applications, like Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or OpenRefine.
• Basic competency in UNIX, SQL queries, Python, and/or Perl.
• Ability to work both independently and in a team environment.
• Capable of fostering a collaborative environment and developing diplomatic, adaptable approaches to shared library systems.
• Comfort balancing daily and strategic, longer-term systems-based projects and priorities.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with Ex Libris library systems products, such as Aleph, Primo, or Rosetta.
• Comprehension of and comfort with descriptive metadata across library systems, including ability to crosswalk data from different formats.
• Understanding of database construction and architecture.
• Previous experience working in a multilingual environment with bibliographic knowledge in at least one of the following languages (in addition to English): Hebrew, Yiddish, German, or Russian.

Company Benefits:

• 15-21 federal and religious holidays off each year in addition to generous vacation, sick, and personal days.
• Full health benefits (medical, dental and vision) with minimal employee contributions.
• Free life insurance and long-term disability coverage.
• Flexible spending account and commuter benefits.
• Generous 403b retirement benefits.

The Center for Jewish History is committed to diversity and inclusion. Qualified individuals who bring diverse perspectives to the workplace are especially encouraged to apply.