Digital Archivist, Visiting Assistant Professor

Description

Full job posting: https://www.siue.edu/employment/library/FY23-081.shtml

Library & Information Services (LIS) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) seeks a Visiting Assistant Professor, Digital Archivist (three-year appointment) with knowledge and experience in acquiring, preserving, and providing public access to born-digital and digitized archival and unique collections holdings.

The Digital Archivist will have primary responsibility for identifying, accessioning, processing, describing, and making discoverable the university’s born-digital, digitized, and digitally-reformatted archival resources. Working in collaboration with faculty and staff in the University Archives & Unique Collections (UAUC) unit, across LIS, and throughout the university, the Digital Archivist will provide expertise for the initiation, implementation, and assessment of policies, systems, and processes for the long-term preservation of born-digital and digitally-reformatted university records, publications, manuscripts and rare books. This position will participate in collaborative
initiatives to facilitate high-impact teaching practices across the curriculum by integrating LIS and its rich archival and unique collections into a variety of academic courses and programs.

SIUE has a robust cross-disciplinary and collaborative digital humanities community. LIS UAUC has extensive manuscript holdings, among them are the John Francis McDermott Collection (Illinois Country and French Louisiana), the Harold Gibbons Collection (organized labor), the Hap Meyer Collection (American soccer), the Etienne Cabet Collection (Icarian utopian community), the Noverr Collection (Walt Whitman journalism), the Eugene B. Redmond Collection (Black Arts movement), and rich holdings in music (for example, Ruth Slenczynska Collection).

Responsibilities:
Working cooperatively with colleagues in the University Archives & Unique Collections (UAUC) unit and under the direction of the Dean of LIS, the Digital Archivist will:
•Identify, accession, process, describe, and make accessible university born-digital and digitally-reformatted content of enduring legal, historical, evidential, administrative, or research value;
•Initiate, implement, and assess policies, systems, and processes for the long-term preservation of born-digital and digitally-reformatted university records, publications, manuscripts, and rare books;
•Develop internal workflows and policies, maintain documentation, and ensure adherence to national standards and best practices for digital preservation and digital archives;
•Inventory all LIS’ digital collections, digital asset storage, and develop a prioritized plan for managing and making them accessible;
•Consult physical archival collections, assessing intellectual and artifactual value, to determine audience, scope, and unmet research need when planning new digital projects;

Minimum Qualifications
Education:
•Master’s degree in Library Science or Information Science from an ALA-accredited institution, or;
•Equivalent combination of a relevant advanced degree and library or digital archives/humanities experience, or;
•Nearing completion of a Master’s degree in Library Science or Information Science with experience prior to the date of employment.
•Commitment to and support for a culture of equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility.
•Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, both oral and written.

Preferred Qualifications
•Demonstrated knowledge of and experience in archival theory and practice.
•Demonstrated knowledge of and experience with implementation and use of digital tools, methods, and approaches used in digital preservation and curation.
•Experience in an archival repository at an academic institution.
•Experience with relevant software, such as BitCurator, ContentDM, Rosetta, Preservica, Archive-It, Archivematica, or ArchivesSpace.
•Progress towards Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) Certificate from Society of American
Archivists.