Digital Projects Specialist

Description

Digital Projects Specialist
Full-Time

The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon is hiring a Digital Projects Specialist, a new position that will add to the team in its growing Center for Digital History (CDH).

Reporting to the manager of the Center for Digital History, the Digital Projects Specialist will collaborate with the CDH manager, Digital Projects Editor, Technical Services Librarian, and other Mount Vernon staff in the creation and maintenance of data-driven digital humanities projects which seek to promote and preserve knowledge of George Washington’s life and times.

This position will be devoted to working on compelling new projects that the CDH is building. Of primary importance is ARGO: American Revolutionary Geographies Online, an NHPRC-funded multi-institutional historic maps platform spearheaded by the Washington Library and the Norman B Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library. In particular, this position will be responsible for managing the metadata cleanup and ingest of record sets from partner institutions into the ARGO platform, as well as working with ARGO’s custom metadata layers. In this role, the Digital Projects Specialist will collaborate with Leventhal Center staff and have the opportunity to shape and maintain a dynamic cross-institutional partnership.

This position will also collaborate with and provide technical support for other Mount Vernon/CDH data-driven projects, such as the Database of the Enslaved Community at Mount Vernon and the forthcoming George Washington’s Networks project.

Experience with the creation of metadata, and the best practices surrounding such work, is essential. The successful applicant will have a passion for the creation of data that is useful for scholars and researchers.

Requirements:

• ALA-accredited MLIS degree or a graduate degree in a related field with experience in digital scholarship and methods
• Demonstrated self-directed learner with the ability to work both independently and collaboratively
• Aptitude for technology and a willingness to learn new systems, software, and data manipulation tools.
• Familiarity with digital library cataloging and metadata standards and best practices
• Experience working with and creating, editing, and transforming structured datasets in formats such as CSV, JSON, and XML

Preferred:

• Experience with Drupal
• Experience with creating, editing, and transforming metadata in a library environment using tools such as Oxygen, OpenRefine, XSLT, etc.
• Knowledge of linked data principles
• Demonstrated experience with digital humanities tools and techniques for building data visualizations, such as text mining, image analysis, mapping, network analysis, and/or dataset curation
• Working knowledge of coding languages for data manipulation (for instance, Python, R, regular expressions, etc.)
• Experience with eighteenth and nineteenth-century documents and the ability to read and transcribe material
• Interest in and enthusiasm for history; specific interest in Early American history a plus

This is an entry-level to early career, full-time position with a grant-funded salary of $62,500 annually plus benefits. The grant will end in two years. There is a possibility for new funding to sustain the position.

Benefits:

• Retirement plan with employer matching
• Meals and merchandise discounts
• Free parking
• Employee recognition at 5 years of service
• Annual employee events
• On-site gym
• Health and dental insurance
• Life and disability insurance
• Paid leave
• Flexible spending account for medical care

Complete applications will include a CV, cover letter, and contact information for three professional references. Review of applications will begin the week of September 11.

Mount Vernon is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we are committed to building and retaining a team that represents a variety of skills, experiences and perspectives.  All employment decisions are based on business needs, job requirements, performance, and qualifications without regard to race, religion or belief, national or ethnic origin, gender/sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital or domestic partnership status, veteran and military status, family or parental status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law. Mount Vernon will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.