Collections Information Manager

Description

Schedule: Full Time, 35 hours/week, approximately 3 days working onsite

Reporting to the Director of Archives and Art Resources, the Collections Information Manager manages all aspects of the Museum’s collections management system (CMS) so that the system is cohesively integrated into activities and workflows aligned with the museum’s strategic priorities and goals of the Archives and Art Resources (AAR) department and Collections, Exhibitions and Design (CED) division. The Collections Information Manager oversees the day-to-day administration, maintenance, and use of the collections management system and its integrations with related systems such as our Digital Asset Management System. They train, support, and supervise the collections information team. The Collections Information Manager has primary responsibility for configuration and field structure of the museum’s instance of the software and works collaboratively with stakeholders to identify unmet needs and manage implementation of system improvements. The Collections Information Manager acts as the direct manager to the Collections Information User Support Specialist.

In partnership with internal stakeholders, the manager develops and supports sustainable practices to ensure the CMS is the centralized system of record for data related to the museum’s collections and related museum programs, in ways that reflect extensive, in-depth knowledge and understanding of advanced information management, preservation, and access principles and best practices in museums. Working collaboratively with colleagues across CED, Curatorial, Information Technology, Marketing + Communications, Education and Community Engagement, and Visitor Experience, the Collections Information Manager is key in realizing museum-wide use, continued development, and stewardship of the CMS and its contents for collections stewardship, collections access, collections documentation, and dynamic public programming.

Responsibilities & Duties

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  • Team Leadership
  • Encourages and contributes to an inclusive, rewarding, and inspiring workplace, where innovation, discovery, and constant learning cultivate a deep sense of belonging and shared responsibility within the collections information team and larger AAR team.     
  • Builds and fosters a culture of safety, inclusivity, and equity , and supports the personal and professional growth of individuals.     
  • Works in a healthy and flexible management style that understands and adjusts to staff needs and supports strategic pursuits and sustainable workloads.    
  • Nurtures collaboration and partnership across teams with fluid communication and respect for diverse expertise that are essential to an art museum.     
  • Supports effective and efficient communication and workflows, prioritizes activities, and ensures that the collections information team has the resources they need to do their jobs.     
  • Models empathy and understanding, communicates clearly, and can explain the benefits of changing practices and behaviors to meet the needs of colleagues, teams, and projects.     
  • Demonstrates a commitment to the museum’s strategic focus of making programming that engages visitors and inspires individuals to return and recommend the museum to their family and friends.  
  • Supports the museum’s strategic focus with processes and guardrails to ensure we move towards the same goals and pivot away from activities that do not support the strategy.      
  • Works collaboratively with managers and colleagues across the museum to ensure that the department’s operations around collections information management align with internal and external needs and expectations.    
  • Represents the museum through conference presentations, guest lecturing, committee work, mentoring, and publications.   
  • Information Management Leadership
  • Owns sustainable policies, procedures, and workflows for contributing, accessing, and using information via the CMS, in ways that reflect extensive, in-depth knowledge and understanding of information management and data architecture principles and best practices. 
  • Oversees workflows related to delivering data to internal and external downstream applications like websites, apps, and digital repositories.  
  • Contributes leadership and creativity in developing and supporting projects that use data related to artworks, artists, and museum programs such as accessions, deaccessions, exhibitions, loans, and archives.    
  • Assists in tracking data on collections information-related projects and finds creative ways to share and apply the information for decision-making.    
  • Participates in long range planning as it relates to the creation, management, and use of information, documentation, and digital assets. 
  • Works with Director of AAR and administrators of integrated applications to help continue growth of products and services related to data. 
  • CMS Administration
  • Provides day-to-day and long-range administrative oversight of the CMS.  
  • Troubleshoots issues related to errors and other issues with the database and integrated applications, and works with IT to address underlying aspects related to operating systems and hardware. 
  • Collaborates with content owners for standardization of field usage, preferred terminology, and vocabulary authority controls. 
  • Produces and distributes regular reports on actions and activities related to the system. 
  • Applies project management methodologies for the CMS and related projects.   
  • Serves as primary liaison to CMS vendor for user concerns; escalates support requests as needed, reports bugs, and submits feature requests. 
  • In close partnership with Information Technology, plans system customizations, upgrades, integrations, testing, and maintenance. 
  • Supports data mapping and integrations between the CMS and other platforms and content management systems, such as the Digital Asset Management System (NetX) 
  • Writes SQL scripts as needed for data management and assisting users with complex queries. 
  • Develops detailed plans for feature enhancements and architectural changes based on information provided by the Collections Information User Support Specialist and otherwise gathered from users about their needs. 
  • Plans and manages large scale data clean-up projects to improve data integrity, quality assurance, and normalization. 
  • Administration
  • Supervises, establishes priorities, trains, and mentors collections information staff, interns, and volunteers.  
  • With Director of AAR, ensures that collections information staff have the support needed to prioritize and complete assigned projects.  
  • Oversees collections information projects and provides the Director of AAR and stakeholders with updates on the progress and impact of high-profile projects.  
  • Reviews and aligns in-house system documentation and user’s guides with current data policies and procedures. 

Qualifications & Skills

• • Degree in Information Studies, Museum Studies, Art, or a related field.  MLIS or MA preferred. 
  • Minimum five (5) years of experience with collection management systems in an administrative capacity.  
  • Strong relational database skills. 
  • Strong SQL skills. 
  • Minimum one (1) year of supervisory experience.   
  • Experience with digital asset management systems.     
  • Expertise with data standards and knowledge of published vocabularies, standards, linked data tools, taxonomy management tools, and inclusive practices. 
  • Experience with digital project and program management. 
  • Experience with needs analysis, user support, training and adoption. 
  • Excellent organizational, analytical, and problem-solving skills.  
  • Excellent technical and interpersonal skills. 
  • Excellent organizational and follow-through skills. 
  • Excellent communication skills, including writing procedures and documentation. 
  • Solid analytic skills to improve processes. 
  • Demonstrated commitment to principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, accessibility, and sustainability in the arts sector. 
  • Ability to work effectively under pressure, with challenging and often simultaneous deadlines.  
  • Detail-oriented and accustomed to using various tools to track and report projects' status. 
  • Supervisory skills that support, lead, and motivate individuals.   
  • High levels of initiative, innovation, creativity, and leadership skills.   
  • Knowledge of modern and contemporary art and museum purposes, organization, and programs. 
  • Knowledge of collections and exhibitions management methods and conservation practices. 
  • Proficiency with Microsoft applications (Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), Airtable and Asana or other project management software platforms.   

$74,469 - $90,125 a year

Job posting open date: 4/24/24

Tentative start date: August 2024