Metadata Analyst (Branner Earth Sciences Library)

Description

Metadata Analyst, Branner Earth Sciences Library

Summary: SULAIR is looking for a Metadata Analyst to help curate datasets from selected domains, with a primary focus on describing these information resources to enable management, preservation, discovery and re-use. The goal of this hands-on position is to advance SULAIR’s capacity and the Stanford response to the NSF Data Management Plan mandate by developing strategies through practice to curate data efficiently and effectively. The candidate will, over the course of a 2-year term project, work across the Digital Library Systems and Services group, other staff in the Metadata Unit, and user-facing library personnel to create and sustain a general workflow for submission of science and engineering data into the Stanford Digital Repository. Working with pilot data sets and use cases from GIS and other domains, the selected candidate will help produce and enter the metadata necessary to populate the repository and access sytems. In doing so, s/he will also produce a landscape view of the metadata needs, roles, tools, standards and processes necessary to provide and scale data services throughout the Stanford University Libraries. Standard operating procedures and best practices for dealing with non-MARC metadata in the context of scientific data are ideal outcomes. The position will be supervised by the Science Data Librarian.

Throughout the life of the project there will be opportunity for interesting sub-projects that will include: creating, remediating and working on ingest models for the Stanford Geoportal, an online search engine for geospatial data, and its supporting Spatial Data Infrastructure; working with Stanford faculty and researchers to acquire, transform and ingest the metadata for their data into the Stanford Digital Repository; working with other metadata experts on in-depth examination of data-set- and domain-specific schema, mappings and crosswalking amongst standards; and data transformations across library systems. For each of these, the Metadata Analyst will apply expertise, methods and tools to digital materials deposited by Stanford researchers into the Stanford Digital Repository. S/he will also help identify requirements and specifications for, and validate development of, a next generation metadata toolkit for the description of data sets and geospatial resources. S/he will also assist in specifying the fields and attributes for domain-specific forms for the deposit of digital resources into a Hydra-based Stanford Digital Repository user interface. Projects will be decided based on faculty interest, subject specialist availability, the interests and skillset of the applicant, and needs as they emerge.

Responsibilities/Tasks:
• Develop processes and corresponding documentation for migrating metadata into information and asset storage systems.
• Work in conjunction with Science Data Librarian and subject specialists to develop relevant domain metadata templates.
• Work as part of the team to develop and deploy the Stanford Geoportal and Spatial Data Infrastructure, leading the effort to populate the database with compliant metadata.
• Work with Subject Specialist librarians and scientists to both communicate and gather requirements for metadata standardization.
• Understand the landscape of current metadata practices, for example the range of formats for existing metadata and software packages in use.
• In conjunction with Science Data Librarian, document workflows for identification, acquisition, description, preservation, and access of science and engineering data.
• Analyze and crosswalk project- and domain-specific metadata schema to structures and standards used within SULAIR's digital library.
• Parse, manipulate, clean and transform existing metadata from data providers, data depositors, and research labs into standardized form.
• Load metadata into the appropriate -test and -production environments.
• Document requirements and assist in specifying fields and behaviors for metadata entry, mapping and manipulation in the Metadata Toolkit and the SULAIR catalog.
• Participate in the cross-functional development team for a Hydra-head focused on research data deposit, management and reuse.

Required Qualifications:
• MLIS or a Bachelor’s Degree and equivalent experience
• Experience in data management and stewardship
• Excellent oral and written communications
• Demonstrated ability to work with people across organizational boundaries and from many different backgrounds, including science, technology and librarianship
• Experience with geospatial metadata and FGDC standards
• Experience with non-MARC metadata structures and creation (MODS, FGDC, etc)
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail
• Evidence of ability to create innovative solutions to novel problems
• Expertise and facility with XML
• Experience with transforming metadata through XSLT or scripting, or a proven ability to learn this quickly

Desired Qualifications:
• Degree in a scientific field
• Awareness of digital preservation issues, concepts, and practices
• Expertise with creating metadata in compliance with at least one non-MARC standard (DIF, MODS, FGDC, etc)
• Experience with metadata transformations and crosswalking tools (XSLT)
• Expertise with relational databases and SQL queries, in order to be directly involved with normalization and clean-up projects.

Level:
100% time
4P2
2-year term

To apply for the position, please go to jobs.stanford.edu and search for Job ID 46849.