Digital Collections Librarian

James Madison University

Libraries & Educational Technologies

James Madison University (JMU) Libraries & Educational Technologies (L&ET) seeks a dynamic, creative, and service-oriented colleague to provide leadership, vision and oversight of JMU Libraries' digital collections. The Digital Collections Librarian will work closely with colleagues across L&ET to ensure that JMU Libraries' digital collections are fully integrated into the Libraries' collections and services. This position will serve as a member of a team of librarians and staff committed to effectively managing, accessing and preserving the Libraries' expanding digital collections, including serving as point person for outreach to faculty, staff and students in the implementation of a digital repository system.

Duties and Responsibilities

 

The Digital Collections Librarian manages JMU Libraries' locally created digital materials, taking a lead role in the creation, maintenance and stewardship of digital collections, including the digitization of special collections. This position provides strategies for effective management and preservation of library digital assets, informs conversations on scholarly communications and advises students and faculty on best practices for preserving scholarship and digital projects. The Digital Collections Librarian also collaborates with other units in L&ET to plan and implement systems related to digital collections, including repositories and digital asset management systems. 

 

The successful candidate will establish priorities, manage projects, create workflows and identify digital collection development opportunities as informed by emerging trends and best practices in digital collection creation and management. Working within JMU Libraries' distributed digital collections environment, this position facilitates communication and workflows between staff across L&ET units working on digital projects and ensures internal and external stakeholders remain informed and engaged. This position is also responsible for investigating, planning and managing format conversions and migrations; promoting digital collections; seeking grant funding for digital initiatives and for modeling innovative and flexible solutions that meet the needs of JMU's communities of scholars and researchers. Responsible for a unit of 1 full-time employee and student assistants, reports to the Director of Collections.

 

General Information

James Madison University is a public, comprehensive university of approximately 20,000 students located in the scenic Shenandoah Valley, two hours southwest of Washington, DC.  The university has been ranked by U.S. News and World Report as the top-rated public regional Master’s level university for seventeen consecutive years and is consistently named one of the nation’s most wired universities.  The Princeton Review Best Value Colleges has named the university one of the nation’s 50 best value institutions for the past three years.  The university places a strong emphasis on undergraduate research and offers 34 Master’s and 7 doctoral degrees. 

 

The JMU Libraries are part of the Libraries and Educational Technologies division, which has the mission of enriching our communities by building learning and information environments where people connect with ideas and with each other to discover, create, and share knowledge.  

 

Qualifications

ALA-accredited MLS or MIS and demonstrated commitment to ongoing professional development. Experience managing digital projects. Knowledge of emerging technology trends related to digital collections. Familiarity with digital preservation practices. Able to be flexible in an environment of rapid change. Familiarity with digital collections development software. Understanding of the variety of metadata standards used in digital collections (e.g., EAD, MODS, METS, VRA Core, Dublin Core); familiarity with digital conversion technologies, digital object standards and workflows; ability to collaborate with technical staff that are doing scripting, programming and systems administration. Demonstrated ability to work effectively, cooperatively and collaboratively with a variety of individuals and groups across an organization to accomplish initiatives; demonstrated ability to plan, prioritize, coordinate and implement projects; excellent written and oral communication skills, especially for the purpose of describing technical issues, standards and procedures and comfort working in a distributed digital collections environment.

 

JMU invites candidates from diverse backgrounds who will contribute affirmatively and creatively to the university's multicultural environment. Our goal is for our employees to reflect the rich mix of backgrounds, life experiences, cultures, perspectives and world views that is found within our university community.

 

Salary and Benefits

Salary is commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits including 20 days of vacation and a choice of TIAA/CREF or other retirement plans. Review of applications will begin on May 25, 2013 and continue until the position is filled. Candidates must apply online using JMU's JobLink system. Links to JobLink and the full position description can be found on the JMU Libraries employment information page at: http://www.lib.jmu.edu/employment/