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Digital Preservation Librarian
Position #234
Information Development and Management
USC Libraries
University of Southern California
POSITION SUMMARY
The University of Southern California (USC) is seeking a digital
preservation professional to join its digital library team, known
internally as Archiving, Imaging and Metadata Services. The Digital
Preservation Librarian coordinates the development and implementation of
preservation policy for the University of Southern California’s digital
collections and serves as a liaison to the USC community for digital
preservation projects and initiatives. This is an evolving position
intended to develop a framework to establishment a cohesive digital
preservation program at USC. This framework will include; 1) an
effective and achievable strategy to ensure the long-term viability of
university digital assets regardless of format; 2) development of a
collection strategy for all relevant campus assets. The Digital
Preservation Librarian will shape USC’s role in the digital library
environment assuming a larger preservation community and a distributed
and cooperative worldview. The position has primary reporting
responsibility in Archiving, Imaging and Metadata Services (AIMS) to the
Associate Executive Director, Information Development and Management and
a secondary reporting line to the Director of Special Libraries and
Archival Collections.
THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Founded in 1879, USC is an international center of learning, enrolling
more than 30,000 FTE undergraduate, graduate, and professional students
on the University Park and the Health Sciences campuses and offering
degrees through its College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Graduate
School, and 16 professional schools. It ranks in the top 10 among
private research universities in the United States in federally funded
research and in voluntary support. USC is one of only four private
research universities in the western United States elected to membership
in the Association of American Universities, a group that represents the
top one percent of the nation's accredited universities and which
accounts for nearly two-thirds of all federally sponsored research.
This is an exciting time to come to the university. USC recently
completed the “Building on Excellence” campaign, the most successful
fundraising effort in the history of higher education in the United
States. The campaign totaled in excess of $2.85 billion, leading to 125
new endowed chairs and professorships and 25 new and expanded research
institutes or centers, many in engineering and the sciences. Several
other new initiatives serve to enhance USC's academic and research
mission. The College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences is hiring 100 new
senior faculty members — outstanding professors from around the world —
that will boost the college's faculty by 25%. In addition, the Provost
has instigated a $100 million campaign to support and improve graduate
education at USC.
The university's strategic plan, “USC's Plan for Increasing Academic
Excellence: Building Strategic Capabilities for the University of the
21st Century,” calls for “Promoting Learner-Centered Education.” To
become more learner-centered, USC must “create educational structures
and methods that better fulfill student needs,” and “harness technology
for more responsiveness and flexibility in education.” The USC Libraries
administration views the expansion and organization of online physical
science and engineering information resources as an important goal that
will substantially further learner-centered education at USC. For more
on USC's new strategic plan, see:
http://www.usc.edu/admin/provost/strategicplan/.
USC LIBRARIES
USC’s digital library collection highlights include the Shoah Foundation
Visual History Archive (VHA), the California Historical Society, Korean
American Archives and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern
California. The archive holds 193,252 records and 223,487 content files
of varying formats. The Shoah Foundation VHA contains 48,700 indexed and
cataloged testimonies of the collection of 51,000 digitized testimonies.
In addition to its digital collections the USC Libraries currently hold
nearly 4 million printed volumes, 6 million items in microform, and 3
million photographs and subscribe to more than 30,000 current serial
titles.
USC is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for
Research Libraries, the Research Libraries Group, the Digital Library
Federation, the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium, the
Greater Western Library Alliance and the Pacific Rim Digital Library
Alliance. Additional information about the University of Southern
California and the USC Libraries can be obtained at http://www.usc.edu/
and at http://www.usc.edu/libraries/.
Archiving, Imaging and Metdata Services
The USC Libraries has created a technical resource group called
Archiving, Imaging and Metadata Services (AIMS). Comprised of staff
formerly a part of the Information Services Division, it is new yet it
offers years of experience in planning and completing archival projects
and software solutions for the USC Libraries. These services are
available University-wide and can directly help with the planning and
execution of nearly any archival or content management project.
Archiving, Imaging and Metadata Services is at the forefront of
"Institutional Readiness"—USC’s commitment to provide long-term access
to digital content. As a mature IT group on campus, this group has the
skill set and track record to provide faculty with credible support when
funding agencies look for assurances that research will be disseminated
in the present and preserved for the future.
Special Libraries and Archival Collections
Based in Doheny Memorial Library, the Specialized Libraries and Archival
Collections Center provides access to and preserves archival, historic,
and primary source materials in the Center's main areas of strength: Los
Angeles regional history; American literature; Lion Feuchtwanger and the
German emigre experience; natural history; and USC history and the
university's intellectual life. Additionally, the East Asian Library and
Boeckmann Center collect research materials and provide reference
assistance to support the academic needs of USC students and faculty in
the areas of East Asian, and Iberian, Latin American (with strengths in
Mexico, Central America, and Cuba), and U.S. Hispanics studies. The
Shoah Foundation Archive consists of eye-witness accounts of the
Holocaust and contains discussion of a huge variety of historical,
cultural, religious, genealogical, and other information relating to
many countries in the periods before, during, and after World War II.
The diverse array of disciplines encompassed within the Specialized
Libraries and Archival Collections Center encourages and promotes
interdisciplinary research.
Reporting to the Associate Executive Director, Information Development
and Management of the USC Libraries, the Digital Preservation Librarian
will:
* Coordinate and participate in the development of standard
preservation metadata to identify the minimal set of preservation
metadata elements.
* Identify endangered digital materials and prioritize these for
preservation.
* Develop an overall migration strategy to ensure that material in
standard and non-standard or obsolete digital formats will be
reformatted and/or refreshed regularly.
* Identify areas where digital preservation policies and procedures
need to be established or refined.
* Working with library personnel, establish policies and procedures
related to digital preservation of USC Libraries’ collections.
* Working with library personnel, establish policies and procedures
to ensure long-term access to publisher and other digital
collections outside the university.
* Advise departments and faculty across the campus on digital
preservation issues
* Coordinate with the Director of Specialized Libraries and Archival
Collections on the development of the Digital Archive of primary
source collections
Required Qualifications Include:
* MLS from an ALA accredited library and information studies program
or equivalent education and experience.
* An in depth knowledge and understanding of file formats, file
format conversion techniques and techniques for content
non-repudiation.
* An energetic person with the ability to clearly and confidently
communicate about digital preservation issues for both technical
and non-technical audiences.
* Demonstrated experience with one or more of the following metadata
standards: Dublin Core, METS/MODS, OpenURL, OAI-PMH, EAD, XML, etc.
* Demonstrated experience with creation and/or management of digital
objects in one or more of the following formats: text, image,
sound, software, multimedia, and/or video.
* General knowledge of how digital library collections and
electronic objects are used in an academic setting.
* Demonstrated understanding of digital preservation.
* Substantive experience with digital preservation practices.
* General knowledge of one or more digital asset management systems,
such as D-Space, CONTENTdm, etc.
* Proven track record of managing projects and accomplishing goals.
Preferred Qualifications Include:
* Demonstrated experience working in teams with librarians and other
information technology professionals.
* Working knowledge of intellectual property and licensing issues as
related to electronic resources and digital archives.
* Solid understanding of non-digital media formats (film, tape, etc).
* Participation in national and international preservation standards
organizations (ERPAN, PADI, NISO, AMIA)
APPOINTMENT RANK/SALARY
Librarian II (Contract) or Librarian III (Contract); appointment rank
and salary commensurate with experience and qualifications. Hiring range
starts at $50,000.
Contract librarians at USC have faculty status, and, as such, are full,
voting members of the library faculty. Appointment to the renewable
Contract Status track requires the potential to demonstrate excellence
in librarianship and effectiveness in meeting contract standards and
provisions.
BENEFITS
The position is full-time on a 12-month contract. Benefits include a
choice of university sponsored retirement programs, 22 paid vacation
days per year, a choice of medical and dental plans, and tuition
assistance.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Applications must be submitted via electronic mail. Candidates should
submit a letter of application, full resume (including telephone and
e-mail address), and the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail
addresses of six references to:
Nannette Edelman
[log in to unmask]
Subject: Search Committee #234
USC Libraries
University of Southern California
Closing date for applications: October 2, 2006
For more information about this position, contact Deborah Holmes Wong,
Chair of the Search Committee, at < [log in to unmask]
<mailto:[log in to unmask]> >
The University of Southern California values diversity and is committed
to equal opportunity in employment.
USC is an EO/AA employer.
Updated 10/2/06
