Associate Director, Archives and Special Collections

 

Job Summary:

Under the direction of the Director of Archives and Special Collections and serving within the Barnard Library and Academic Information Services (BLAIS) department, the Associate Director of Archives & Special Collections has primary responsibility for outreach, communications, exhibitions, public services, and instruction for the archives. Working with archives staff, librarians, circulations and operations staff, academic technologists, staff of the Centers, and faculty, they bring archives and primary source instruction to the curriculum and to broader audiences. They also take the lead on reference management and researcher support. The Associate Director additionally collaborates with archives staff on other archives functions: implementing and maintaining digital collections and digital preservation infrastructure; digitization and metadata work; supervising undergraduate and graduate student staff; and, along with the Records Coordination and Processing Archivist, accessioning and processing collections in all formats.

Job Description:

Duties & Responsibilities:

• Leads public-facing services for the archives, including outreach, communications, exhibits, and programming. Manages archives social media, newsletter, and other communication channels. Conceives of and executes exhibits and programs to broadly share archives collections and resources.

• Collaborates with Director, librarians, faculty, and other staff on archival instruction and consultation for undergraduate students, including conducting instruction and lesson planning. Acts as an advocate for primary source and archival instruction across the Barnard curriculum, liaising to faculty, staff, and chairs. Builds relationships with individual students, student groups, and external partners and executes non-curricular archival workshops and instruction. Collaborates with Records Coordination and Processing Archivist on instruction about record keeping and personal digital archiving with campus records creators.

• Manages reference program, ensuring accessibility of collections and implementing efficient workflows for archives staff. Performs remote reference and in-person researcher support, and supervises undergraduate student staff engaged in reference work.

• Contributes to goals for digital access to collections (informed by reference and instruction work), digitization and metadata projects, and with the Director pursues collaborative digital projects and funding to support access. 

• With Director and IMATS staff, assesses and improves the usability and accessibility of digital platforms for discovery of archival collections (currently ArchivesSpace) and of digital archival materials (currently Archipelago). Contributes to maintenance and creation of infrastructure for digital preservation. 

• With the Director, co-administers annual budget for the Archives and Special Collections.

• With the Director, supervises and hires undergraduate student and graduate student staff.

• With the Records Coordination and Processing Archivist, accessions and processes archival collections in all formats, with a particular focus on iterative and reparative processing, using data gleaned from reference, instruction, and outreach to inform this work. 

• Participates on BLAIS teams, committees, or working groups, as well as collaborative projects within Barnard and with consortial partners.

• Maintains knowledge of best practices in the archival and special collections field.

• May contribute to collection development, donor relations, and grant-writing or development work.

About the Barnard Archives and Special Collections:

The Barnard Archives and Special Collections contain over 450 distinct collections. We document the history of the College and collect special collections materials that relate to broader histories of feminism and advance the mission of the College by collaborating in teaching and learning. The Archives is a highly collaborative unit, with partnerships both within Barnard (with the Library and Centers as well as faculty and other staff) and external communities. The staff of the Barnard Archives commits to work that is equitable and anti-oppressive, and encourages and supports work which centers voices, knowledge, and memory-making practices historically excluded from the archival record. More about the mission of the unit can be found here (https://archives.barnard.edu/what-we-do/mission).

About BLAIS:
Barnard Library and Academic Information Services (BLAIS) develops and curates unique collections, and information resources, and provides information and media services that support the Barnard faculty and community, and establish a foundation for intellectual inquiry, ethical scholarship, and lifelong learning among Barnard students. The Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning, opened in the Fall of 2018 and incorporates 6 new centers into the library, including the Empirical Reasoning Center, Design Center, Digital Humanities Center, Media Center, Movement Lab and Computational Science Center. BLAIS is committed to the College’s work in all its many facets of student and faculty support.

Skills, Qualifications & Requirements:

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities:

• Demonstrated enthusiasm and strategies for making archives research and archives work more broadly accessible through outreach, communications, and programming. 

• Experience with archival or library instruction, or other teaching experience.

• Experience performing archival reference and ability to work with a diverse range of students and other scholars.

• Evidence of effective oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills.

• Expertise in archival processing and descriptive practices. Experience with archival management software such as ArchivesSpace, digital collections software such as Archipelago, and other archival software/platforms highly desirable.

• Familiarity with current practices related to accessibility of online and in-person spaces and usability principles. 

• Familiarity with digitization, metadata, and digital preservation.

• Flexibility and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively. 

• Demonstrated critical analysis of archives or the archives profession (e.g. bringing a critical race, feminist, disability justice, and/or queer theoretical lens to archival work).

Qualifications:

• Master's degree from a Library Science/Archives/Information Science or related program.  

• Five to seven years’ experience with archival or related work, including experience with instruction, reference, programming, and/or outreach.

 Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience executing programming and exhibits in an archival, library, or related context.

• Experience managing a reference program or public services in an archival context.

• Understanding of usability principles and assessment.

• Experience processing collections in all formats; particularly reparative and iterative processing.

• Experience with providing access to born-digital materials; understanding of born-digital archival processing and access.

• Experience in leading projects and delegating work.

• Supervisory experience.

In order to apply for this position, please submit a resume and cover letter. Priority will be given to applications received by September 5th.

 

Salary Range: $84,000 - $89,000 annually

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to departmental budgets, qualifications, experience, education, licenses, specialty, and training. The above hiring range represents the College's good faith and reasonable estimate of the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

 

Apply online here