Job Summary 

Founded in 1925 and named a National Historic Landmark in 2017, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture is one of the world’s leading cultural institutions devoted to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of materials focused on African American, African, and African Diaspora experiences, featuring diverse programming and a collection of over 11 million items that illuminates the richness of global Black history and culture. A research library of The New York Public Library and seeded by the collection of Arturo Alfonso Schomburg 95 years ago, the Schomburg Center provides free access to materials documenting Black life locally, nationally, and internationally.

The Photographs and Prints Division enables researchers to work directly with original, rare, and unique visual source materials. Beginning with images collected by Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, the collection has grown through the years to include more than 500,000 items that date from the eighteenth century to the present. With all the major photographic technologies represented, the collection aims to document the history and culture of people of African descent worldwide. 

The Specialist/Librarian III will serve as a think-partner to the Curator of Photographs & Prints, providing intellectual counsel and logistical support in the daily administration of the Division, including leading public service, stewarding collection management, supporting record enhancement, and generating digitization metadata for a wide range of photographic materials, ranging from rare nineteenth century albumen prints and contemporary fine art photography to press images and personal photograph collections separated from the materials in the Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division.