A truly unique opportunity awaits the prospective candidate of Processing Archivist who will organize and describe the Bob Guccione Collection, a privately owned collection which highlights the legacy and cultural impact of Bob Guccione, creator of Penthouse and Omni Magazines. This is a two year, full time position located in Manhattan at Creatd. The Processing Archivist will report to Creatd staff for day to day business needs but report to two professional, offsite Archivists regarding all archival processes including processing, digitizing and digital asset management activities related to the collection.  The Guccione collection comprises 35mm slides, prints, negatives, original drawings and illustrations, digitized content (i.e. films), correspondence, and office files. 

The Processing Archivist will balance archival best practices with the needs of the collection under private ownership. The Processing Archivist is responsible for the processing, care and documentation of the Guccione collection in all formats, including the physical and intellectual organization of analog and digital holdings, as well as the proper storage and retrieval of holdings. This position will identify physical items requiring additional scope and expertise (e.g. subject knowledge) which will require a solid grounding in the best practices of processing archival collections in print/tangible, born-digital, and web-based formats and proclivity for improving access to and use of this distinctive collection. 

What you'll do

• Preprocessing activities: research, study, and analyze the component parts of the Guccione collection in order to create a detailed collection guide using DACS descriptive standards. 

• Process and catalog the Guccione Collection.

  • Arrange the collection for physical and intellectual control - conduct item and folder level reviews, as appropriate.

  • Document and describe collection content in a variety of formats including but not limited to DVDs, analog video, digital audio/video recordings, artwork, 35mm slides.

  • Rehouse all formats in the collection for long term preservation and protection.

• Select content for digitization and ingest into new DAM System, Starchive.

• Design and create metadata and tagging standards for digital and digitized collection content for the digital asset management system.

• Ingest digital and digitized content into the DAM  applying both controlled vocabulary terms (LCSH, LCNAF, LCGFT, AAT) and/or local vocabulary. 

• Ensure and implement best practices and provide quality control for all metadata, tagging, and file-naming to ensure accuracy and consistency.

• Propose policies and procedures for and retrieval of collection content.

• Collaborate on making recommendations for access and use by future researchers.

What you'll need

• Master’s degree in Library & Information Science with a concentration in archives from an ALA accredited institution.  

• Minimum of two years of experience processing archival and digital materials and experience in archival appraisal and preservation of a variety of historical materials. 

• Understanding and knowledge of 20th century American culture.

• Demonstrated understanding and knowledge of 20th century photography and film processes.

• Intellectual curiosity, willingness and ability to research and view nude photographs and sensitive graphic and written material on a day to day basis.

• Experience working with and processing various physical formats including paper, sound recordings, video materials, and photographs. 

• Demonstrated experience with a digital repository or digital asset management system.

• Demonstrated understanding of the uses of technology to enhance the reach and impact of archives and special collections.

• Experience in the use, maintenance, and support of analog archival collections being described in content or digital asset management systems. 

  • Experience implementing a variety of controlled vocabularies and data value standards such as but not limited to AAT, LCSH, LCNAF, CDWA, VRACore, DC and and a variety of metadata schemas.

• Experience and knowledge of handling culturally sensitive and/or confidential records.

• Knowledge of basic preservation and conservation issues as they relate to archival and art collections.

• Knowledge of rights and management issues for archival collections.

• Demonstrated organizational, analytical, and independent problem-solving skills, with the ability to process a large quantity of work while maintaining a consistently high degree of accuracy.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills, problem-solving skills and strong interpersonal skills.

• Ability to initiate, prioritize and self-direct work to meet deadlines with a team as well as independently.

• Evidence of commitment to fostering an inclusive environment and a collaborative and collegial outlook and spirit.