The Digital Cicognara Library Project invites applications for a part-time Project Metadata Specialist funded by a grant from The Samuel H. Kress Foundation, sponsored by Princeton University. This remote contractor position serves a term of 60 weeks (March 2023-May 2024) with funding for 30 hours per week, with a salary of $35 per/hour without benefits.

The Digital Cicognara Library is an international initiative to recreate in open access digital form the remarkable private book collection of Count Leopoldo Cicognara (1767–1834). Built by contributing partners, the site presents the full text of Ciccognara’s 1821 published inventory integrated with digital images and full text of every title in the corpus, including black-and-white facsimiles of the original volumes in the Vatican, and one or more high-resolution color facsimiles of unique copies from partner libraries, with thorough bibliographic information. For more information on the history, partners, and specifications of the Digital Cicognara Library Project visit the project website.

Reporting to the Project Director of the Digital Cicognara Library (DCL) Project and Assistant Director of Princeton University Library IT, the DCL Metadata & Cataloging Specialist performs digital project implementation with the goals of completing all aspects of microfiche digitization and managing preparation and submission of metadata for digital surrogates provided by partner libraries. 

Responsibilities:  The incumbent will:

●    In conjunction with digital project specialists at Princeton University Library and the National Gallery of Art Library, Washington DC, aid in transitioning metadata to a new sustainable platform, create and document sustainable workflows for ingesting metadata for project partners’ contributions, and verifying bibliographic and metadata content. 

●   Provide Princeton IT staff with information relevant to metadata for Cicognara microfiche and partner IIIF manifest presentation on the DCL web site; and provide National Gallery of Art, Washington staff with updated bibliographic information and metadata for the Vatican Library copies on microfiche. Assist with updating digitized microfiche MARC Records. 

●   In conjunction with DCL Project staff, coordinate information from the DCL project’s Excel Master File, to add Digital Cicognara Library (DCL) numbers and Catalogo citation to OCLC (WorldCat) master records for the print and for digitized versions. This includes adding the relevant Cicognara values in MARC fields 024 & 510; adding other bibliographic information when needed, and ensuring quality control of metadata. 

●   Establish import procedures for WorldCat libraries to add revised OCLC records into the local systems and coordinate with catalogers at partner institutions as necessary to verify copy-specific descriptive information. 

●   Collaborate with catalogers at partner institutions as necessary to resolve questions on local copies (e.g., adding local collection information) and advise potential and new contributors on Getty Research Portal submission procedures and standards.

Qualifications and experience: 

• Reading knowledge of at least one European language including Italian, German, French, and Latin 
• A Bachelor's or preferably advanced degree in art history or related humanities subjects.
• Experience with metadata management experience (preferably in the Digital Humanities), or an equivalent combination of credentials and work experience 
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. The successful candidate will work with a wide variety of technical and non-technical individuals who have different sets of skills and different amounts of professional experience
• Strong analytical skills; aptitude for working on large projects, balancing priorities, and meeting deadlines 
• Ability to work in a distributed remote, multicultural, collaborative team       environment. 
• Demonstrated experience with collaborative/office tools, (e.g. MS Word and Excel,   Google Drive and Docs, Slack, Zoom, etc.) 
• Experience with project or content management tools such as Confluence, Trello, Github, Libguides 

Desirable experience: 

●   Work experience in an academic library or other cultural heritage institution, and experience working with archives or special collections 

●   Familiarity with bibliographic description of incunables and early printed European books (DCRM(B)) 

●   Knowledge of protocols and metadata standards used in libraries 

●   Master’s degree in Library and Information Science 

●   Training or certification in one or more project management methodology, e.g. Agile/Scrum

 

Please send via email a curriculum vitae or resume, cover letter, and contact information for 3 references to:

Holly Hatheway
Head, Marquand Library of Art & Archaeology
Princeton University
E: hhatheway@princeton.edu​ 

Review of applications begins on 01/23/2023 with a targeted start date of March 2023.

Apply online here

Submit specified application materials to hhatheway@princeton.edu.