General Description

The Office of Library Services (OLS) at the CUNY Central Office provides centralized services to all 31 CUNY Libraries supporting the University’s 25 campuses and 100+ research centers and institutes. The OLS staff works with campus librarians and other academic units to coordinate and enhance library services in support of CUNY’s mission.

CUNY’s Office of Library Services (OLS) seeks an energetic and enthusiastic individual to serve as the CUNY Digital Archivist. This Mellon-funded 2-year position will work with the University Archivist on a project to build CUNY’s University Archives and establish a CUNY Central archive to preserve and share the rich history of CUNY now and into the future. The Digital Archivist is responsible for establishing and maintaining strategy, policies, procedures, and best practices for long-term access and preservation of digital content and collections at CUNY. This includes identifying CUNY’s unmet infrastructure, workflow and software needs for digital asset accessioning, description, preservation, and access. The Digital Archivist will work with the University Archivist to develop a roadmap beyond the project's timeline for the future acquisition and implementation of these solutions. This position collaborates across the CUNY Office of Library Services (OLS) and CUNY campus libraries to implement digital strategies for the long-term preservation of archival records and manuscripts and the transfer of born-digital collections and web archiving.

Reporting to the University Archivist, the Digital Archivist will oversee and support the transfer of born-digital files, oversee the creation of metadata and the ingest of digital collections to ensure preservation and access, act as the resource person for OLS and CUNY campus libraries regarding best practices for managing donated digital materials and metadata management for digital objects to enable search and discovery of collections. The Digital Archivist will also oversee the processing of archival collections of digital and/or hybrid format types as well as the arrangement, preservation, and creation of comprehensive descriptions for those collections.

This is a 2-year, grant-funded position that will begin in January 2025. The current office space for the Office of Library Services Department is at 423 West 55th Street in Manhattan, with plans to move in 2024 to 555 West 57th Street in Manhattan. This role will also involve travel to visit archivists working across the CUNY system to provide support and training.

Please note that candidates must apply through the RF CUNY job posting on the website (link provided in this listing). Email submissions will not be accepted. Interviews for this position will take place in November 2024 with an expected hiring decision in early December and a start date in early January 2025.

Other Duties

• Establish workflows and create recommendations for preservation and access of electronic records in CUNY archives
• Work closely with the University Archivist to develop and implement processes for records management, with a primary focus on backend processing of files once they are transferred to archives
• Support use of ArchivesSpace, JSTOR Forum/Open Community Collections, and Portico across the CUNY system
• With OLS Systems staff, provide support for campus archivists with migrating/sharing collections into ArchivesSpace, JSTOR Forum and Portico.
• Along with University Archivist, liaise with campus Records Managers
• Lead the work of student workers, interns, and other unit staff, as appropriate
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications:

• Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited program in library, archival, or information science with successful completion of graduate coursework in archives
• Experience with digital repository technologies
• Knowledge of best practices for processing archival collections and creating archival description using DACS
• Experience with metadata standards relevant to the archival management of digital objects (EAD, Dublin Core, MODS, METS, PREMIS)
• Knowledge of ArchivesSpace, ALMA/Primo, JSTOR Community Collections, Portico
• Experience with born-digital and digitized collections

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree with a concentration in digital preservation and/or digital repositories
• Professional work experience in the field of digital preservation, digital libraries, or digital repositories
• Technology instruction experience and skills, including orientation and onboarding staff to use new library and archives software
• Experience with archival practices related to born-digital acquisitions
• Experience using digital asset management systems
• Experience working with preservation activities and access related to email
• Experience working with web archiving
• Knowledge of best practices for the arrangement, description, and preservation of archival collections, including but not limited to manuscripts and personal papers, institutional records, photographs, and audio-visual materials

RFCUNY Benefits

RFCUNY Employee Benefits and Accruals

About the Research Foundation

The Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY) was established as a not-for-profit educational corporation chartered by the State of New York in 1963. RFCUNY supports CUNY faculty and staff in identifying and obtaining external support (pre-award) from government and private sponsors and is responsible for the administration of all such funded programs (post-award).

RFCUNY stands between CUNY’s principal investigators (PIs) and the sponsors who support them and strives to fulfill its essential responsibilities to both groups. Working closely with individual PIs and Grants Officers on the campuses, RFCUNY oversees employment, accounting, audit, reporting, purchasing, and special responsibilities that include management of a planned giving program; liaison with governmental agencies and foundations; negotiation of agreements; facility construction and renovation; protection and commercialization of intellectual property; and compliance with applicable standards in research involving human subjects, animal care, environmental and radiological safety, and conflicts of interest.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

The Research Foundation of the City University of New York is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Americans with Disabilities Act/E-Verify Employer. It is the policy of the Research Foundation of CUNY to provide equal employment opportunities free of discrimination based on race, color, age, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth, national origin, disability, marital status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, domestic violence victim status, arrest record, criminal conviction history, or any other protected characteristic under applicable law.

Apply online here

Submit specified application materials to benefits@rfcuny.org.