Digitization Technical Assistant

Job Description

Job Description

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library (AUC Woodruff Library) supports the teaching and learning missions of four institutions of higher learning that comprise the world’s largest consortium of HBCUs—Clark Atlanta University, the Interdenominational Theological Center, Morehouse College, and Spelman College. Conveniently located and easily accessible to the campuses, the AUC Woodruff Library is the center of intellectual and social life at the Atlanta University Center.

The AUC Woodruff Library is looking for a highly motivated individual to broaden access and the discoverability of Historically Black College and University’s cultural heritage collections. Working with the Digital Services Department, the Digitization Technical Assistant will assist with activities related to creating digital collections appropriate for inclusion in the HBCU Digital Library Trust project. The Digitization Technical Assistant will prepare archival materials for digitization, including employing basic preservation techniques, and will digitize various formats including photographs, documents, and publications according to best practices and national standards. In addition, the incumbent will create descriptive metadata and derivative images, and help with the provision of online access to digital collections for students, historians, and scholars worldwide. The Digitization Technician will report to the Digitization Project Manager for the HBCU Digital Library Trust throughout the project.

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Digitize various original archival materials (documents, manuscripts, photographs and negatives, bound volumes, publications) following professional standards and best practices.
• Demonstrate proficiency in operating specialized scanning hardware and software optimized for cultural heritage digitization.
• Ensure the overall quality of digitization activities including creating high-resolution preservation images, following file naming and storage protocols, editing images as needed, and creating derivate images for access purposes.
• Under the guidance of the Digitization Project Manager, create descriptive metadata for original archival materials (documents, manuscripts, photographs and negatives, bound volumes, publications, audiovisual materials) following professional standards and best practices.
• Conduct quality control of export derivatives, ensuring correct placement in storage, checking file naming, file type(s), bit depth, resolution, page count, OCR, and cropping for consistency
• Assist with preparing audio-visual formats for outsourced digitization.
• Perform research needed to accurately identify, date, and describe documents and publications.
• Provide weekly progress updates to team leaders.
• Attend and participate in team meetings.

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree.
• Two years of relevant experience.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Familiarity with archival digitization standards and best practices
• Experience operating a variety of scanning hardware and software
• Experience using image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop
• Experience with standard office software such as Microsoft Office applications including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
• Sensitivity in handling fragile archival materials
• Understanding of library metadata structures and standards such as MODS, Dublin Core
• Familiarity with the digitization of audio and video formats preferred

SALARY AND BENEFITS:

• Salary commensurate with experience
• Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life, and company-paid disability plans
• Company match retirement plan (TIAA)