The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at The University of Oklahoma, Norman, is seeking qualified applicants for a professional archivist position in the center’s congressional archives. The archivist is responsible to the Senior Archivist for the administration and development of the center's congressional archives, which currently include the papers of more than 61 former members of the U.S. Congress.
Duties
Collections processing responsibilities (50%):
Manages the lifecycle of physical, born digital, and digitized university records and personal papers by creating, documenting, and implementing workflows for transferring, describing, processing, preserving, and providing access to these materials that accord with best practices and professional standards.
Provides guidance to donors on the preservation and transfer of physical materials, born-digital and digitized personal papers, and develops and implements procedures for processing, arranging, and describing these materials while leading student employees both on and off-site.
Analyzes born-digital content for the presence of personally identifiable information and other confidential and sensitive information; redact and otherwise restrict access to this information.
Provides guidance and reference assistance to students, school, academic scholars and other researchers for proper accessibility of records within the Center’s repository. This includes monitoring reference email and phone, fulfilling reference requests, and preparing material for in person and distance patrons.
Assists in development and management of grants and other fundraising activities, and exhibits, related to archival materials. Stays abreast of trends and developments impacting the profession.
Collections management responsibilities (50%)
Maintains records retention guidelines for university records in digital form.
Advises on collection development strategies for the Center’s records in digital form.
Develops scripts, open documentation, and workflows to contribute to and assist in managing one or more applications utilized by the unit.
Required Education: Bachelors degree or equivalent combination of education/job related experience, AND:
24 -36 months professional archival or library experience.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:
Ability to speak, read and write clear, concise English
Ability to accurately read and understand written materials and instructions
Advanced computer skills with wide knowledge of business software
Experience transferring content from legacy media such as hard drives, floppy disks and zip disks, including creating disk images.
Knowledge of strategies developed or adopted by the archival community for managing born-digital archival material, including digital forensic software and processes.
Experience with tools and software used to capture, manage, and deliver born-digital records, including web archiving activities and tools.
A high degree of technical facility, experience working in command line interfaces, and the demonstrated ability to learn new technical skills through research and self-study.
Knowledge of relevant standards for archival description and preservation including DACS, EAD, and PREMIS, and familiarity with other metadata standards.
Experience with archival collections management tools such as ArchivesSpace and Preservica.
Experience implementing MPLP-influenced or Accessioning-As-Processing workflows
Exemplary goal-orientation and self-management abilities
Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a technologically sophisticated and rapidly changing environment
Demonstrated ability to establish and maintain cooperative working relationships
Certifications:
Valid driver's license to attend meetings, transport materials, etc.
Advertised Physical Requirements:
Employee will frequently be called upon to climb, crouch, bend, lift, pull, push, reach, stoop, engage in repetitive motions, sit, stand, see including color, depth perception and clarity, touch, feel, hear, communicate and carry moderate objects (14 to 44 lbs.). Employee should be able to tolerate exposure to occasional dust and/or mold.
Departmental Preferences:
MLS from an ALA-accredited library school or an advanced related degree.
Advanced cultural competency that demonstrates an interest in participating in and leading discussions, initiatives, and collection development activities that reflect diversity and inclusion issues relevant to students, faculty, staff, and the community.
An attitude of energy, initiative, innovation, drive, and team-orientation
Outward-facing, user-centered service orientation
Experience in an archives or special collections department in a research library or similar setting.
Experience supervising and/or mentoring students and other employees.
Experience accessioning or processing archival and manuscript materials, either analog or born-digital.
Experience with XSLT, Xpath, Xquery and one or more general scripting languages such as Python, Bash or Perl.
Supervision: 1-5 undergraduate and graduate student employees
Special Instructions:
If you are selected as a final candidate for this position, you will be subject to The University of Oklahoma Norman Campus Tuberculosis Testing policy. To view the policy, visit https://hr.ou.edu/Policies-Handbooks/TB-Testing
