Assistant Director for Archives & Special Collections, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA
Posted October 18, 2017
Assistant Director for Archives & Special Collections
The Assistant Director for Archives & Special Collections provides leadership, mentorship, and vision for programs and services that document, preserve, and share the rich historical legacy of the WPI community and its cultural and intellectual life through the university’s archives and special collections. The Assistant Director has primary responsibility for planning, coordinating, developing, preserving, and promoting WPI’s university and general archives and rare book and manuscript collections, as well as leading instructional and engagement programs that encourage active scholarship and use of archives and unique and rare collections. The Assistant Director develops collaborative partnerships across the library, the university, and external organizations to extend the reach and impact of WPI’s collections, and to address the major challenges and opportunities facing archives and special collections. As a member of the library’s collaborative leadership team, the Assistant Director helps develop library-wide policies, budget, programs, and priorities. This position is a management position that supervises two permanent professional staff positions, as well as temporary personnel, student workers, and interns.
WPI’s Archives & Special Collections is home to significant research collections that include a world-class collection of works by Charles Dickens; manuscript collections relevant to the history of science, technology, and manufacturing; art and objects including scientific instruments; and extensive archives reflecting WPI’s 150+ year history as a regional and global center of excellence in learning and research, blending scholarship and practice. WPI’s curricular emphasis on project-based learning creates many opportunities for library and archives staff to engage directly with WPI students and faculty in interpreting, digitizing and processing records as well as conducting and contributing original research. Existing digital infrastructure supporting WPI archives and special collections includes Bepress’s Digital Commons and Omeka; the library is partnering this year with campus IT to develop a Fedora-based digital repository infrastructure that will support unique cultural and institutional digital collections; the library will be migrating to Alma + Summon in summer 2018, and anticipates implementing ArchivesSpace in 2018. A completely renovated, environmentally controlled Archives and Special Collections space was completed in 2016, and includes a public reading room, on-site storage, and formal gallery space.
For a complete job description, see: https://
For more information about WPI’s Special Collections and Archives, see: https://www.wpi.edu/library/