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Statewide Digitization Program Supervisor, Boston Public Library, Boston, MA

Posted April 3, 2023

Job Description

Under the direction of the Digital Projects Manager, the Statewide Digitization Program Supervisor serves as the primary intermediary for all projects related to statewide digitization and ensures that all components of BPL digitization workflows as well as external digitization partners and vendors are fully engaged for current and future projects. This position works at a high level to review and analyze digitization services offered by the BPL and advocates for improvements and expansions to those services, investigating metrics and engaging with partner institutions and other stakeholders to measure the success of Digital Commonwealth and leading efforts to increase the impact of digitized collections.

Reports to: Digital Projects Manager or designee

Supervises: Professional and support staff members

Responsibilities

Scope of Responsibilities

  • Initiates, builds, and maintains strong working relationships with libraries, historical societies, and other cultural heritage institutions across Massachusetts to identify current and emerging projects for which digitization services may be appropriate.
  • Investigates, contributes to, and manages grants related to digitization, including newspaper digitization.
  • Oversees major aspects of newspaper digitization, including working with vendors to generate microfilm, working with imaging vendors (when necessary), and working with post-production vendors to produce ingest ready metadata.
  • Collaborates extensively with metadata and imaging librarians to ensure the clear communication of goals for statewide partners and to balance the workload with other internal projects.
  • Collects and analyzes qualitative and quantitative data to better understand how patrons are accessing and using the Digital Commonwealth online collections.
  • Investigates other digital libraries and archives to find innovative practices and capabilities that might be adopted to improve partner and user experience.
  • Seeks out new partners and collections to expand the breadth, depth, and diversity of Digital Commonwealth.
  • Collaborates with the Research Collections Manager and the Preservation Manager to ensure that microfilm collections are handled appropriately and with minimal risk to the materials.
  • Collaborates with Research Services, Special Collections, and any appointed advisory boards to select microfilm for digitization according to BPL and statewide policies and priorities.
  • Coordinates the establishment and refinement of policies related to Digital Commonwealth.
  • Uses data and analysis to understand, document, and improve digitization services and collection development.
  • Oversees part-time and full-time staff to maintain the smooth flow of materials in and out of the library and to ensure the accurate tracking and security of materials during the digitization process.
  • Represents library at local and national conferences, as assigned.
  • Performs other related and comparable duties as assigned.

Competencies

  • Experience with and knowledge of digitization and digital preservation standards and best practices, descriptive and structural metadata standards, and repository systems.
  • Specific experience with newspaper digitization, including familiarity with METS/ALTO and Library of Congress standards for National Digital Newspaper Program grants.
  • Experience with digital archives and project management.
  • Knowledge of digital collection development practices and philosophy in relation to intellectual property, ethics, data privacy, content management, preservation, and access.
  • Excellent interpersonal skills, including ability to collaborate effectively within and across organizational boundaries, to work successfully with a diverse population, and to exercise appropriate diplomacy and tact in working with a wide variety of people.
  • Ability to work with minimal supervision.
  • Ability to plan and prioritize job responsibilities and tasks.
  • Demonstrate initiative and appropriate decision-making skills.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills. Communicates effectively and presents ideas clearly.
  • Ability to execute library policy.

Qualifications

  • Education: Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized college or university and a master’s degree in Library Science from an ALA accredited library school.
  • Experience: Five years recent professional experience working with a digital library or a digitization lab.

To Apply

To view the full job description and apply, please visit: https://city-boston.icims.com/jobs/24406/statewide-digitization-program-supervisor/job?hub=8&mobile=false&width=1200&height=500&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-300&jun1offset=-240

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