Jobs

Open Position: Digital Projects Coordinator
Department: Imaging Services/Library
Application Deadline: June 1, 2012
Start Date: Late July

Job Description:

The Digital Projects Coordinator fulfills patron requests for rights and reproductions, maintains the Charles Edward Hilgenberg Archive, and cares for and processes the photographic collections held in the Special Collections Department of the Maryland Historical Society (MdHS) H. Furlong Baldwin Library. This position will rely heavily on knowledge of digitization and archival standards and best practices, traditional photography processes, and image editing software. The Digital Projects Coordinator oversees the Imaging Services Technician (part-time position) and reports directly to the Director of Publications and Library Services.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

Imaging Services

• Oversee Imaging Services Technician three days per week.
• Fulfill in-house requests for digital images for publication (MdHS News; Maryland Historical Magazine, MdHS books), exhibition, or research purposes.
• Perform routine maintenance on external hard drives, computer hard drives and monitors.
• Maintain Department of Imaging Services budget, expenses, etc. and report income to the Accountant.
• Work closely with the IT Manager on all projects that concern digital assets, particularly the MdHS website.
• Using Drupal, upload MdHS digital surrogates to the website and include each item’s record.
• Describe and embed metadata using both MdHS controlled vocabulary and Library of Congress terms.
• Assist the Imaging Services Technician with external requests for rights and reproductions by composing invoices/contract, processing payment, and delivering digital surrogates.
• Digitize items requested by staff and patrons.
• Assist the Grant Writer with any grants relating to digitization, processing, and photograph conservation.
• Work with any department considering development of digital assets.
• Attend collaborative meetings (Maryland History and Culture Collaborative) and seek free or low-cost workshops or seminars for professional development purposes.
• Work closely with the Special Collections Department to locate items requested for digitization. 
• Attend Library Staff meetings.

Photograph Collections Care

• Work with Special Collections Librarians and Archivists to identify photograph collections in urgent need of re-housing and/or digital preservation.
• Inventory unprocessed photograph collections and create lists both for internal and external research purposes.
• Re-house collections as needed.
• Create webpages for newly inventoried collections on the MdHS site.
• Edit, create, and maintain webpages on the MdHS site.
• Assist Special Collections Librarians and Archivists with maintaining the library exhibition space.
• Develop press releases or announcements for newly available collections or digital projects and distribute announcements through related listservs.
• Work closely with the Special Collections Department before, during, and after photograph collections are being processed.
• Oversee interns and volunteers working with photograph collections.

Hilgenberg Archive Project: Digitizing and making Der Deutsche Correspondent available to the public

• Compose annual narrative report as stipulated by the Baltimore Community Foundation.
• Manage the archive budget.
• Continue search for Optical Character Recognition and indexing software for Fraktur German.
• Continue relationship with University of Maryland, Baltimore County German language department, which has been using Der Deutsche Correspondent as a translation tool in classes.
• Work with IT Manager to develop a website specifically for the Hilgenberg Archive, allowing visitors to view PDFs of the newspaper.

Experience, Skills, and Attributes:

• Preferred educational background in at least one of the following:

                        Library and information sciences

                        History

                        Archives

                        Museum Studies

                        Photography

                        Historical document archiving and preservation

• Must have at least three years archives experience
• Solid grasp of digital preservation standards and best practices
• Digital SLR cameras and photography studio experience (includes lighting)
• Experience handling historic documents, photographs, objects, etc.
• Hands-on experience working with complex digital media and metadata
• Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite, including but not limited to Photoshop, Bridge, and Illustrator.
• Proficient in Mac and Windows operating systems
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite
• Strong understanding and vision for uses and value of photographic collections in a wide variety of organizations and environments
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, as evidenced by clear and respectful communications with colleagues, clients, and the community interested or invested in MdHS collections/programming
• Excellent writing skills and ability to organize and present complex material in a clear and logical manner
• Good presentation skills
• Good project planning, management, budget, and organizational skills
• Familiarity with Library of Congress Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
• Comfortable with completing a wide variety of tasks at once

To Apply For This Position

Please send cover letter and resume with three references to: 

Patricia Dockman Anderson, Ph.D.
Director of Publications and Library Services
Maryland Historical Society
201 West Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
panderson@mdhs.org
Fax: 410-385-2105 

Please ignore the general directions below. Your application will only be considered if sent to Patricia Anderson. 

No phone calls please. Applications will be accepted until June 1, 2012.

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The Maryland Historical Society offers a wide range of career opportunities, competitive salaries and excellent benefits. The MdHS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. To apply for an open position, please submit a cover letter and resume to:

Maryland Historical Society
201 W. Monument Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Attn: Personnel (unless otherwise noted)

You may submit the resume and cover letter via fax to: 410-385-2105
or e-mail to: jobs@mdhs.org
No phone calls please.