SECRETARY OF STATE (DEPT OF STATE)

Address:  1901 WEST MADISON STREET, PHOENIX, ARIZONA 85009

Salary: $46,812 

Grade: 18  

The National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) is a joint venture between the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Library of Congress (LC) to provide digital access to historic United States newspapers.

The Project Coordinator position will manage the day-to-day activities of the NDNP grant, working closely with the project’s co-Project Directors (co-PDs) from the State of Arizona Research Library (STARL) and from the University of Arizona Libraries (UAL). These activities include vendor communication, shipping and receiving of materials and deliverables, collation of newspaper titles from microfilm, attending the NDNP Awardee meetings, scheduling project meetings, and all other general project management tasks. This position will interact with other State Library personnel, grant partners, vendors, and Library of Congress to complete the project and ensure that all deliverables are in adherence to LC technical requirements.

The Project Coordinator will report to the State of Arizona Research Library (STARL) Administrator.

Please note: This is a grant-funded position and is limited to the term of the grant. The position is expected to end on August 31, 2026.

This position may offer the ability to work remotely, within Arizona, based upon the department's business needs and continual meeting of expected performance measures.

The State of Arizona strives for a work culture that affords employees flexibility, autonomy, and trust. Across our many agencies, boards, and commissions, many State employees participate in the State’s Remote Work Program and are able to work remotely in their homes, in offices, and in hoteling spaces. All work, including remote work, should be performed within Arizona unless an exception is properly authorized in advance.

Technical/Procedural Oversight
• Provides day-to-day general and technical project coordination.
• Evaluates newspaper microfilm quality and suitability for digitization with the co-PDs.
• Coordinates professional workflows for microfilm inventory and metadata collation.
• Coordinates the transfer of microfilm to vendors to ensure quality microfilm duplication (2N silver negatives) and deliverables (TIFF, JPG2000, and PDF) for digital assets. Also coordinates the return of any grant partners’ silver negatives after the duplication, scanning, and quality control have been completed.
• Sets up a quality control sampling workflow for images and metadata ingested from vendor. Performs quality review of all assets and related activities for digitizing historic newspapers to ensure the product meets project specifications.
• Serves as lead vendor contact for all questions related to images and metadata.
• Reports microfilm selection data and digital deliverables fulfillment, including titles, reels, and page counts, to help inform the co-PDs decisions regarding title selection and to ensure the page and reel counts are within scope of project deliverables and budget.

Project Planning
• Serves as project liaison with the Library of Congress, in consultation with the co-PDs.
• Works with the co-PDs, Advisory Board members, the Library of Congress, and other partners to develop the project.
• Establishes workflows and best practices for the project in collaboration with the co-PDs and vendors.
• Develops delivery schedules; maintains tracking system/database for microfilm and digital deliverables.
• Creates documentation and maintains complete and accurate records of all work performed. Collects and maintains statistics on production and collaborates with project co-PDs to deliver progress reports on a specified schedule.
• Coordinates the delivery of materials (digital and microfilm) to the Library of Congress.
• Works with co-PDs to ensure grant requirements are met.

Project Outreach, Publicity and Communication
• Works with the co-PDs, Advisory Board members, the Library of Congress, and other partners to publicize the project.
• Works with the co-PDs to provide outreach to other institutions on applying for grants to digitize newspapers, and shares information about the process, best practices, and pitfalls.

Knowledge of:
• Project management practices
• Quality control procedures.
• And experience with a wide range of digital formats, including TIFF, PDF, JPG2000; techniques, and equipment; as well as knowledge of standards for digital objects and metadata.
• And experience with XML, METS, ALTO, and other digital content and metadata standards.

Skill in:
• Strong analytical skills and the ability to exercise good judgment in implementing standards and rules.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent attention to detail and proofreading experience.

Ability to:
• Work effectively independently and in a team environment with both technical and non-technical staff.
• Set priorities and exercise effective time management skills, and flexibility in adapting to changing priorities.
• Read and write in Spanish.

• Bachelor's degree and two years of related experience, or equivalent combination of experience, training, and/or education.

If this position requires driving or the use of a vehicle as an essential function of the job to conduct State business, then the following requirements apply: Driver’s License Requirements.

All newly hired State employees are subject to and must successfully complete the Electronic Employment Eligibility Verification Program (E-Verify).

The State of Arizona offers a comprehensive benefits package to include:
Sick leave
Vacation with 10 paid holidays per year
Paid Parental Leave-Up to 12 weeks per year paid leave for newborn or newly-placed foster/adopted child (pilot program).
Health and dental insurance
Retirement plan
Life insurance and long-term disability insurance
Optional employee benefits include short-term disability insurance, deferred compensation plans, and supplemental life insurance

By providing the option of a full-time or part-time remote work schedule, employees enjoy improved work/life balance, report higher job satisfaction, and are more productive. Remote work is a management option and not an employee entitlement or right. An agency may terminate a remote work agreement at its discretion.

Learn more about the Paid Parental Leave pilot program here. For a complete list of benefits provided by The State of Arizona, please visit our benefits page

To help you build a financially secure future, the State makes monthly contributions to finance your retirement benefit. The State will contribute to the ASRS in an amount equal to your contribution. In other words, you and the State will each pay 50% of the total cost of the benefit. New State employees have a 27-week wait period for contributions to begin

The State of Arizona is an Equal Opportunity/Reasonable Accommodation Employer.