About the Department:

The Special Collections (SC) unit in the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) at George Mason University Libraries is charged with acquiring, documenting, preserving, and providing access to primary research collections, documents, and rare books. SC also manages the non-current and archival records of George Mason University and undertakes the creation of audiovisual documentary resources through its oral history work. Special Collections also adds value to its holdings through selective digitization and through interpretive exhibits, instructions, and programming. All work is aligned with advancing the University Libraries’ goals and plans. We are committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in our workplace, as well as in the systems and services we build, as an inclusive excellence imperative.

About the Position:

The Part-Time Special Collections Project Archivist supports SCRC goals of access and description through addressing the backlog of oral history assets and providing discovery points for researchers, students, and community members. The incumbent works with SCRC staff, primarily the Director and the University Archivist in creating robust and functional online descriptions. This position applies AI technologies to create transcripts and summaries, and creates appropriate metadata descriptions following best practices and standards.

Responsibilities:

Oral History Processing

• After training, independently applies best practices and standards to upload digital files into appropriate program to create transcripts and summaries of oral history interviews.

Metadata creation

• Reviews the summaries of each transcript and collection control file for the specific interviewee(s); and
• Creates metadata for each interview following descriptive best practices and standards. Task may involve research of subject or content. File naming is part of this function.

Collection Control File maintenance

• Updates and maintains the collection control file (CCF) for each interview. This includes creating or verifying there is a folder with documentation, correspondence, and/or a signed deed of gift for each interviewee.

Other duties as assigned

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree  or the equivalent combination of education and experience;
• Familiarity with national and international standards related to archives and oral histories;
• Experience with archival-related programs such as TheirStory, Omeka, etc.;
• Excellent aptitude for accurate and detail-oriented work;
• Ability to build collaborative and mutually beneficial working relationships with people of varying backgrounds;
• Excellent written communication skills; and
• Ability to thrive in a team-based environment and work collaboratively, and independently.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MLIS/MSLIS/MLS with archives concentration;
• Experience working in a special collections or academic archives setting;
• Experience processing archival collections;
• Experience processing audiovisual collections;
• Familiarity with ArchivesSpace, LCSH, LCTGM, and other archival and metadata tools; and
• Some experience conducting research using primary materials.

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Part-Time Special Collections Project Archivist at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Cover Letter/Letter of Intent with Resume for review. 

Posting Open Date: December 9, 2024

Posting Close Date: January 7, 2025

Open Until Filled:  No