Digital Preservation Librarian
Position #234

Information Development and Management
USC Libraries
University of Southern California

POSITION SUMMARY

The University of Southern California (USC) is seeking a digital
preservation professional to join its digital library team, known internally
as Archiving, Imaging and Metadata Services. The Digital Preservation
Librarian coordinates the development and implementation of preservation
policy for the University of Southern California’s digital collections and
serves as a liaison to the USC community for digital preservation projects
and initiatives. This is an evolving position intended to develop a
framework to establishment a cohesive digital preservation program at USC.
This framework will include; 1) an effective and achievable strategy to
ensure the long-term viability of university digital assets regardless of
format; 2) development of a collection strategy for all relevant campus
assets. The Digital Preservation Librarian will shape USC’s role in the
digital library environment assuming a larger preservation community and a
distributed and cooperative worldview. The position has primary reporting
responsibility in Archiving, Imaging and Metadata Services (AIMS) to the
Associate Executive Director, Information Development and Management and a
secondary reporting line to the Director of Special Libraries and Archival
Collections.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Founded in 1879, USC is an international center of learning, enrolling more
than 30,000 FTE undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on the
University Park and the Health Sciences campuses and offering degrees
through its College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Graduate School, and 16
professional schools. It ranks in the top 10 among private research
universities in the United States in federally funded research and in
voluntary support. USC is one of only four private research universities in
the western United States elected to membership in the Association of
American Universities, a group that represents the top one percent of the
nation's accredited universities and which accounts for nearly two-thirds of
all federally sponsored research.

This is an exciting time to come to the university. USC recently completed
the “Building on Excellence” campaign, the most successful fundraising
effort in the history of higher education in the United States. The campaign
totaled in excess of $2.85 billion, leading to 125 new endowed chairs and
professorships and 25 new and expanded research institutes or centers, many
in engineering and the sciences. Several other new initiatives serve to
enhance USC's academic and research mission. The College of Letters, Arts,
and Sciences is hiring 100 new senior faculty members — outstanding
professors from around the world — that will boost the college's faculty by
25%. In addition, the Provost has instigated a $100 million campaign to
support and improve graduate education at USC.

The university's strategic plan, “USC's Plan for Increasing Academic
Excellence: Building Strategic Capabilities for the University of the 21st
Century,” calls for “Promoting Learner-Centered Education.” To become more
learner-centered, USC must “create educational structures and methods that
better fulfill student needs,” and “harness technology for more
responsiveness and flexibility in education.” The USC Libraries
administration views the expansion and organization of online physical
science and engineering information resources as an important goal that will
substantially further learner-centered education at USC. For more on USC's
new strategic plan, see: http://www.usc.edu/admin/provost/strategicplan/.

USC LIBRARIES

USC’s digital library collection highlights include the Shoah Foundation
Visual History Archive (VHA), the California Historical Society, Korean
American Archives and the Chinese Historical Society of Southern California.
The archive holds 193,252 records and 223,487 content files of varying
formats. The Shoah Foundation VHA contains 48,700 indexed and cataloged
testimonies of the collection of 51,000 digitized testimonies. In addition
to its digital collections the USC Libraries currently hold nearly 4 million
printed volumes, 6 million items in microform, and 3 million photographs and
subscribe to more than 30,000 current serial titles.

USC is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for
Research Libraries, the Research Libraries Group, the Digital Library
Federation, the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium, the
Greater Western Library Alliance and the Pacific Rim Digital Library
Alliance. Additional information about the University of Southern California
and the USC Libraries can be obtained at http://www.usc.edu/ and at
http://www.usc.edu/libraries/.

Archiving, Imaging and Metdata Services
The USC Libraries has created a technical resource group called Archiving,
Imaging and Metadata Services (AIMS). Comprised of staff formerly a part of
the Information Services Division, it is new yet it offers years of
experience in planning and completing archival projects and software
solutions for the USC Libraries. These services are available
University-wide and can directly help with the planning and execution of
nearly any archival or content management project.
Archiving, Imaging and Metadata Services is at the forefront of
"Institutional Readiness"—USC’s commitment to provide long-term access to
digital content. As a mature IT group on campus, this group has the skill
set and track record to provide faculty with credible support when funding
agencies look for assurances that research will be disseminated in the
present and preserved for the future.

Special Libraries and Archival Collections

Based in Doheny Memorial Library, the Specialized Libraries and Archival
Collections Center provides access to and preserves archival, historic, and
primary source materials in the Center's main areas of strength: Los Angeles
regional history; American literature; Lion Feuchtwanger and the German
emigre experience; natural history; and USC history and the university's
intellectual life. Additionally, the East Asian Library and Boeckmann Center
collect research materials and provide reference assistance to support the
academic needs of USC students and faculty in the areas of East Asian, and
Iberian, Latin American (with strengths in Mexico, Central America, and
Cuba), and U.S. Hispanics studies. The Shoah Foundation Archive consists of
eye-witness accounts of the Holocaust and contains discussion of a huge
variety of historical, cultural, religious, genealogical, and other
information relating to many countries in the periods before, during, and
after World War II. The diverse array of disciplines encompassed within the
Specialized Libraries and Archival Collections Center encourages and
promotes interdisciplinary research.

Reporting to the Associate Executive Director, Information Development and
Management of the USC Libraries, the Digital Preservation Librarian will:

   * Coordinate and participate in the development of standard
     preservation metadata to identify the minimal set of preservation
     metadata elements.
   * Identify endangered digital materials and prioritize these for
     preservation.
   * Develop an overall migration strategy to ensure that material in
     standard and non-standard or obsolete digital formats will be
     reformatted and/or refreshed regularly.
   * Identify areas where digital preservation policies and procedures
     need to be established or refined.
   * Working with library personnel, establish policies and procedures
     related to digital preservation of USC Libraries’ collections.
   * Working with library personnel, establish policies and procedures
     to ensure long-term access to publisher and other digital
     collections outside the university.
   * Advise departments and faculty across the campus on digital
     preservation issues
   * Coordinate with the Director of Specialized Libraries and Archival
     Collections on the development of the Digital Archive of primary
     source collections



Required Qualifications Include:

   * MLS from an ALA accredited library and information studies program
     or equivalent education and experience.
   * An in depth knowledge and understanding of file formats, file
     format conversion techniques and techniques for content
     non-repudiation.
   * An energetic person with the ability to clearly and confidently
     communicate about digital preservation issues for both technical
     and non-technical audiences.
   * Demonstrated experience with one or more of the following metadata
     standards: Dublin Core, METS/MODS, OpenURL, OAI-PMH, EAD, XML, etc.
   * Demonstrated experience with creation and/or management of digital
     objects in one or more of the following formats: text, image,
     sound, software, multimedia, and/or video.
   * General knowledge of how digital library collections and
     electronic objects are used in an academic setting.
   * Demonstrated understanding of digital preservation.
   * Substantive experience with digital preservation practices.
   * General knowledge of one or more digital asset management systems,
     such as D-Space, CONTENTdm, etc.
   * Proven track record of managing projects and accomplishing goals.


Preferred Qualifications Include:

   * Demonstrated experience working in teams with librarians and other
     information technology professionals.
   * Working knowledge of intellectual property and licensing issues as
     related to electronic resources and digital archives.
   * Solid understanding of non-digital media formats (film, tape, etc).
   * Participation in national and international preservation standards
     organizations (ERPAN, PADI, NISO, AMIA)


APPOINTMENT RANK/SALARY
Librarian II (Contract) or Librarian III (Contract); appointment rank and
salary commensurate with experience and qualifications. Hiring range starts
at $50,000.

Contract librarians at USC have faculty status, and, as such, are full,
voting members of the library faculty. Appointment to the renewable Contract
Status track requires the potential to demonstrate excellence in
librarianship and effectiveness in meeting contract standards and provisions.

BENEFITS

The position is full-time on a 12-month contract. Benefits include a choice
of university sponsored retirement programs, 22 paid vacation days per year,
a choice of medical and dental plans, and tuition assistance.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Applications must be submitted via electronic mail. Candidates should submit
a letter of application, full resume (including telephone and e-mail
address), and the names, addresses, telephone numbers, and e-mail addresses
of six references to:

Nannette Edelman
[log in to unmask]
Subject: Search Committee #234
USC Libraries
University of Southern California

Closing date for applications: October 31, 2006

For more information about this position, contact Deborah Holmes Wong, Chair
of the Search Committee, at < [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> >

The University of Southern California values diversity and is committed to
equal opportunity in employment.

USC is an EO/AA employer.


Updated 10/2/06