THE
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
Position
Vacancy
COORDINATOR
FOR DIGITIAL INITIATIVES
Position
Description: The Coordinator for Digital Initiatives (CDI) provides leadership,
coordination and advice for digital library activities within the University of Iowa Libraries and, in collaboration
with the campus community, for the University as a whole. Reporting to the
Director for Collections and Content Development, the CDI works closely with
information technology units on campus and in the Libraries, and with collection
management, preservation, technical services and other library staff in
developing and expanding digital library activities. The CDI collaborates with
other units and departments on campus to offer advice and assistance for
digital initiatives. The CDI works closely with other library units to ensure
that the full range of library expertise and resources are utilized in building
and managing digital collections. The CDI also works closely with academic
units across the University to identify, convert, preserve, and share digital
objects; identifies assets in need of services, develops relationships with
those responsible for managing such assets, and shares expertise about
archiving and metadata with the campus; and seeks opportunities for statewide, national,
and international partnerships.
The
CDI manages the budget of the unit, coordinates and implements projects, and
seeks external funding sources to continue the unit’s work; collaborates
with appropriate technology staff to integrate the work of the digital
initiatives unit with the digital library architecture of the Libraries and
University.
The
CDI participates in the larger digital library community by actively exploring
questions related to digital repositories, and works to share that knowledge
through professional service, presentations, publications, and other means.
Context:
The Coordinator for Digital Initiatives will oversee a digital initiatives unit
that is expected to further the creation of and access to research and
scholarly material in digital form from across the University of Iowa,
both born digital objects and physical objects captured in digital form. The
unit will support in-house and externally contracted digitization services, and
seek to provide the best quality and most sustainable digital objects or
surrogates possible at a reasonable cost. In collaboration with subject
specialists, staff from Academic Technologies, and others, the unit will offer
expertise and services to departments, labs, and centers of the University, in
support of the creation, collection, archiving, and dissemination of digital
content. To ensure high quality access to the digital objects, the CDI works
with other Libraries staff to develop metadata standards for digital assets and
share them with the campus through documentation, training, and collaborative
project planning. The CDI monitors and participates in national and
international initiatives to ensure that local practice is compatible with
emerging standards in the larger digital collections community.
Qualifications
Required:
An ALA-accredited masters degree in library or information science, or the
equivalent combination of advanced degree and relevant experience; demonstrated
understanding of emerging standards in digital library systems and their
application to digital repositories in academic settings; demonstrated
involvement in relevant professional activities; familiarity with best
practices for digitization, for metadata development and capture, and for
archival storage of digital objects; ability to work in a complex organization,
build and nurture a cross functional team, and collaborate with a wide variety
of partners; ability to work well with faculty and other academic staff;
excellent written and verbal communication skills; evidence of planning and
project management skill.
Desired:
Experience in obtaining external funding; two or more years of growing
responsibility and accomplishment in digitization or digital repository development;
experience partnering with diverse coalitions, experience in academic and/or
research library environments; experience with the creation and capture of a
wide variety of digital formats; familiarity with digital asset management
tools such as DigiTool, ContentDM, etc.; experience with design and development
of digital library architecture and tools; financial management experience.
Salary
and appointment: Appointment will be made at the Librarian II, III, or IV
level. The salary range is $40,000 – $70,000. The University of Iowa
offers an attractive package of benefits including 24 days of paid vacation per
year, TIAA/CREF retirement, and a flexible selection of medical, life, dental,
and vision insurance, childcare credit, and additional options.
The
University of Iowa
Libraries: The University
of Iowa library system
consists of the Main Library, the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences and 10
branch libraries (Art, Music, Business, and the sciences). With more than 4
million volumes, the Libraries ranks 30 out of 113 among the Association of
Research Libraries for size of collections. InfoHawk, the Libraries’
integrated online system, uses ExLibris’ Aleph 500 software. The
Libraries has been innovative in the development of services related to digital
technologies with the creation of such units as the Information Arcade and Information Commons. The University Libraries is an
active member of the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC), the Committee on
Institutional Cooperation (CIC), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), the
Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Coalition for Networked
Information (CNI), and the ARL SPARC Project. The Libraries provides a program
of support for professional development activities and its staff members are
actively engaged in national cooperative efforts.
The
University and Iowa City: A major research and teaching institution, the
University of Iowa offers internationally recognized programs in a diverse
array of academic, medical, and artistic disciplines, from otolaryngology to
fiction writing, printmaking to space science, hydraulic engineering to dance.
The University consists of a faculty of 2000 and a permanent staff of 15,000
serving 29,000 students, close to 10,000 of whom are registered in graduate and
professional degree programs. Approximately 8% of the University’s
workforce is minority faculty and staff, 9% of the student body are members of
minority groups, and 7% are international students. Iowa City is a community of some 63,000
people with excellent educational, recreational, and cultural advantages and
was ranked the number one metropolitan area in which to live by Editor &
Publisher Market Guide in 1999. It is readily accessible via interstate
highways and a major airport only 30 minutes away.
Application
Procedures: Applications must be received by October 29, 2004. Qualified
applicants should submit, via US Mail or e-mail, a letter of application,
resume, and the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of three references to:
Susan Marks, Coordinator, Human Resources & Diversity Programs, University
of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA, 52242-1420 (319-335-5871), lib-search@xxxxxxxxx.
THE
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE
ACTION EMPLOYER. WOMEN AND MINORITIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.
For
more information about the University
of Iowa Libraries, see
our website at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/index.html