Barnard College is seeking a full-time Records Coordination and Processing Archivist.
Job Summary:
Reporting to the Director of the Archives and Special Collections and working in a team environment with Archives staff, the Records Coordination and Processing Archivist develops and executes records management workflows for the College to assist in the organization, maintenance, and transfer of records of enduring historical value to the Archives as well as the processing of all archival collections.In Records Coordination capacity, this position collaborates with campus stakeholders (administrators, staff, faculty, and students) to institute a regular collection schedule for offices, departments, student groups, and other units of the College, ensuring that vital historically valuable records are transferred to the Archives for preservation. This role also engages in education related to recordkeeping (digital preservation, metadata and description, etc.) for campus stakeholders to allow them to more effectively manage active records, identify records for transfer to the Archives, and maintain personal or departmental archives of materials not in scope for archival collecting. The role is highly collaborative and will require coordination with staff engaged in data governance and legal records retention for the College (including BCIT and Purchasing). Additionally, this role manages web archiving of the College’s websites and communication channels. In collaboration with the Archives Director and Associate Director, this position accessions and processes College records, personal papers, and special collections using widely adopted standards and archival management practices/software, as well as managing assessment, setting priorities, and creating documentation for the processing program. They will focus especially on processing digital materials, and may also contribute to the supervision and mentorship of graduate students completing processing work in the Archives. This position is primarily in-person, with flexibility for remote work as needed.
Job Description:
Responsibilities
Records Coordination:
In consultation with other Archives staff and other campus stakeholders, develops a records policy and updates existing records retention and disposition schedules, with a focus on records of enduring historical value in digital formats.
In partnership with Office of General Counsel (OGC), the President’s Office, BCIT, Purchasing, Institutional Research and Assessment, and other stakeholders, evaluates, appraises, describes, and manages records of enduring historical value for the College. Develops workflow to ensure transfer of appropriate College records to Archives.
This position will initially focus on a subset of selected campus units, offices, departments, and student groups (for example, the Provost’s Office, the Center for Accessibility Resources & Disability Services (CARDS); the Office Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Facilities; and student government), to pilot records coordination and transfer workflows, and will eventually grow to encompass a broader collecting scope of college records and publications, papers of faculty and staff, and the records of students and student groups.
Accessioning and Processing
Accessions and processes institutional records, personal papers collections, and special collections in all formats.
With Director and Associate Director, and in collaboration with graduate and undergraduate student part-time staff, manages assessment, creates documentation for processing, and sets priorities for the processing program.
Contributes to the digital processing and preservation infrastructure with colleagues in Archives, IMATS, and BCIT, as well as external vendors.
Outreach, Education, and Consultation on Recordkeeping: Builds relationships with College staff, faculty, and students to share best recordkeeping practices, personal digital archiving, and non-custodial modes of preservation through consultations, instruction, training, and documentation.
Web Archiving: Develops workflows for and executes web archiving, including selection, capture, quality control, metadata and contextualization within collections, and training student and other staff in web archiving workflows.
About the Archives and BLAIS:
As a repository of records of the life of Barnard College and broader feminist histories, the Barnard Archives and Special Collections provide a space for critical, interdisciplinary inquiry into the past as well as the imagination of possible futures. We contribute to the College's mission of intellectual risk-taking and discovery and our shared responsibility to address issues of gender in all their complexity and urgency. The mission of the Barnard Archives is pedagogical at its foundation. We collaborate with Barnard students, staff, alums, faculty, administrators, and other members of the Barnard College and Columbia University communities, as well as with a global community of researchers, activists, and artists. We collect records documenting college history and the lives of students, alums, faculty, and staff from founding to present day, as well as special collections that document feminist histories. The Archives is a highly collaborative unit, with partnerships both within Barnard (with the Library and Centers as well as faculty and other staff) and external communities. The staff of the Barnard Archives commits to work that is equitable and anti-oppressive, and encourages and supports work which centers voices, knowledge, and memory-making practices historically excluded from the archival record. More about the mission of the unit can be found here (https://archives.barnard.edu/what-we-do/mission).
Barnard Library and Academic Information Services (BLAIS) develops and curates unique collections and information resources, and provides information and media services that support the Barnard faculty and community, and establish a foundation for intellectual inquiry, ethical scholarship, and lifelong learning among Barnard students. The Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning, opened in the Fall of 2018, houses 7 Academic Centers that collaborate with BLAIS, including the Center for Engaged Pedagogy, Computational Science Center, Design Center, Digital Humanities Center, Empirical Reasoning Center, Media Center, and Movement Lab, BLAIS is committed to the College’s work in all its many facets of student and faculty support.
Skills, Qualifications & Requirements:
Required Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
Experience with archival processing and/or records management.
Experience with electronic records management, processing digital materials, and digital preservation.
Expertise in archival accessioning, processing, description practices, and metadata and experience with managing complex processing projects or programs. Experience with archival management software such as ArchivesSpace; digital collections software such as Archipelago, Islandora, or Samvera; web archiving software such as Archive-It; and other archival platforms is highly desirable.
Ability to collaborate with technical staff on developing scripts for processing and management of archival materials, development work, documentation of code and workflows, and systems administration.
Flexibility and demonstrated ability to work collaboratively.
Demonstrated enthusiasm and strategies for making archives collections more broadly accessible.
Demonstrated critical analysis of archives or the archives profession (e.g. bringing a critical race, feminist, disability justice, and/or queer theoretical lens to archival work).
Evidence of effective oral, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
Required Qualifications
Advanced degree in library and information science, archives, public history, or history, and/or equivalent relevant work experience.
3-5 years of experience in archives or records management.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience working in a university, college, cultural heritage institution, non-profit, or comparable setting.
Additional Requirements and Information
Must submit resume or c.v. and cover letter.
References (3) may be requested from short listed candidates.
Applications received by March 19, 2023 will receive priority consideration.
Salary range is $68,000 - $73,000.
To Apply:
