Princeton University Library Human Resources

The Princeton University Library, one of the world's most respected research institutions, serves a diverse community of 6,600 students and 1,100 faculty members with more than 6 million printed volumes, 5 million manuscripts, and 2 million nonprint items. The holdings in its central library and 15 specialized libraries range from ancient papyri and incunabula to the most advanced electronic databases and digital collections. The Library employs a dedicated and knowledgeable staff of more than 300 professional and support personnel, complemented by a large student and hourly workforce. More information can be found at the Library's Web site: http://libweb.princeton.edu

Available: Immediately

Search Committee: (Princeton Access only)

Description: Princeton University Library is seeking an energetic, creative, and experienced person to direct both the strategic and project planning for our local digitization efforts. The person in this position will also direct the development and implementation of the Library's digital collections interface and to develop the standards, policies and procedures for digitization projects library wide. The Coordinator is responsible for overseeing the design and development of Princeton’s digital library infrastructure, for managing the staff assigned to the program including the imaging and programming staff. Currently the Program consists of two Digital Imaging Studios with five staff, and three database management and programming staff.
Major digital library projects underway at Princeton include digitization of a large collection of Islamic manuscripts, digitization of a large body of Chinese Rare Books, various manuscript, photographic, and book collections, as well as conversion of finding aids to EAD.
The Coordinator will be an advocate for the program and will meet with various groups, including faculty, to explain the mission and solicit content suggestions. The Coordinator may need to be involved in all of: usability studies, materials preparation, copyright issues, costing/budget analysis, writing RFQ’s for digitization work, etc. This position will also work closely with relevant departments and staff in the planning and development of systems for supporting metadata creation and management, search, discovery, and presentation, as well as long term digital preservation. The Coordinator will work collaboratively with key management colleagues responsible for collections access operations in identifying and training staff to provide metadata for the Library’s expanding corpus of digital content. The Coordinator will provide on-going evaluation of current systems, as well as researching and/or recommending new software and hardware relevant to digital library development and sustainable workflows.
This position chairs the Digital Library Operations Group, which is charged with coordinating and managing the internal technical resources necessary to produce and mount the Library’s digital content, and works closely with the Deputy University Librarian in setting the agenda for the Digital Projects Steering Committee, which audits the progress of digital library projects, prioritizes content production for the digital library site, and helps to allocate staff resources from around the Library.

Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree required. Advanced study in library, archives, or relevant technology areas. MLS and/or MS in Computer Science preferred. At least three years of experience in digital library development and project leadership. Advanced degree in an additional subject field preferred. Humanities background especially helpful. Excellent organizational, interpersonal and communication skills. Working knowledge of image capture and delivery technologies, full text mark-up and searching methods, and database management systems; in-depth knowledge of at least one of these areas. Knowledge of various current metadata standards for digital library content and XML markup techniques for them, and of MARC. Familiarity with the ways in which scholars and students use digital collections. Vision of the role of digital projects in the academic library. Demonstrated ability for successful project management, completing projects on time and within budget. Ability to facilitate decision making in a collaborative but complex environment. Knowledge of XML and its related standards and technologies; experience with web services techniques, protocols and standards; experience with one or more of the following programming languages: Java, XQuery, XSLT, and/or Ruby. Knowledge of native XML databases a plus. Familiarity with UNIX/Linux and Windows systems. Ability to integrate open source and commercial products. Supervisory experience required.
Reports to the Deputy University Librarian.

Compensation and Benefits: Compensation will be competitive and commensurate with experience and accomplishments. Twenty-four (24) vacation days a year, plus eleven (11) paid holidays. Annuity program (TIAA/CREF), group life insurance, health coverage insurance, disability insurance, and other benefits are available.

Nominations and Applications: Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Nominations and applications (cover letter, resume and the names, titles, addresses and phone numbers of three references) will be accepted only from the Jobs at Princeton website: http://www.princeton.edu/jobs

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER.
For information about applying to Princeton, please link to http://web.princeton.edu/sites/dof/ApplicantsInfo.htm