Job Opening Title:
Assistant Archivist
Name of Employer:
Black Film Center & Archive, Indiana University
Job Site Location (City, State) :
Bloomington, Indiana
Application Deadline:
04/22/2024
Minimum Degree Requirement:
High school diploma or equivalent (such as HSED or GED)
Years of experience required:
4 years library experience
Salary Range:
$42,000 to $46,000 annual
Job Description (if URL to posting not available). Include instructions for how to apply.:
Department
MEDIA SCHOOL (BL-MSCH-IUBLA)
Department Information
The Media School at Indiana University is built on a decades-long tradition of journalism, film, media, and communication at one of the nation’s premier public universities. Our programs focus on teaching, researching, and creating media from academic, creative, and professional perspectives. The Media School is committed to building and supporting a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community of students, faculty, and staff.
The Black Film Center and Archive (BFCA), a center within The Media School, was established in 1981 as the first archival repository dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available historically and culturally significant films by and about Black people. The BFCA’s primary objectives are to promote scholarship on Black film and to serve as an open resource for scholars, researchers, students, and the general public; to encourage creative film activity by independent Black filmmakers; and to undertake and support research on the history, impact, theory, and aesthetics of Black film traditions. This position reports to the director of the BFCA and will work closely with the director, archivist, and archival staff, student hourly staff, and campus partners.
Job Summary
Department Specific Responsibilities
-Assists with the acquisition, processing, preservation, and management of paper, photographic, and audiovisual archival collections, including, but not limited to cataloging, scanning, re-housing, routine inspection of collection materials, vault management, collection assessment, and conservation treatment.
-Supports the development and maintenance of internal and external collection records and descriptive resources, including, but not limited to inventories, databases, finding aids, and catalog records.
-Performs tasks to support reference assistance and collection access to faculty, students, researchers, and others, via tours, online or by phone.
-Researches, writes, edits, and provides content for the BFCA blog, newsletter, website, and print publications to -promote the BFCA’s collections, exhibitions, curation, programming, and preservation work.
-Supports the planning, promotion, and execution of the BFCA’s public events, exhibitions, and programs.
General Responsibilities
-Leads the management of physical archive collections. Creates and maintains classification systems and finding aids to facilitate access to the collections. Oversees photograph digitization projects including the creation of metadata for online database of photographs. Manages processing of large donations of personal papers and other donated documents.
-Uploads archival documents and other historical materials into the library’s digital repository. Analyzes the content of the materials and entering appropriate metadata for each article.
-Digitizes appropriate archival material and uploads into the library’s digital repository. Analyzes the content of the material, determining the appropriate method of digitization and the appropriate metadata to describe the material. —Works closely with the repository’s steering committee to create new digital collections and expand the repository’s content.
-Evaluates the most damaged and deteriorated library materials and determines appropriate repair and enclosure treatments based on accepted conservation practices. Responsible for all necessary preservation activities, including the construction of phase boxes.
-Oversees the management and the preparation of library materials for binding by overseeing the collection and organization of issues/volumes to be sent to the library’s commercial bindery, using software provided by the bindery.
-Coordinates and processes items being transferred to other facilities.
-Uses and configures digital repository, digital preservation, data management, content management, and discovery systems, including open-source solutions.
-Hires, trains, and supervises hourly or temporary workers. Makes process improvement suggestions
EDUCATION
Required
High school diploma or equivalent (such as HSED or GED)
Preferred
Bachelor’s degree in library science or similar field
WORK EXPERIENCE
Required
4 years library experience
Preferred
2 years in archives
2 years working in a special collections environment
SKILLS
Required
-Proficient communication skills
-Maintains a high degree of professionalism
-Demonstrates time management and priority setting skills
-Demonstrates a high commitment to quality
-Possesses flexibility to work in a fast paced, dynamic environment
-Highly thorough and dependable
-Possesses a high degree of initiative
-Ability to build strong customer relationships
-Experience with information systems and web-based applications, such as databases, online search and discovery tools, and cataloging/metadata applications
-Understanding of the common security protocols related to Internet use and protecting the information privacy of library users
Preferred
-Interest in the history and aesthetics of Black film
-Interest in Film Studies or African American Studies
-Interest in or knowledge of archives and archival processes, including finding aids, databases, and/or other archival organizational systems
-Capacity to organize and imagine components and tasks for large-scale projects
-Ability to work directly and interact courteously with the public researchers, artists, students, faculty, and staff
-Ability to maintain collegial working relationships with supervisors and peers in an archive/research center and teaching environment
-Familiarity with or commitment to become familiar with Adobe Creative Cloud
-Familiarity with or commitment to become familiar with common communications tools such as Adobe Spark, Mailchimp, or WordPress to organize and disseminate content about the BFCA
Working Conditions / Demands
This role requires the ability to effectively communicate and to operate a computer and other standard office productivity equipment. The position involves sedentary work as well as periods of time moving around an office environment and the campus. The person in this role must be able to perform the essential functions with or without an accommodation.
Work Location
This position is eligible to work a hybrid schedule (mix between 1 day remote and 4 days in-person work), subject to change in the future based on university policy and business needs.
Advertised Salary
$42,000-$46,000 annually
Work Hours
This position primarily works during standard business hours but may be required to attend and support occasional evening and weekend events, scheduled well in advance. Standard working hours will be adjusted to accommodate these deviations in work hours.
Benefits Overview
For full-time staff employees, Indiana University offers a wide array of benefits including:
-Multiple plan options for medical insurance
-Dental insurance
-Health Savings Account with generous IU contribution
-Life insurance, LTD, and AD&D options
-Base retirement plan contribution from IU, subject to vesting
-Additional supplemental retirement plan options
-Tuition benefit for IU classes
-10 paid holidays per year
-Generous Paid Time Off
-Paid Parental Leave
-Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
Job Classification
Career Level: Mastery
FLSA: Nonexempt
Job Function: Educational Resources & Tech
Job Family: Library Services
Posting Disclaimer
This posting is scheduled to close at 11:59 pm EST on the advertised Close Date. This posting may be closed at any time at the discretion of the University, but will remain open for a minimum of 5 business days. To guarantee full consideration, please submit your application within 5 business days of the Posted Date.
If you wish to include a cover letter, you may include it with your resume when uploading attachments.
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