Digital Archivist

Syracuse University is committed to delivering an exceptional student experience through vibrant, engaged campus communities. This position is based at the Syracuse, NY campus and requires regular in-person presence to support students, collaborate with colleagues, and contribute to the academic environment.

About the role

In accordance with the mission of Syracuse University Libraries (SUL) and the Special Collections Research Center (SCRC), the Digital Archivist helps collect, accession, process, preserve, and provide access to born-digital materials documenting the history of Syracuse University and our global society. Reporting to SCRC’s Lead Archivist, the Digital Archivist works with SCRC and the Department of Digital Stewardship (DDS) to develop and implement policies, standards, and procedures supporting the acquisition, processing, and creation of access to born-digital materials in SCRC collections. The Digital Archivist advises and assists with the acquisition of born-digital materials, processes and describes them, and collaborates with SCRC and DDS staff to make them available for research and classroom use. The role also involves applying a reparative framework to the acquisition and description of born-digital materials.

Responsibilities

• Arrange and describe born-digital and hybrid archival collections and create DACS-compliant EAD finding aids.
• Develop, implement, and regularly update policies and workflows for processing born-digital archival collection materials, working collaboratively with SCRC and DDS staff.
• Coordinate the transfer of digital materials from a variety of current and legacy storage media and external server locations.
• Ensure that the department follows appropriate professional standards for descriptive, structural, and administrative metadata for born-digital materials.
• Ensure that SCRC’s born-digital content is accessible in accordance with University and donor restrictions, federal law, and copyright regulations.
• Review, identify, and potentially redact personal and other confidential information protected by federal law or University policy in born-digital files.
• Remain current with emerging technologies, standards, and best practices in digital archiving to support long-term accessibility and discoverability of born-digital collections.
• Collaborate with SCRC and DDS staff to implement discovery and access for born-digital materials.
• Work with SCRC instruction staff and University faculty to provide access to archival born-digital materials for classroom use.
• Advise on community archiving for student organizations and local historically underrepresented communities.
• Assist curators and University Archives staff in facilitating the acquisition and/or transfer of born-digital materials, collaborating with partners such as donors, campus offices, University Records Management, Libraries IT, and DDS.
• Lead the SCRC web archiving program in close collaboration with the University Archivist and curators.
• Facilitate appraisal of born-digital materials.
• Identify, collect, and assist in preserving born-digital content for special projects.
• Engage in activities that contribute to the advancement of the Libraries, the university, and the library profession, including participating on teams, committees, or special projects; organizing workshops or conferences; publishing; or conducting research.
• Maintain awareness of professional developments, issues, and practices through research and activities that increase knowledge and abilities.

Requirements

• ALA-accredited Master of Library and Information Science degree or related advanced degree.
• At least two years of full-time experience arranging and describing born-digital and physical materials in a special collections or archives environment.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of and experience with professional archival standards, best practices, and technologies for capturing, accessing, arranging, describing, preserving, and transferring digital archival materials, including web archiving.
• Significant understanding of laws and ethics that inform digital archives and digitization activities in a higher education environment.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to communicate and work effectively with technical and non-technical staff, faculty, researchers, and donors.
• Experience working in collaborative and team environments as well as independently.
• Knowledge of applicable state and federal laws as well as common standards regarding accessibility of digital content.
• Proficiency with relevant web archiving tools (such as ArchiveIt) and the WARC format, digital preservation tools (such as Preservica), and email archiving tools (such as ePADD or RATOM).
• Proficiency with strategies for collecting and describing social media content.
• Experience using AI for tasks such as description and identification of duplicate and sensitive information.
• Proficiency with scripting languages or tools (e.g., Python, SQL, XSLT, OpenRefine) to transform, apply, or remediate metadata.

Preferred: Digital Archives Specialist certification from the Society of American Archivists or equivalent education and experience.

Benefits

This position will be appointed at the Assistant Librarian, Senior Assistant Librarian, or Associate Librarian rank based on the successful candidate’s qualifications. Final salary will be determined based on experience and assigned rank.

Pay

$64,300 - $72,500

Schedule

• Standard University business hours: 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM (academic year), 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM (summer). Hours may vary based on operational needs.
• This is a full-time, 37.5-hour-per-week position.