Digital Production Associate

About the role

The Digital Production Associate (“DPA”) contributes to digital production workflows in an active library environment within the Distinctive Collections & Digital Scholarship Division. Reporting to the Head of Digital Initiatives and Open Publishing, the DPA is responsible for the digitization of textual, photographic, and audiovisual materials associated with The Claremont Colleges Digital Library and other special projects. The DPA contributes to the success of digitization projects through effective collaboration, communication, and by skillful project management and oversight of assigned digital library operations and the special collections scan‑on‑demand program.

Responsibilities

• Participates in digital production and publishing workflows for the Claremont Colleges Digital Library (CCDL) and Scholarship@Claremont, with a keen attention to detail and a strong commitment to quality, consistency, accessibility, and long‑term digital preservation.
• Performs quality control of digitized and born‑digital content, including imaging, post‑processing, audiovisual content, optical character recognition (OCR), metadata, file management, and other digital production activities in accordance with established workflows and standards, including applicable FADGI standards.
• Participates in the digital collections lifecycle, from digitization and metadata creation through content ingest, publishing, and digital asset management.
• Supports the Open Publishing Applications Specialist (OPAS) in open publishing production work, including managing the submission of content, creating metadata, designing and documenting workflows, monitoring and ensuring the quality of data, and tracking projects through the publication process.
• Maintains close and effective communication and reporting on digitization and asset ingest, production issues, and project activities with the Head of Digital Initiatives and Open Publishing.
• Supports the production and management of video and audio recordings, including AV reformatting and transcription workflows, such as generating, reviewing, correcting and preparing machine‑generated transcripts to enhance accessibility and support their use in digital collections and publishing workflows.
• Responds to email inquiries submitted to the Digital Initiatives LibAnswers queue.
• Oversees scan‑on‑demand processes including coordination with related units.
• Provides training and guidance to student assistants supporting digitization, scan‑on‑demand, and audiovisual projects and communicates any issues to the Head of Digital Initiatives and Open Publishing in a timely manner.
• Assigns and monitors student work and provides training in digitization equipment, imaging, post‑processing, quality control, metadata, content ingest, AV reformatting, and file management.
• Documents procedures and workflows.
• Tracks and reports on project progress, milestones, and production outputs and communicates issues requiring supervisory attention.
• Works collaboratively to make recommendations regarding digitization, metadata, quality control, and production workflows.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Requirements

• A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution.
• At least two (2) years of relevant experience in digital production, digitization, digital collections, digital publishing, photography, or a related field, including experience managing digital assets and workflows, creating and maintaining documentation, and applying established standards and procedures to the production of digital content.
• Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the U.S.; sponsorship of an employment visa is not available.

Skills

• Knowledge of digital asset and content management practices, including metadata, file formats, reformatting and digitization workflows, image capture, post‑processing, OCR, quality control, and preservation.
• Demonstrated ability to manage projects and workflows, prioritize competing tasks, meet deadlines, and ensure the quality and consistency of work.
• General knowledge of audio‑visual terminology and equipment.
• Ability to learn and work effectively with evolving technologies, systems, and digital production tools.
• Ability to analyze and troubleshoot digitization and digital production processes and remediate them.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with colleagues, project partners, and other stakeholders.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail with a focus on accuracy, quality, accessibility, and long‑term digital preservation.
• Ability to work effectively both independently and collaboratively in a production‑oriented, team environment.
• Preferred: Experience with technology developed or adopted by the archival community for digitizing manuscript material and managing digital content, including familiarity with FADGI guidelines and related digital preservation practices.
• Preferred: Experience with or demonstrated interest in applying WCAG standards and best practices for digital content.
• Preferred: Experience with capture/conversion and editing software for video and audio files, including ability to troubleshoot audiovisual equipment.
• Preferred: Experience with digital repository, digital asset management, or publishing platforms such as CONTENTdm and/or bepress.
• Preferred: Knowledge of digital preservation principles, standards, and practices.
• Preferred: Experience with applications used in digital production such as MS Excel, Adobe Photoshop, etc.
• Preferred: Experience using project management tools or methods to coordinate complex, multi‑step projects.