Job Description
The Divided America Project Archivist is a project-based position housed at the John Hay Library. Work will primarily be accomplished at the Library Collections Annex. The Divided America Project is grant funded and will support public programming and provide digital access to nearly 1,000,000 pages from Brown’s Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda. The Hall-Hoag Collection, the country's largest research collection of material on political, social and religious dissent in the United States, documents 30,000 organizations and offers a unique basis for understanding U.S. social and political developments from 1946 to 1999 (and beyond). It serves as the anchor collection of one of the John Hay Library’s signature collection strengths: Ideology and Power, which documents the evolution of political, social, and religious ideologies and the complex ways in which ideology influences social and political power structures. Digitization of the Hall-Hoag Collection will contribute to the Hay’s commitment to expanding access to underrepresented groups and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion collection materials.
Reporting to the Head of Digital Services and Records Management, this term-limited position will manage all aspects of the project including the document preparation, creation of metadata, and ongoing relations with the digitization vendor. Digitization of the Hall-Hoag Collection will be divided into 78 two-week sprints. To support this work, the Divided America Project Archivist will train and oversee 4 to 10 student assistants to perform entry-level tasks in the creation of batches for the two-week sprints to meet the overall project deadline. The Archivist will provide periodic updates to library leadership and granting agencies. The Archivist will be responsible for the selection and preparation of materials and creation of pre-digitization metadata. They will use project management techniques and software to track status of materials and coordinate with the digitization vendor and the Library mail room to ensure timely delivery of materials. The Archivist will conduct image quality control of digitized images, collaborate with library staff to ensure post-digitization metadata is correct, and will oversee the upload of images and metadata into the Brown Digital Repository. The Archivist will also be an integral member of the intellectual and professional communities of the John Hay Library and the University Library more broadly and will participate in staff meetings and development. The Archivist will have the opportunity to participate in yearly professional conferences for development and present on the grant project at conferences including Society of American Archivists. They will also collaborate with the Center for Digital Scholarship’s Digital Publication Initiative on the creation of a digital symposium and digital exhibition.
About the John Hay Library:
The John Hay Library is home to Brown University’s remarkable collections of rare books, manuscripts, and archival material. The Hay and its collections attract an international cohort of researchers, and as a Carnegie Library, the Hay is committed to investing in community and public engagement. To ensure that its collections are carefully stewarded for long-term access and use by any visitor, the John Hay Library Collection Policy outlines six strategic collecting directions and core guiding principles for collecting. The Hay’s mission is to collect and preserve rare and unique materials that promote interdisciplinary research, teaching, and learning and inspire experimentation and creativity. Its collections support free and open inquiry, and we are committed to providing equitable access to our collections, exhibitions, and programming to a global community of students, scholars, and the public.
The Brown University Library is a dynamic center of scholarship and community at the heart of a world-class research university. Supporting and collaborating with a broad and diverse academic constituency, the Library is essential for Brown’s mission “to serve the community, the nation, and the world by discovering, communicating, and preserving knowledge and understanding in a spirit of free inquiry.” Integrating with Brown’s ambitious strategic plans, the Library is a site of innovation that fuels intellectual creativity. Signature Library initiatives include the establishment of the Center for Library Exploration and Research to increase campus and community impact; the Racial Justice Project to assess and counteract the legacies of historical racism in library practice; the Digital Publications Initiative pioneering new approaches to born-digital scholarship; and a revisioned special collections program that is positioning the John Hay Library as a research destination and leader in reparative and community-based collecting. We are seeking outstanding library professionals at all levels of the organization who are excited about advancing academic excellence at the highest level, and who will bring a wide array of backgrounds, experiences, and abilities to a scholarly community that is actively committed to being more diverse and inclusive.
About the Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda:
The collection contains documents representing a broad spectrum of political, social and religious dissent in the United States, from the post-World War II period to the present. The Collection currently constitutes the country's largest research collection of right and left wing U.S. extremist groups, from 1950 to 1999. The collection began when Gordon Hall, a young veteran of the Pacific Theater during the war, first encountered the printed propaganda issued by domestic hate-your-neighbor organizations/groups in the late 1940's. He supported his investigations and research of these organizations by giving public lectures about them. Materials from all corners of the United States were collected, enabling him to document statements made in lectures as well as in a growing number of expository articles written for newspapers and magazines. Grace Hoag, an alumna of Smith College, began collaboration with Hall during the 1960's, assisting the research and investigation and expanding the collection beyond its initial emphasis. The Hall-Hoag Collection is particularly notable for its quantity of rare material from conservative groups, especially dissenting and extremist organizations at the local level that have significantly shaped national discourse and influenced the agendas of the major political parties.
This is a 3.25-year externally-funded term-limited exempt position. This position is hybrid eligible, after the first month with 1 day of remote work and 4 days of onsite work.
Major Responsibility: Project Management 55%
Supporting Actions:
- Create batches of material from Hall-Hoag that can be completed in cycles of 10 business days (2 weeks) and will prepare 78 batches over the course of the project for the digitization vendor.
- Create and/or modify workflows for processing collection materials.
- Select, sort, prepare and rehouse Hall-Hoag collection materials for each batch.
- Managing the flow of boxes between the John Hay Library and the digitization vendor using Aeon, Airtable, Alma and spreadsheet software and communicating with Library mailroom staff and digitization vendor to arrange deliveries.
- Conduct quality control of the images that return from the vendor and transfer images to temporary storage for metadata creation and preparation for upload to the Brown Digital Repository (BDR).
- Participate with Library Digital Technology department in upload of digitized images and associated metadata to BDR and explore opportunities to automate processes.
- Update organization information in the Hall-Hoag Collection database as needed.
- Maintain communication with research services staff regarding which materials in the collection are available at any given time.
- Create grant progress reports for both granting organizations informing them of project status and provide regular updates to Library leadership. Responsible for leading the creation of the final reports for granting organizations.
Major Responsibility: Metadata 20 %
Supporting Actions:
- Completing the descriptive metadata for the objects that will be added to the Brown Digital Repository being conscious of creating accurate, representative descriptions for digitized materials.
- Metadata creation will begin pre-digitization and will be completed post-digitization prior to upload to the BDR.
- Collaborate with Metadata Services and Collection Services to create descriptive metadata for digitized materials
- Expand subject tagging of organization and develop a system to automate assignment of subject tagging.
Major Responsibility: Supervision 15%
Supporting Actions:
- Responsible for hiring, training, and supervising up to 10 students per academic semester and summer with support from supervisor and other Hay staff.
- Responsible for scheduling students to meet the 2-week sprint deadlines.
- Oversee entry level processing of materials completed by students for preparation.
- Spot review work for quality prior to delivery to digitization vendor.
- Provide support to students and answer questions as needed.
- With oversight and guidance from the Head, Digital Services and Records Management mentor and provide support to students.
- Answer student questions as needed.
Major Responsibility: Outreach 10%
Supporting Actions:
- Attend yearly professional conferences for development and present the grant project at conferences including Society of American Archivists.
- Participate in drafting publicity and other announcements. Write posts for the Hall-Hoag Collection library blog.
- Update the front end of the Hall-Hoag Collection database public user interface with explanatory text to make it more user friendly.
- Collaborate with Associate University Librarian for Special Collections on planning and execution of public-facing grant elements, including a scholarly symposium.
- Liaise with the Digital Publications Initiative on the digital publication planning and creation process.
Education and Experience
- ALA-accredited master’s degree in library or information science, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
- 1 year of experience in an academic library, public library, school library or other cultural heritage setting, or educational institution in a cataloging, teaching, administration, or research role.
- Experience providing public access to original cultural heritage resources through cataloging, reference, research or teaching.
- Demonstrated ability to research historical subjects, remain abreast of research and academic trends, and learn and apply evolving professional descriptive standards.
- Familiarity with library or museum cataloging standards such as DACS, CCO, MODS, MARC, AACR2, or RDA, desirable but not required.
- Demonstrated planning, decision making, and problem-solving skills with superior verbal and written communication skills.
- Excellent organizational, time, and project management skills.
- Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively in a diverse, dynamic, team setting or across institutions and to balance multiple competing priorities.
- Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion at every level of the University.
All offers of employment are contingent upon a criminal background check and education verification satisfactory to Brown University.
Recruiting Start Date:
2022-05-26-07:00
Job Posting Title:
The Divided America Project Archivist
Department:
University Library
Grade:
Grade 10
Worker Type:
Employee
Worker Sub-Type:
Regular
Time Type:
Full time
Scheduled Weekly Hours:
37.5
Position Classification:
Hybrid Eligible
Submission Guidelines:
Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any staff position at Brown University you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.
Vaccination Requirements:
In order to maintain 90% or greater universal vaccination rates on campus, all newly hired employees at Brown University must receive the final dose of the COVID-19 vaccine before they begin work, unless they are approved for a medical or religious exemption. All employees must also receive a COVID-19 booster within thirty (30) days of becoming eligible. For more information, please visit the Healthy Brown site.
Still Have Questions?
If you have any questions you may contact employment@brown.edu.
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