Head of Archival Processing, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

Location: Corvallis, Oregon, USA
Compensation: $77,773 - $82,923 (USD)

Working for Oregon State University is so much more than a job!

Oregon State University is a dynamic community of dreamers, doers, problem-solvers and change-makers. We don't wait for challenges to present themselves - we seek them out and take them on. We welcome students, faculty and staff from every background and perspective into a community where everyone feels seen and heard. We have deep-rooted mindfulness for the natural world and all who depend on it, and together, we apply knowledge, tools and skills to build a better future for all.

FACTS:

• Top 1.4% university in the world
• More research funding than all public universities in Oregon combined
• 1 of 3 land, sea, space and sun grant universities in the U.S.
• 2 campuses, 11 colleges, 12 experiment stations, and Extension programs in all 36 counties
• 7 cultural resource centers that offer education, celebration and belonging for everyone
• 100+ undergraduate degree programs, 80+ graduate degrees plus hundreds of minor options and certificates
• 35k+ students including more than 2.3k international students and 10k students of color
• 217k+ alumni worldwide
• For more interesting facts about OSU visit: https://oregonstate.edu/about

Locations:

Oregon State has a statewide presence with campuses in Corvallis and Bend, the OSU Portland Center and the Hatfield Marine Science Center on the Pacific Coast in Newport.

Oregon State's beautiful, historic and state-of-the-art main campus is located in one of America's best college towns. Corvallis is located close to the Pacific Ocean, the Cascade mountains and Oregon wine country. Nestled in the heart of the Willamette Valley, this beautiful city offers miles of mountain biking and hiking trails, a river perfect for boating or kayaking and an eclectic downtown featuring local cuisine, popular events and performances.

Total Rewards Package:

Oregon State University offers a comprehensive benefits package with benefits eligible positions that is designed to meet the needs of employees and their families including:

• Medical, Dental, Vision and Basic Life. OSU pays 95% of premiums for you and your eligible dependents.
• Free confidential mental health and emotional support services, and counseling resources.
• Retirement savings paid by the university.
• A generous paid leave package, including holidays, vacation and sick leave.
• Tuition reduction benefits for you or your qualifying dependents at OSU or the additional six Oregon Public Universities.
• Robust Work Life programs including Dual Career assistance resources, flexible work arrangements, a Family Resource Center, Affinity Groups and an Employee Assistance Program.

Future and current OSU employees can use the Benefits Calculator to learn more about the full value of the benefits provided at OSU.

Description and Duties    

OSU Libraries and Press is seeking a Head of Archival Processing. This is a full-time (1.0 FTE), 12-month, professional faculty position.

The Head of Archival Processing is a Professional Faculty position within the OSU Libraries' Special Collections and Archives Research Center (SCARC) and reports to the Department Head. The Head of Archival Processing's primary responsibility is the oversight and project management of archival arrangement and description, in addition to overseeing collection maintenance for archival materials. The Head of Archival Processing fosters a culture of ethical, sustainable, and service-oriented stewardship of SCARC's resources. The Head of Archival Processing supervises two faculty members, the Collections Archivist and the University Records Manager, and may be asked to represent SCARC on the Department Head's behalf.

As the repository for and steward of the OSU Libraries' rare and unique materials, SCARC builds distinctive collections in five signature areas: natural resources, the history of science, university history, Oregon's hops and brewing history, and Oregon's multicultural communities. These collections encompass manuscripts, archives, rare books, oral histories, photographs, ephemera, audio/visual materials, and electronic records. SCARC makes these resources available to the OSU community, Oregonians, and the larger community of scholars and independent researchers, and provides opportunities for teaching, inquiry, and learning.

Primary Assignment (90%)

OSULP faculty work strategically to support research and creativity, enhance learning and build community for the students, faculty and staff of Oregon State and for the citizens of Oregon. Their work has a demonstrable impact on the three main pillars of OSU's mission: teaching and learning, research and inquiry, and outreach and engagement. OSU faculty apply specialized expertise from library and information science, archival studies, and related fields to ensure that the Oregon State community has rich, organized, affordable, accessible and inclusive information resources to help the OSU community learn new things, solve difficult problems, investigate important questions, and create knowledge. They also work to create or support the administrative and physical infrastructure that enables delivery of high-quality information services. OSU faculty support the educational mission of the university, both directly and indirectly, by building the dynamic, engaging collections, services, and spaces that foster independent inquiry and learning, and by creating experiential or other learning experiences. They develop and nurture relationships with colleagues, inside the library and out, to support and enrich their work and they participate in the shared governance of OSULP and OSU. They strive to understand the diverse communities they serve, and work to make OSULP an inclusive, just organization. To support all of this, OSULP faculty engage in regular, critical reflection on practice to understand the impact of their work and to dismantle harmful assumptions.

OSULP professional faculty are expected to focus between 80-90 percent of their FTE on performance in their primary assignment. Performance in the primary assignment is evaluated annually in a structured, reflective conversation between the faculty member and their direct supervisor.

Specific duties and expectations for the Head of Archival Processing include:

Project Management of Archival Processing: 70%

• Directs SCARC's arrangement and description activities, setting high standards in keeping with professional best practices.
• Determines processing priorities and leads holistic project management of archival arrangement and description in the department. This position is responsible for developing strategies to reduce SCARC's processing backlog and increase access to collections.
• Processes and prepares finding aids for archival and manuscript collections.
• Supervises arrangement and description projects within the Archival Processing Unit undertaken by the Collections Archivist and student employees.
• Leads the Arrangement and Description Team; shapes the team's meeting agendas and collaboratively determines annual goals and work plans for the team.
• Supervises accessioning and collecting activities of the University Records Manager and Collections Archivist.
• Stays abreast of standards and best practices for equity, diversity, inclusion, and anti-racism (EDIAR) in the description of archival collections, especially of under-represented and marginalized individuals and communities, and implements concrete action items into SCARC's arrangement and description work.
• Coordinates the final review and promotion of newly completed SCARC finding aids; submits new and updated finding aids to the Archives West database
• Collaborates with SCARC colleagues and the OSULP Digital Preservation Group to set policies and procedures for long-term preservation and access to records in all formats
• Directs the Collection Archivist's collection maintenance work in SCARC's 3rd floor archival storage stacks and assists with weeding, shifting, space management, and updating shelf list inventories in a supervisory capacity. Oversees collection maintenance work conducted by the University Records Manager within the OSU Records Centers and assists with planning for a new record center location.
• Assists the Digital Collections and Metadata Archivist with SCARC's transition to ArchivesSpace as a member of the implementation team. After the ArchivesSpace transition is complete, suggests improvements to the database and collaborates with Library Information Technology (LIT) staff to improve the user interface.
• Serves as OSULP representative to the Orbis Cascades Alliance Archives and Manuscripts Program.
• Assists the Archivist for Oral History and Digital Projects with technical accessioning of born digital records, following SCARC's established workflow. Works with the Digital Projects Team to improve technical accessioning capabilities, as needed.
• Suggests materials for digitization and online delivery to improve access to SCARC's resources.

Supervision: 20%

• Directs the work of two professional faculty: the Collections Archivist and University Records Manager.
• In collaboration with Archival Processing Unit, hires, trains, and mentors undergraduate and graduate students working as student employees and interns engaged in archival arrangement and description.

Professional Activity (10%)

Professional activity is an important professional value in libraries and archives. OSULP faculty serve as engaged participants in the shared work of the Libraries and Press and in the shared governance of Oregon State University. As faculty members at a land grant university, they engage in professional activity to shape and strengthen their skills and the library and archival professions in Oregon and beyond, and to benefit the citizens of Oregon. Professional activity is usually closely aligned with daily practice in the primary assignment, and should allow the faculty member to: 1) enhance their professional skill set; 2) share the expertise developed through their practice with colleagues in the library, on campus, and throughout their professional communities; and 3) engage in conversations and contribute to projects that will inform and enrich their practice. OSULP faculty may, from time to time, undertake professional activity that does not directly align with their primary assignment but that does tap an area of interest or expertise or willingness that they possess; these commitments, however, should not dominate their service portfolio.

OSULP professional faculty are expected to focus between 10 and 20 percent of their FTE on professional activity. They should be able to demonstrate the impact of their work on both personal and institutional levels.

The specific duties and expectations for the Head of Archival Processing include:

• Participates in collaborative activities that may include service on committees for the OSU Libraries and the University.
• Demonstrates collegiality by actively participating in the governance and decision-making undertaken by library faculty through the Library Faculty Association (LFA).
• Actively engages in professional archival and library organizations in Oregon, the region, and/or nationally, such as Northwest Archivists, ALA's Rare Book and Manuscripts Section (RBMS), and the Society of American Archivists.

Qualifications    

What You Will Need:

• Master's degree in library/information science from an ALA-accredited institution (or foreign equivalent) or an advanced degree in a related field that included coursework in archival theory and practice
• Significant demonstrated experience processing and preparing finding aids for archival and manuscript collections.
• At least one year of demonstrated experience supervising employees, must include: hiring, training, evaluating, coaching, and mentoring. Supervision of students will be considered but preference is for supervision of full-time employees.
• Experience in the use and maintenance of collection management systems such as ArchivesSpace, Archon, Archivist Toolkit, or AToM.
• Experience with collection and space management in an archival or special collections environment.
• Excellent project management skills, especially as it relates to collection management and arrangement and description workflows. Ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously; this may include planning, coordinating, and implementing effective programs, complex projects, or service models. Must be adaptive to working in a dynamic environment prone to change and possess the ability to work independently and collaboratively as a member of a team.
• Excellent research and organizational skills, including the ability to problem-solve, and interpret and enforce policies through team-based diplomatic, adaptable, and pragmatic approaches both internal to the department and external to it.
• Demonstrated knowledge of standards and best practices for equity, diversity, and inclusion in the description of archival collections, especially of under-represented and marginalized individuals and communities, and demonstrated experience in the application of those principles in order to increase access and awareness of these materials.
• This position is designated as a critical or security-sensitive position; therefore, the incumbent must successfully complete a criminal history check and be determined to be position qualified as per University Standard: 05-010 et seq. Incumbents are required to self-report convictions and those in youth programs may have additional criminal history checks every 24 months.

What We Would Like You to Have:

• Evidence of an expansion of duties as an archivist, with preference for experience in an academic or research university setting.
• Experience working with technical support, systems, and programming staff in relation to a collection management system.
• Knowledge of best practices for the procedures for technical accessioning of materials in electronic formats.
• Awareness of records management theory, standards/best practices, and technologies.

Additional Information    
Information about Corvallis (where Oregon State University is located):

Corvallis is a vibrant small college town located in the heart of the Willamette Valley (pronounced "Wil-AM-it"), bordered on the northwest by the Oregon Coast Range. The Oregon coast is a one-hour drive away (the nearest coastal town is Newport, home to the Oregon Coast Aquarium and a popular vacation destination.) As of the 2020 Census, Corvallis's population was 59,922. The Corvallis School District is consistently ranked in the top ten school districts in Oregon. Besides Oregon State University, major employers include: Samaritan Health Services, SIGA Technologies (a pharmaceutical company), the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), Linn-Benton Community College, and Hewlett-Packard, Inc. Temperatures are generally mild throughout the year, with warm, dry, sunny summers and mild, wet winters. Frequent rainfall is common in the spring and fall. Despite the rain, biking is a popular mode of transport in Corvallis. Many major streets feature bike lanes and a significant percentage of OSU employees commute by bike, as well as on foot. The central Willamette Valley is an outdoor enthusiast's paradise with many opportunities for hiking and water sports. Skiing and snowboarding opportunities are a three hour drive away in Bend or on Mt. Hood (east of Portland). Gardening is a popular pastime in the Willamette Valley. Corvallis is home to an excellent year-round Farmers Market and is a short drive from many wineries, breweries, and distilleries.

For more information:

• https://www.visitcorvallis.com/
• https://admissions.oregonstate.edu/corvallis
• https://www.intostudy.com/en/universities/oregon-state-university/living-in-corvallis

How to Apply
    
To view full details and apply please visit: https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/153466

For additional information please contact: Tiah Edmunson-Morton (Search Chair), 541-737-7387
Application Webpage
Application Deadline: May 23, 2024