at University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Job Description
DepartmentHUM Staff: Digital Studies Administration
About the Department
The Forum for Digital Culture is the cross-departmental center for digital arts and humanities at the University of Chicago. The Forum's three pillars are: 1) Teaching digital skills and tools via an M.A. degree program, Ph.D. certificate program, B.A. minor, and non-credit tutorials, 2) Research support for projects through all stages of computational work, from the initial acquisition of data to its long-term archiving, and 3) Publication of research data and digital media compositions on the Web plus on-campus outreach via lectures, conferences, and workshops.
Job Summary
Reporting to the Director of Technology, Forum for Digital Culture, the UChicago Node Migration Specialist performs data preparation, ingestion, and integration in support of the UChicagoNode project, a partnership between the University of Chicago Library and the Arts and Humanities Division to bring together existing digital assets and interfaces from Library and faculty projects into a comprehensive, modernized, sustainable digital humanities ecosystem. The Migration Specialist will create, modify, and/or import metadata for digital collections, and other research data, which will be included in UChicagoNode according to established specifications and formats, ensuring high quality and accuracy.
This position is full-time, benefits eligible, and one year only.
Candidates must upload both required documents, resume and cover letter, to be considered for the position. When applying, the document(s) MUST be uploaded via the My Experience page in the section titled, Resume/CV of the application.
Responsibilities
- In cooperation with the computational team at the Forum, participates in the entire data migration process, from initial planning through to implementation. Ensures that both retrospectively digitized materials and newly created digital content meet established standards and best practices, facilitates optimal discoverability and usability of the collections and research data; refining workflow processes to enhance efficiency and productivity across the collaborating teams of the Library and the Forum.
- Imports metadata and data from various external sources into OCHRE (the Online Cultural and Historical Research Environment), the computational platform adopted by UChicagoNode, enriching the existing collection and documentation of local metadata practices. Evaluates and integrates external metadata while ensuring that it aligns with our institutional standards, thereby enhancing the richness and usability of the Library's digital collections and faculty project research data.
- Participates in metadata creation for both retrospectively digitized and born-digital collections, and for faculty research data, ensuring effective workflow management and adherence to standards and best practices.
- Implements metadata policies and standards, including descriptive, structural, technical, administrative, and rights metadata, to facilitate digital collection production, management, and access. Ensures that descriptive, structural, technical, administrative, and rights metadata are systematically applied, supporting effective digital collection production and management while enhancing user access and navigation.
- Supervises student research assistants in entering born-digital data into OCHRE, providing hands-on training and consultation.
- Actively collaborates with the Library's Digital Collections Working Group, Technical Services, SCRC, and other units to apply current and emerging metadata schemas, enhancing digital collection discoverability; focusing on enhancing the discoverability of the Library's digital collections, ensuring they are accessible and easily navigable for users.
- Assists in setting policies for collections and research data management. Participates in designing and implementing workflows for acquiring materials for collections.
- With moderate to high levels of direction from others, analyzes the users' requirements and solves routine database problems that ensures users and related applications can access necessary data sets.
- Interprets existing data and populates the database with new data from external sources. Maintains documentation on data models, data dictionaries, physical database configuration, and daily database maintenance functions.
- Participates in the development of queries and retrieval systems.
- Monitors the database storage system used to securely store and organize datasets.
- Performs other related work as needed.
Minimum Qualifications
Education:
Minimum requirements include a college or university degree in related field.
Work Experience:
Minimum requirements include knowledge and skills developed through
Certifications:
---
Preferred Education
- Master's degree in the Humanities or related field with a focus on digital libraries, metadata, or data management.
Experience:
- 1+ years experience in a relevant library, data management, or related environment.
- 1+ years experience using the OCHRE platform.
Preferred Competencies
- Strong organizational skills.
- Collaborate effectively and collegially with supervisors and colleagues.
- Capability to work independently with minimal supervision.
- Proficient in reading and writing documentation.
- Work efficiently and with attention to detail.
Working Conditions
- Primarily in-person during business hours at the Forum for Digital Culture, Hyde Park location.
- Use computers extensively during the course of the working day.
Application Documents
- Resume/CV (required)
- Cover Letter (preferred)
When applying, the document(s) MUSTbe uploaded via the My Experience page, in the section titled Application Documents of the application.
Job Family
Information Technology
Role Impact
Individual Contributor
Scheduled Weekly Hours
37.5
Drug Test Required
No
Health Screen Required
No
Motor Vehicle Record Inquiry Required
No
Pay Rate Type
Salary
FLSA Status
Exempt
Pay Range
$55,000.00 - $60,000.00
The included pay rate or range represents the University's good faith estimate of the possible compensation offer for this role at the time of posting.
Benefits Eligible
Yes
The University of Chicago offers a wide range of benefits programs and resources for eligible employees, including health, retirement, and paid time off. Information about the benefit offerings can be found in the Benefits Guidebook.
Posting Statement
The University of Chicago is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or expression, national or ethnic origin, shared ancestry, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.
Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.
All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.
The University of Chicago's Annual Security & Fire Safety Report (Report) provides information about University offices and programs that provide safety support, crime and fire statistics, emergency response and communications plans, and other policies and information. The Report can be accessed online at:http://securityreport.uchicago.edu.Paper copies of the Report are available, upon request, from the University of Chicago Police Department, 850 E. 61st Street, Chicago, IL 60637. To view full details and how to apply, please login or create a Job Seeker account
