Cambridge University Libraries are about to embark on an exciting five-year Digital Preservation Programme to establish the Cambridge University Libraries Digital Preservation Service.
Based at the main University Library, an exciting opportunity has come up for a Metadata Specialist on the Programme. This is a new role for the Library that is essential for delivering the digital preservation service and contributing to a wider Digital Transformation Programme, both of which will support the Library's vast and diverse collections of digital materials as well as digital materials held by other libraries and University bodies.
The Digital Preservation Programme is a first for the University Library. The scope of this work includes a cloud-native and open-source digital repository and digital preservation system to underpin activities that ensure current and ongoing access to digital materials, as well as the implementation of additional tools that provide capabilities for the deposit of digital materials as well as search, discovery, access, use, and re-use.
The digital preservation service will support digital collection materials from when they are acquired or created to when they are accessed, used, and re-used by readers, as well as the stages in between, to ensure that current and future users can access and use these materials of cultural and historic importance and of global significance. The Library's digital collection materials consist of digitised images created from print and physical artefacts, research publications and data, and born-digital archives, amongst others.
Based within the Digital Preservation team and working with the Head of Digital Preservation, the Metadata Specialist is a dedicated role which focuses on the metadata required to support the current and ongoing preservation and access of digital materials. This person will play an essential role in ensuring that metadata for digital collection materials exists within respective systems, in contributing to the creation of any new data models and schemas, as well as optimising and in enhancing new and existing processes around collection metadata for digital materials.
The Metadata Specialist will focus on the following activities within the Digital Preservation Programme:
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Analysing and evaluating the existing flow of metadata for digital collection materials.
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Undertaking clean-up, transformation, optimisation and/or enrichment of metadata in library systems to:
supporting new and existing collection management activities for digital materials.
increasing efficiency and use of metadata.
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Informing how metadata for digital collection materials will be consumed by systems implemented within programme, as well as systems that will remain.
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Promoting and supporting the use of metadata for digital collection materials in its creation, enrichment, analysis, as well as in the provision of management information.
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Contributing to the development of local metadata standards and policies, develop and implement workflows, and monitor compliance with agreed metadata standards.