An opportunity has arisen for an individual to join the Department of Archives and Modern Manuscripts at Cambridge University Library. The University Library's collection of archives and modern manuscripts is one of the most important of its kind in the world. It comprises scientific manuscripts (including those of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking), business archives, papers of politicians and academics, estate and religious archives, and the University Archives, the official records of the University dating from the thirteenth century onwards. Increasingly, future acquisitions will also be in digital form.
The primary responsibility of the role-holder is to support the Archival Management System including ArchiveSearch (the discovery layer) across Cambridge University libraries, including Cambridge University Library and college, departmental and affiliated archives. A project has recently been completed to implement a new Archive Management System for use of Cambridge archives. As the lead expert on the Archive Management System in the Department they will work with colleagues in the Archive and Modern Manuscripts and Digital Initiatives departments and across Cambridge University Libraries, as well as the community of participating archives across Cambridge, to maintain the system and develop its use and application to meet the needs of stakeholders. The Systems Archivist will act as a first point of contact for system users, responding to inquiries and coordinating with Digital Initiatives colleagues to address issues and plan system maintenance, liaise with the Cambridge archives community acting and support the Cambridge AMS User group, maintain documentation and training for archivists, support end-user testing of the system, and develop its further implementation to support collection management for CUL including location data upgrade. They will support on-boarding of new collections and users, undertaking data analysis and supporting data migration where appropriate. The Systems Archivists will liaise with colleagues in Digital Initiatives working on the Digital Preservation Project, including the Metadata Specialist to develop use of the AMS for managing digital archives.v
We are looking for a qualified archivist or information professional with knowledge of archival collections and services, experience of using an archive management system and working with metadata standards and production within an academic library, archive, museum or related environment. With knowledge of relevant metadata standards and schema, advanced skills working with large quantities of textual data using a range of applications and experience of data management and migration. We are seeking an individual with additional experience developing procedures and guidelines, strong reasoning and analytic ability and advanced team working and communication skills, with the ability to organise their own work effectively and to establish priorities, working with accuracy and attention to detail.