Catalog Maintenance Assistant

Virginia Commonwealth University•Richmond, VA

7d•Onsite

About The Position

The Resource Acquisition and Metadata Services department is the foundation of discovery at VCU Libraries. We manage the lifecycle of the libraries' vast collections, ensuring that physical and digital resources are acquired, organized, and described accurately. By maintaining a highly precise catalog, our team enables students, faculty, and global researchers to seamlessly locate and access the information they need. Beginning in July 2026, VCU Libraries will consolidate selected collections into a dedicated high density storage facility. Under the direct supervision of the department head, the Catalog Maintenance Associate will serve as the primary catalog maintenance liaison for this consolidation project. This role requires active daily collaboration, including attending daily on site check in meetings with project stakeholders to keep operations moving smoothly. In this role, you will be responsible for the daily review of exceptions arising from the consolidation project, routing them to the responsible departments, and performing routine corrections to catalog data for selected collections spanning both the James Branch Cabell and Health Sciences Libraries.

Requirements

Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from all backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.
Familiarity with library collections demonstrated by the ability to identify bibliographic information from handling physical materials.
Aptitude for accuracy, manipulating detailed data, data fields, and multi-step workflows.
Ability to follow detailed procedures, working both independently and as part of a team.
Demonstrated experience in recognizing and communicating problems and seeking input from stakeholders and supervisor for process improvement.
Demonstrated excellence in time management, including prioritizing and continuously monitoring tasks to resolution.
Reliable transportation is required.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with academic libraries and searching library resources.
Experience with Alma or other integrated library system catalog.
Familiarity with MARC bibliographic and holdings records.
Familiarity with Library of Congress (LC) classification and CUTTER Expansive Classification.
Familiarity with the physical processing of library materials, especially barcode and spine labels.
Ability to push a 50-lb cart.

Responsibilities

Serve as the primary catalog maintenance liaison for the consolidation project.
Attend daily on-site check-in meetings with project stakeholders.
Perform daily review of exceptions arising from the consolidation project and route them to responsible departments.
Perform routine corrections to catalog data for selected collections.
Perform bibliographic searching and edit bibliographic and physical inventory records to ensure data integrity.
Work primarily within Alma, our integrated library management system, alongside Google applications such as Sheets, Google Meet, and Gmail.
Monitor the routing of catalog exceptions to ensure their timely return to active project workflows.
Resolve catalog reviews of physical inventory.