Collections Specialist II, Herbarium Specimen Digitization Project
About The Position
As part of the biodiversity science efforts embedded within the Thriving California Initiative, the California Herbarium Specimen Digitization Project will make hundreds of thousands of specimens from the California Academy of Sciences (CAS) herbarium collections available online. This project combines the efficiency of high throughput specimen imaging using conveyor belt technology to image California herbarium specimens housed at CAS. Specimen images and associated data records will then be uploaded to a community science platform for further transcription and georeferencing of label data. Afterwards, fully transcribed and georeferenced records will be imported into CAS collections database and linked to their corresponding images. Results from this project will mark a major step forward in democratizing CAS museum collections, providing equitable access to these important specimens for people (botanists, scientists, and the general public) all over the world. Reporting to the Botany Curator, the California Herbarium Specimen Digitization Project Curatorial Assistant II will be primarily responsible for assisting in the transition of the collection from a partially imaged to fully imaged state, as well as contributing to the reorganization of the collection. The Project Curatorial Assistant II will perform important rearrangement, sorting and separating of specimens into a new, updated schema. This work will involve assisting in the development and implementation of workflows to ensure specimen organization is of the highest quality and effectiveness. The Project Curatorial Assistant II will coordinate with the Botany Curator and Collection Manager to ensure all collection organization goals are met, as well as coordinate with other collections staff in order to maximize quality control efforts and data flow efficiency.
Requirements
- A qualified person for this position has experience with biological collections (preferably botanical), taxonomy and the basic use/implementation of taxonomy, and is extremely organized and detail oriented.
- This person is capable of performing repetitive tasks that adhere to strict organizational requirements and should be able to think ahead to identify possible problems and develop solutions in a collaborative and communicative manner.
- Undergraduate degree required
- Experience with biological collections required (botanical preferred)
- Knowledge of taxonomy and the use/implementation of biological classification (botanical preferred)
- Experience and/or past participation in large scale projects that require a large amount of detailed preparation
- Excellent organizational and time-management skills
- Ability to execute work independently and with great attention to detail
- Ability to take direction, work as part of a team or collaborate well with team members, and external partners (when applicable) to accomplish mutual goals
- Ability to work efficiently and communicate with staff, cross-functional teams and external partners from different backgrounds and with varying expertise
- Ability to bring new ideas, create inventive solutions and find efficiencies to transform manual or detailed processes
- English is the primary language necessary for this job, written and spoken
Nice To Haves
- bilingual (spoken and/or written) in Spanish or other non-English language a plus, but not necessary
Responsibilities
- Work with the Botany Curator and Collection Manager to identify the special needs and requirements for reorganizing and rearranging the collection
- Work with the Collection Manager and other Curatorial Assistants to identify the best approach to associated project tasks
- Develop, test, implement and modify (as needed) workflows that will achieve project-specific specimen organization
- Follow all Academy safety regulations
- Other duties as assigned
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
Number of Employees
501-1,000 employees
