Digital Collections Operations Intern (17 Weeks)

The New York Public Library•New York, NY

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The New York Public Library seeks two emerging professionals for a paid, 17-week internship with its Digital Collections Operations (DCO) department during the Spring term, January through May. DCO manages the end-to-end digital collections lifecycle for NYPL research collections, including digitization and reformatting, metadata, rights, digital asset management, preservation, and access. Interns rotate across core DCO teams for two to three weeks at a time, gaining multidisciplinary exposure to digital library workflows, specialized tools, physical collection handling, and digital asset management across multiple NYPL locations. They will also learn how operational leadership prioritizes, connects, and coordinates work across the digital collections lifecycle. The internship is based across NYPL facilities, primarily the Library Services Center in Long Island City, the Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, and the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. Work takes place in laboratory, studio, and standard office environments. The role is paid at $25.00 per hour and scheduled for up to 14 hours per week.

Requirements

Currently enrolled in, or recently graduated from, a master's program in Library and Information Science (MLIS), Archival Studies, Museum Studies, Digital Humanities, or a related field.
Demonstrated interest in digital preservation, audiovisual archiving, commercial or studio photography, metadata, or library technology operations.
Basic familiarity with physical handling of archival, library, or museum collections.
Familiarity with project management tools.
Strong organizational skills and keen attention to detail.
Effective written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate across diverse, specialized teams.
Curiosity and demonstrated interest in digital collections, preservation, archives, libraries, museums, or related fields.
Ability to adapt to different teams, projects, and work environments throughout a rotational internship.
Eagerness to learn new tools, technologies, professional practices, and ways of working.
Ability to follow established workflows and procedures, document work accurately, and ask questions or escalate issues when appropriate.
Ability to lift and/or move items up to 30 lbs.

Responsibilities

Gain exposure to digitization and reformatting approaches across DCO production labs and vendor services; participate in project-cycle deep dives and practice material handling, camera setups, and lighting concepts using test materials.
Assist with physical inspection, preparation, and reformatting of audio, video, and film formats, and learn vendor digitization workflows and coordination.
Assist with forensic imaging and reformatting of physical born-digital media, including floppy disks, optical media, and mass storage drives; assist with preservation packages in Preservica and quality control and troubleshooting on legacy digital collection assets.
Learn how the Metadata Services Unit reuses archival description and catalog records to create item-level metadata; complete a metadata-remediation mini-project and research URIs and name variants across library systems.
Monitor permissions intake and route public orders; coordinate with collection divisions to confirm physical item availability before digitization; gain exposure to administrative setups in ClickUp, preliminary invoicing in Freshbooks, and public documentation audits.
Participate in rights reviews for digitized NYPL collection items, assist with copyright or other intellectual-property designations in NYPL systems, and participate in rights-holder research.
Shadow Digital Asset Management staff to observe repository operations, asset-ingest workflows, system go-live protocols, access permissions, and digital preservation infrastructure.
Support operational documentation and process mapping, project tracking and follow-up coordination, and leadership meeting materials.
Support change management and system rollout logistics by synthesizing user feedback and drafting adoption resources.
Handle archival, library, museum, and other historical physical materials with appropriate care and dexterity; travel between NYC library locations as needed.