Metadata Coordinator

American University•Washington, DC

13h•$29 - $33•Hybrid

About The Position

American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meaningful change in the world. The Metadata Coordinator manages the creation, enhancement, transformation, and loading of descriptive metadata for digitized resources in the university library’s digital collections platform and other library platforms to enable the discovery of digital collections. In cooperation with the Director of Technical Services and Head Archivist for Special Collections and Digital Initiatives, the incumbent manages metadata description projects for digitized materials in Archives and Special Collections. The Metadata Coordinator is responsible for developing and maintaining project documentation, workflow assessment, training, review, and quality control of Resource Description staff participating in these projects. The incumbent also Collaborates with relevant stakeholders to develop and implement metadata best practices, policies, and strategies for the library. Collaborates with relevant stakeholders to develop and implement metadata policies and strategies for the library. The incumbent supervises one Resource Description Specialist.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree.
2 - 4 years of relevant experience.
Demonstrated knowledge of metadata schemas, standards, tools, and their applications including, but not limited to, MODS, Dublin Core, XML, Getty TNG, Getty AAT, EAD, NACO, LCSH, RDA, MARC21.
Demonstrated experience working with digital repositories, institutional repositories, and library management systems.
Demonstrated project management and problem-solving skills.
Excellent oral and written communication skills.
Excellent interpersonal skill and strong orientation to team culture and cross-functionality.
Experience with XML transformation using XSLT and XSD and tools such as Oxygen, OpenRefine, and MarcEdit.
Experience working with metadata in Excel and CSV files.
Experience with batch maintenance, analysis, transformation of large record sets.
Demonstrated ability to implement standard metadata schemas and crosswalk data between schemas.
Ability to create and maintain workflow documentation.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree or equivalent.
3 - 5 years of relevant experience.
Experience with library management systems and enterprise platforms such as Alma, Primo VE, OCLC Collection Manager and Connexion, Islandora, ArchivesSpace, Quartex, and Figshare.
Experience with Python or other programming languages or tools.
Familiarity with BIBFRAME, linked data principles, and generative AI technologies.
Experience cataloging electronic resources and non-monographic formats.
Supervisory experience.
Project management experience.

Responsibilities

Serves as the project leader for creating and enhancing metadata in the library’s digital collections platform for special collections.
In consultation with the Director of Technical Services and Archives and Special Collections stakeholders, develops and implements digital collections metadata workflows and projects.
Assumes primary responsibility for creating, enhancing, transforming or cleaning up metadata for digital collections.
In conjunction with relevant stakeholders develops best practices and local policies for non-MARC metadata.
Transforms and loads metadata into the library’s digital asset management system.
Serves as the primary point of contact for coordinating metadata projects between Archives and Special Collections and the Resource Description Unit in Technical Services.
In consultation with stakeholders, prepares, assigns, and distributes metadata projects to Resource Description Unit staff.
Performs quality control to ensure overall accuracy and consistency.
Trains staff as on application of standard schemas, controlled vocabularies, tools and standard procedures for digital collections metadata creation.
Develops and maintains project and workflow documentation for carrying out this work.
Implements harvesting and transformation processes to improve sharing and discoverability of metadata across systems.
Performs MARC and non-MARC metadata mapping and transformations to facilitate data input, cross-system functionality, and platform migration that may include the digital research archive, institutional repository, archival finding aids, and the library management system.
Uploads and organizes materials from batch and other large-scale initiatives in the library’s digital repository, in line with the repository’s inclusion criteria, creating and enhancing relevant metadata to improve discoverability of library resources.
Leads or participates in cross functional teams to support metadata work across departments and platforms.
Participates in and improves processes for university Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD) management in the library’s digital research archive.
Collaborate with relevant stakeholders across the library to develop and implement best practices, strategies and policies for library metadata across platforms.
Maintains awareness in developments and participates in implementing BIBFRAME, linked data, and developments in AI in cataloging and metadata functionality.
Hires, trains, evaluates, and supervises one full-time staff specialist and potentially part-time student assistants.
Allocates work based on department priorities and library’s strategic goals.
Other duties as assigned.