Digital and Technical Services Archivist [Term-Limited]

ABOUT THE JOB

The ACLU seeks applicants for a full-time 3-year term-limited position of Digital and Technical Services Archivist in the Records & Archives unit of the ACLU’s National office in New York, NY. This is a hybrid role that has in-office requirements of three (3) days per week or twelve (12) days per month. 

Records & Archives reduces risk, creates operational efficiency, and safeguards the historical legacy of ACLU by stewarding data/records through the information lifecycle with a particular focus on records that are no longer in use. 

• We manage the destruction of paper and digital records that are not historically valuable and are no longer in use at ACLU. 
• We set and enforce policies related to how long records are kept, their secure destruction and documentation thereof, according to business needs and state and federal laws and regulations. 
• We set and enforce policies and carry out the day-to-day work of documenting, preserving, and providing access to the ACLU’s historical archives on-site, and we prepare and donate historical material that is open to the public to Princeton University. 
• We also provide research services to all ACLU staff regarding ACLU history. 
• We partner with other teams (e.g., Information Security, Privacy & Data Governance) to ensure that information policies, procedures, and projects meet ACLU standards (e.g, those relating to privacy, security, compliance, access, and risk) and are created and maintained in a collaborative, coordinated way that engages appropriate stakeholders.

This position is part of a collective bargaining unit. It is represented by ACLU Staff United (ASU).

WHAT YOU'LL DO 

Reporting to the Director of Records & Archives, the Digital and Technical Services Archivist will revitalize our digital and technical infrastructure to improve preservation and access to ACLU’s historical records. This role will make major improvements in collections management, including leading projects to clean up legacy data in our Collections Management System. The Digital and Technical Services Archivist will also lead the initiative to develop and implement a digital preservation program for the ACLU Archives. As a stakeholder for the Archives, this role will also collaborate with other teams as we build out our Digital Records Management program.

 

YOUR DAY TO DAY

Develop technology strategy and implementation for the ACLU’s Archives: 

• Oversee the clean-up and transformation of our current Archival Content Management System to fully utilize its capacity to describe our archives and make reference easy 
• Create a portal for research that engages staff and gives broader access to archives 
• Create a digital archival program for historically significant records that allows staff to easily access past assets 
• Lead the creation of a digital preservation program for ACLU: 
  • Conduct a digital preservation assessment of the ACLU’s current holdings and future collecting needs 
  • Create an assessment of digital preservation solutions for ACLU 
  • With Director and Manager, create a roadmap for implementating of digital preservation solution 
  • Manage the implementation of selected digital preservation system including: 
    • Creating and document metadata schemas for digital archives 
    • Create and document protocols for digital transfer and processing 
    • Ensure that digital preservation protocols are implemented, documented, and maintained for our archival digital assets

Develop data strategy, standards, and practices for Records & Archives 

• Using appropriate standards, develop and manage consistent metadata schemas and controlled vocabularies for various systems (archival content management system, digital preservation applications, digital asset management systems, etc.). 
• Determine ways to leverage and clean up legacy description and metadata. 
• Develop a new record group schema to describe and classify archival material. 
• Ensure control and consistency in the quality of our metadata 
• Create a data management strategy and schemas to ensure consistency and usability in the ACLU's complex data and technology environment as the organization implements new records management and compliance systems.

Oversee digital archives processing 

• Document workflows developed for ingesting and accessioning digital materials and other digital preservation actions and cross-train current Records & Archives staff on those workflo