Digital Archivist

Position Summary

This position may be eligible for a hybrid work arrangement that may include a partially remote work location, consistent with System Office policy. UNC Chapel Hill employees are generally required to reside within a reasonable commuting distance of their assigned duty station.

The Digital Archivist ensures that born digital special collections are successfully accessioned, preserved, and made accessible. The position reports to the Head of Archival Processing and works collaboratively across the units in Wilson Special Collections Library as well as with Library IT and other stakeholders.

Key responsibilities include:

• Participate in the review and appraisal of potential born digital acquisitions in all formats, including images, oral histories, documents, and other born digital archival materials.
• Coordinate the intake of newly acquired born digital archives, migrating digital collections from physical media such as floppy disks, optical discs, and portable hard drives, and verifying formats.
• Direct the digital intake lab in Wilson Special Collections Library, developing and maintaining workflows for intake and review of digital collections and ensuring the lab has necessary hardware and software.
• Train and oversee graduate students and establish processes for library colleagues to use the digital intake lab.
• Coordinate web and social media archiving efforts, including training staff on web archiving tools, evaluating current work, and recommending new approaches.

Requires the Masters in Library Science (MLS) degree (or foreign degree equivalent). In specialized libraries, may substitute an advanced degree in the field of specialization (e.g., legal degree for a law library, or a history degree for a special historical collection within the library setting).

• ALA-accredited master’s degree in library or information science or an advanced degree in archives administration, preservation, digital curation, or other relevant field.
• Recent work experience appraising, preserving and providing access to digital collections.
• Demonstrated understanding of standards and best practices in digital archives for formats typically found in special collections, including born digital images and audiovisual items.
• Experience with installation and management of common tools for macOS and Windows used for digital archives intake and processing such as Brunnhilde, Bulk Extactor, ePADD, and rsync, and experience with package managers such as Home Brew and Pip as well as managing peripheral hardware relevant to digital archives work.
• Demonstrated understanding of archival description theory and practices.
• Ability to plan, manage, and complete multiple, concurrent projects, and communicate issues that affect plans, policies, and procedures in a timely fashion.
• Ability to work effectively and collaboratively with varied user communities, including students, faculty, researchers, colleagues, and community members.

• Supervisory experience.
• Experience with research and implementation of strategies for normalization and migration of file formats.
• Knowledge of or interest in post-custodial approaches to digital archives.
• Experience with technical workflow development and maintenance.
• Experience with web archiving strategies and tools.
• Experience creating archival description for born digital materials.
• Experience using repository systems and storage infrastructure such as Fedora or Hyrax.
• Digital Archives certificate from the Society of American Archivists.
• Experience communicating digital archives concepts and requirements to IT and non‑IT stakeholders.
• Enthusiasm for sharing works in progress and contributing to the broader library and archives community.

Regular weekday onsite reference shifts required. Occasional nights and weekends required. Must be able to work in an environment in which exposure to materials containing dust and mold is possible. Occasional travel required.

The university offers full‑time employees a comprehensive benefits package, paid leave, and a variety of health, life, and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.

A minimum of three references is required upon application submission.