Visiting Metadata Services Specialist for Illinois Digital Public Library of 
America (DPLA) Hub

(Academic Professional)

University Library

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

**Search Extended**



Position Available: As soon as possible after the closing date of the search. 
This is for a regular 100%, 2.5-Year Visiting Academic Professional 
appointment, with the potential of becoming permanent.


Duties and Responsibilities: The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign 
seeks an innovative and experienced professional to serve in the position of 
Metadata Specialist, who will be responsible for the overall metadata quality 
control for the Illinois Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) Service Hub. 
The DPLA Service Hub is made up of four partner institutions (the Illinois 
State Library, the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois 
(CARLI), the Chicago Public Library, and the University of Illinois at 
Urbana-Champaign Library) that support all institutions participating in the 
Illinois DPLA Hub. Working closely with the senior Metadata Librarian, the 
successful candidate will develop and establish the Illinois DPLA Hub metadata 
best practices and help provide metadata training for all participating 
institutions. Working with metadata providers and employing metadata 
remediation methods as appropriate, this position will ensure high standards 
for all metadata contributed to the DPLA through the Illinois Hub. Reporting to 
the Library’s senior Metadata Librarian, the Metadata Specialist will work in 
the Content Access Management unit within the Technical Services Division and 
will work with metadata personnel in participating institutions of the Illinois 
DPLA Hub.



The Metadata Specialist will be responsible for:

•  Developing and creating metadata best practices documentation for the 
Illinois DPLA Hub

•  Providing metadata training, including controlled vocabulary, metadata 
standards, and mapping of data to metadata, to staff at participating 
institutions

•  Analyzing metadata quality and mapping practices to identify required 
metadata clean-up work

•  Performing metadata remediation to improve the metadata quality

•  Participating in and leading Illinois DPLA Hub meetings relating to 
metadata, including metadata best practices, policies, and workflows

•  Synchronizing metadata-related tasks to ensure efficiency among the 
participating individual institutions, the Illinois State Library, and CARLI in 
providing metadata to DPLA using REPOX





 Academic Professional employees are encouraged to use “investigation time” to 
pursue areas of interest, not directly in support of an immediate program need, 
in accordance with the University Library’s policy on Investigation Time for 
Academic Professional Employees 
<http://www.library.illinois.edu/administration/human/resources/investigationtime.html>.
 Some investigations originating in this manner may evolve into regular work 
assignments or production activities.

As the information landscape changes, this position may be asked to cover 
additional and evolving services or functions related to enhancing the 
discovery and delivery of participating institutions’ digital content.


Environment: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Library is a 
leader in the delivery of user services, and active programs in information, 
instructional, access, and scholarly services help the Library to maintain its 
place at the intellectual heart of the campus. The Library also holds one of 
the preeminent research collections in the world, encompassing more than 13 
million volumes and a total of more than 23 million items. The Library is 
committed to maintaining the strongest collections and service programs 
possible, and to engaging in research, development, and scholarly practice - 
all of which support the University's missions of teaching, research, and 
public engagement. The Library employs approximately 90 faculty members, and 
more than 300 academic professionals, staff, and graduate assistants. For more 
information, see: http://www.library.illinois.edu/

The Content Access Management (CAM) department consists of nine faculty and 
academic professionals, 20 FTE civil service staff, and 7 FTE academic hourly 
and student employees engaged in cataloging and metadata creation to facilitate 
the discovery and delivery of the Library's information resources. The various 
units in CAM include: Monographic Cataloging, Serials Cataloging, Foreign 
Language Cataloging, Electronic Resources Cataloging, Metadata Services, and 
Authority Control. Members of CAM also contribute to large-scale digitization 
projects, web scale discovery services, and the creation, harvesting, 
enhancement, remediation, and transformation of Library metadata. The unit 
participates in cooperative cataloging programs to support national and 
international resource sharing.



Qualifications:

Required:

•  ALA accredited master’s degree in library or information science

•       Experience with MARC, Dublin Core, MODS, or other metadata schemas and 
standards

•       Experience with digital assets management systems, such as CONTENTdm, 
SharedShelf, Omeka, or Veredian

•       Demonstrable knowledge of XML, XSLT, or other data processing 
technologies

•  Familiarity with current metadata issues and trends

•  Strong computer skills including spreadsheet and database applications

•  Effective organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills

•  Ability to work independently as well as cooperatively and flexibly with a 
wide variety of stakeholders in a rapidly changing environment



Preferred:

•  At least two years of working experience with metadata creation and 
management in an academic or research library setting

•  Familiarity with and understanding of linked data development and practices

•  Experience with managing multi-institution collaborative research projects

•  Experience with metadata harvesting and metadata clean-up projects

•  Familiarity with the Europeana Data Model

•  Experience with providing metadata-related training and instruction



 Salary and Rank: Salary commensurate with credentials and experience.

*This position is funded by the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) from 
the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).


 Terms of Appointment: Twelve-month appointment; 24 annual vacation days; 11 
annual paid holidays; 12 annual sick-leave days (cumulative), plus an 
additional 13 sick-leave days (non-cumulative) available, if needed, each year; 
health insurance requiring a small co-payment is provided to employee (with the 
option to purchase coverage for spouse and dependents); required participation 
in State Universities Retirement System (SURS) (8% of annual salary is withheld 
and is refundable upon termination), with several options for participation in 
additional retirement plans; newly-hired employees are covered by the Medicare 
portion of Social Security and are subject to its deduction.
Campus and Community: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a 
comprehensive and major public land-grant university (Doctoral/Research 
University-Extensive) that is ranked among the best in the world. Chartered in 
1867, it provides undergraduate and graduate education in more than 150 fields 
of study, conducts theoretical and applied research, and provides public 
service to the state and the nation. It employs 3,000 faculty members who serve 
31,000 undergraduates and 12,000 graduate and professional students; 
approximately 25% of faculty receives campus-wide recognition each year for 
excellence in teaching. More information about the campus is available at 
www.illinois.edu.

The University is located in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana, which 
have a combined population of 100,000 and are situated about 140 miles south of 
Chicago, 120 miles west of Indianapolis, and 170 northeast of St. Louis. The 
University and its surrounding communities offer a cultural and recreational 
environment ideally suited to the work of a major research institution. For 
more information about the community, 
visit:http://www.ccchamber.org/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.ccchamber.org_&d=BQMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=q1mKHiu7LZAYtlDCaEbi_J5KUz5swvlnPh2z5407dIaIz99ZUIP2EVwA5obr1cja&m=quz9koO78qOe0YzXRKdH7nHCkfZQY4gPlUKF92xX_0Y&s=GwOnK9M6SfJNpd_xbk5fdPVkbQtk3HjSU8fCJybPBXA&e=>.

To Apply: To ensure full consideration, please complete your candidate profile 
at 
https://jobs.illinois.edu/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__jobs.illinois.edu_&d=BQMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=q1mKHiu7LZAYtlDCaEbi_J5KUz5swvlnPh2z5407dIaIz99ZUIP2EVwA5obr1cja&m=quz9koO78qOe0YzXRKdH7nHCkfZQY4gPlUKF92xX_0Y&s=xL9PxBekSchpVndwKC-EO0ELoT7pksKOHzqK5h1kfDM&e=>
 and upload a letter of interest, resume, and contact information including 
email addresses for three professional references. Applications not submitted 
through this website will not be considered. For questions, please call: 
217-333-8169.

Deadline: In order to ensure full consideration we urge candidates to submit 
application materials on or before May 16, 2016.


The University of Illinois conducts criminal background checks on all job 
candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer.

Illinois is an Affirmative Action /Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes 
individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and ideas who embrace and 
value diversity and inclusivity. 
www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu&d=BQMFAg&c=8hUWFZcy2Z-Za5rBPlktOQ&r=q1mKHiu7LZAYtlDCaEbi_J5KUz5swvlnPh2z5407dIaIz99ZUIP2EVwA5obr1cja&m=quz9koO78qOe0YzXRKdH7nHCkfZQY4gPlUKF92xX_0Y&s=xYWOb2HBrgapwqpKIC4UZEpKiYAkZzSSrAtg-8iAuA8&e=>




------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Norman

Head of Content Access Management
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library
1408 West Gregory Drive
Main Library Room 220
Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-8350 (work phone)
manor...@illinois.edu

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