Digital Archivist

Library Systems & Services - Washington, DC

Full-time

Remote - Washington, DC

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services

About the position

The Digital Archivist will manage and preserve historically significant digital records for a museum in the DC area. This role involves ensuring the long-term preservation and accessibility of digital assets, appraising records, preparing them for preservation, and managing their ingestion into the Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) and Collection Information System (CIS). The position also includes disposing of records with limited value according to established retention policies.

Responsibilities

• Appraise digital institutional records for disposition and preservation in coordination with the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) and asset creators.
• Create file system inventories, eliminate duplicates, rename files, migrate to standard preservation formats, and conduct fixity checks to ensure file integrity.
• Assign metadata to digital records using appropriate metadata schemes.
• Review and prepare digital assets for import into the DAMS or transfer to the appropriate archives.
• Maintain and update digital archiving workflows and records retention schedules.
• Attend relevant meetings to facilitate project communication and ensure alignment with established standards.
• Manage ingested assets and metadata within the DAMS.
• Update workflow documentation and implement adjustments as needed.
• Conduct thorough appraisal of digital records, including images of archaeological and ethnographic objects, audiovisual assets, documentation images, and other institutional records.
• Collaborate with the COTR to review assets for legal, ethical, and policy compliance.
• Support testing and implementation of CIS and DAMS integration functionality.
• Develop and maintain metadata for both born-digital and digital surrogate records.
• Engage with staff across multiple departments such as education, exhibitions, research, and community engagement to ensure proper documentation and archiving of institutional records.
• Manage workflows for renaming, transcoding, and migrating files using tools such as Adobe Bridge, Photoshop, Premiere, BWF Metaedit, DROID, and other relevant software.

Requirements

• Strong experience with digital asset management principles, standards, and best practices.
• Proficiency with software for asset management, including Adobe Suite, BWF Metaedit, and Microsoft Office.
• Ability to work independently, self-motivated to meet goals and deadlines, and capable of adjusting workflows as needed.
• Experience in digital preservation and managing digital archives in a museum or cultural institution setting is preferred.

Benefits

• Health Care Plan (Medical, Dental & Vision)
• Retirement Plan (401k, IRA)
• Life Insurance (Basic, Voluntary & AD&D)
• Paid Time Off (Vacation, Sick & Public Holidays)
• Family Leave (Maternity, Paternity)
• Short Term & Long-Term Disability
• Training & Development
• Work From Home
• Wellness Resources