About this position
Metadata Specialist
Description: The Western Reserve Historical Society, located in the University Circle neighborhood of Cleveland, seeks a knowledgeable and detail-oriented Metadata Specialist to support a four-year grant-funded initiative to digitize collections documenting local Jewish history. This grant-funded, full-time position will create and manage descriptive, administrative, and technical metadata, working closely with the library digital team to ensure that complete digital objects (digital file plus metadata) are accurate, discoverable, accessible, and suitable for long-term digital preservation in WRHS’s Preservica repository. This position is ideal for a cataloging or archival professional with hands-on experience in a library, archive, museum, or other cultural heritage environment who combines strong attention to detail with an understanding of project management and collection care.
The Cleveland Jewish Archives of the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) was established in cooperation with the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland in 1976. Its purpose is to collect, preserve, and make accessible documents, photographs, memorabilia, art, and artifacts related to the Jewish community of Northeast Ohio. The collection includes manuscripts, photographs, microfilm, newspaper collections, and audiovisual recordings.
Western Reserve Historical Society gratefully acknowledges the support of the Jewish Federation and The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation in making this position possible.
Responsibility: Responsible to the Digital Archives & Preservation Manager.
Classification: This position is classified as temporary, full-time, professional, and is exempt with regard to overtime compensation.
Coordination:
1. Works closely with the Digital Archives Manager and Library staff to facilitate metadata initiatives focused on describing digitized and born-digital collections.
2. Coordinates with WRHS teams to support institutional priorities for collections management, exhibitions, public programs, special events, and educational programs.
3. Coordinates with external partners and third-party vendors to support digitization projects and other Digital WRHS initiatives.
Supervision: Supervises interns and volunteers as needed.
Responsibilities:
1. Creates accurate, consistent, item-level descriptive metadata for digitized archival documents, photographic prints and negatives, bound items, ephemera, and other collection materials.
2. Researches and applies metadata values from appropriate controlled vocabularies and authority sources (e.g., LCSH, LCNAF, LCTGM, ID.LOC.GOV) with particular attention to accurately representing Jewish history, religious life, organizations, names, and terms.
3. Conducts quality control of metadata to verify consistency, completeness, and adherence to project standards.
4. Works closely with the library digital team to review completed digital objects, verifying that digital files and associated metadata are complete and properly packaged before publishing objects to the WRHS digital preservation system and public portal.
5. Contributes to grant-reporting activities by communicating project progress, production challenges, material conditions, imaging metrics, and workflow needs.
6. Assists in developing, documenting, and refining metadata workflows as the project progresses.
7. Undertakes other duties as assigned by the Digital Archives & Preservation Manager, including potential for cross-training on imaging equipment to support digitization workflows.
Qualifications:
1. Education: Master’s degree in library science (MLIS) with an emphasis on digital collections preferred. Bachelor’s degree in history, Jewish studies, museum studies, or related field.
2. Experience with metadata creation, remediation, and/or enhancement in the context of libraries, archives, museums, or other collecting institutions.
3. Experience working with manuscripts, archives, rare books, maps, prints, photographs, and audiovisual collections.
4. Demonstrated competency with metadata schemas and standards, controlled vocabularies, and data formats.
5. Willingness to experiment and incorporate new tools and practices to enhance services and complete tasks more efficiently.
6. Ability to work independently, manage a sustained production workflow, and meet project milestones over a multi-year initiative. Experience using Airtable database software desired.
7. Ability to be proactive, flexible, and collaborative to accomplish library and institutional goals.
8. Excellent written and verbal skills and strong interpersonal skills.
9. Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, access, and inclusion.
Salary Range: $43,000 - $45,000 in addition to the following benefits: Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Life Insurance and paid time off
NOTE: This is a grant-funded position. Continued employment is contingent on the annual renewal and availability of grant funds. Expected length of the project is four years; however, project may run shorter or longer.
If interested, please send your cover letter and resume to Jennifer Dukes, HR Manager at jdukes@wrhs.org
