Grant-Funded Metadata Archivist for Jewish History Digitization

Hale Farm & Village; Cleveland (OH); On-site; USD 43,000 - 45,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Dental Insurance

Life Insurance

Paid time off

Job summary

Western Reserve Historical Society is seeking a Metadata Specialist in Cleveland to support a four-year grant-funded digitization initiative focused on Jewish history. You will create descriptive metadata, apply controlled vocabularies, and work with the digital team to ensure objects are accurately packaged for long-term preservation in the Preservica system.

You will supervise interns, coordinate with external partners, and help develop metadata workflows while meeting project milestones.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in library science (MLIS) or equivalent preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree in history, Jewish studies, museum studies, or related field.
• Experience with metadata creation, remediation, and enhancement in libraries, archives, or museums.
• Experience with manuscripts, archives, rare books, maps, photographs, and audiovisual collections.
• Familiarity with metadata schemas, controlled vocabularies, and data formats.
• Ability to manage a sustained production workflow and meet milestones over multi-year projects.
• Experience with Airtable is beneficial.
• Strong written and verbal communication and collaboration skills.
• Commitment to diversity, equity, access, and inclusion.

Responsibilities

• Create accurate, item-level descriptive metadata for digitized and born-digital materials.
• Research and apply metadata values from controlled vocabularies (LCSH, LCNAF, LCTGM, ID.LOC.GOV).
• Conduct quality control to ensure consistency and completeness of metadata.
• Work with the library digital team to review digital objects before publishing to preservation and public portals.
• Contribute to grant reporting by communicating progress, production challenges, and workflow needs.
• Develop, document, and refine metadata workflows as the project progresses.
• Assist with cross-training on imaging equipment to support digitization workflows.

Job description

Western Reserve Historical Society is seeking a Metadata Specialist in Cleveland to support a four-year grant-funded digitization initiative focused on Jewish history. You will create descriptive metadata, apply controlled vocabularies, and work with the digital team to ensure objects are accurately packaged for long-term preservation in the Preservica system.

You will supervise interns, coordinate with external partners, and help develop metadata workflows while meeting project milestones.