Lead, Special Collections Processing & Strategy

Digital Library Federation; University Park (AL); On-site; USD 66,000 - 93,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

75% tuition discount

Job summary

Penn State’s Eberly Family Special Collections Library seeks a Lead for Archival Processing and Collection Strategies to guide full lifecycle stewardship of diverse collections. The role reports to the Head of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library, coordinating with PCD and Metadata teams to ensure descriptive standards and priorities align with institutional goals.

The position emphasizes leadership, policy development, and collaboration to advance access, teaching, and research through

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in library and information science or equivalent.
• Proven ability to lead archival processing, arrangement and description, accessioning, and collections management.
• Experience supervising staff and managing projects in a library setting.

Responsibilities

• Leads strategy and operations for the full cycle of collections management in SCL, including accessioning, processing, arrangement and description, digitization coordination, rehousing, and collections maintenance.
• Supervises and mentors collections services staff, building a collaborative team culture grounded in transparency and accountability.
• Establishes policies, procedures, and documentation standards to ensure consistency, efficiency, and adherence to best practices.
• Sets and manages processing priorities in line with collection development, donor commitments, teaching and research needs, and institutional goals.
• Oversees accessioning workflows, including donor agreements coordination and integration of new acquisitions into systems.
• Ensures compliance with archival standards (DACS, EAD, ArchivesSpace) and scalable, sustainable processing models.
• Tracks and reports on access metrics, backlog reduction, and stewardship outcomes.

Skills

Archival processing leadership

Supervision & mentoring

Policy development

Education

MLIS or equivalent

Tools

ArchivesSpace

Aeon

Job description

Penn State’s Eberly Family Special Collections Library seeks a Lead for Archival Processing and Collection Strategies to guide full lifecycle stewardship of diverse collections. The role reports to the Head of the Eberly Family Special Collections Library, coordinating with PCD and Metadata teams to ensure descriptive standards and priorities align with institutional goals.

The position emphasizes leadership, policy development, and collaboration to advance access, teaching, and research through