December 2011 Archives

We envision an interoperable digital library which integrates
information resources with instruction and research, and a digital
archive which ensures the persistence and usability of these resources
over time.

The Digital Library Development Center collaborates with librarians,
faculty, university departments and other groups, and colleagues at
other institutions, to develop and maintain networked information
systems for use today, and to ensure the long-term preservation of
information resources delivered through these systems for continued
availability in the future.

Our core activities include designing, building, and maintaining web
sites, dynamic information resources, and digital collections;
installing and supporting vended systems that provide access to
information resources; administering the network of information server
computers which underlie our digital library and which support related
initiatives on campus; researching, evaluating, and implementing new
technologies; participating in national and international digital
library initiatives; and documenting and sharing procedures, policies,
and discoveries.

Development work has included archives and manuscripts finding aids
databases (XML, XQuery), online digital collections (XML, XSLT, PHP,
MySQL, HTML, Javascript, CSS), and administrative databases (PHP,
MySQL).

See Digital Library Collections and Activities,
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/digital/,
for some examples of our work.
A departmental description is available at
http://dldc.lib.uchicago.edu/

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Develops, implements, customizes, tests and maintains technological
solutions to support the University of Chicago Library’s digital
collections and other digital library systems for which the DLDC is
responsible.

Researches end-user requirements.
Develops design specifications.
Installs, evaluates and tests software.
Programming.
Designs and manages a workflow.
Documents work.

QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor’s degree required. At least three years experience with one
or more high-level programming languages, including one scripting
language (e.g., Python, Ruby) required. Ability to program at an
intermediate to advanced level in at least one programming language
required. Fluency with XML technologies (XSLT, XPath and XQuery)
required. Ability to interface to relational and XML databases from
within a programming language required. Demonstrable Unix/Linux
literacy (e.g., must be able to use sed, awk, grep, etc. effectively
from a Unix/Linux command line to accomplish small tasks)
required. Knowledge of HTML and cgi-bin programming
required. Familiarity with a web application framework (e.g., Django,
Ruby on Rails) required. Ability to work with Web Developers to
incorporate CSS and Javascript into programs required. Ability to
install and evaluate software against requirements quickly
required. Excellent verbal and written communication skills
required. Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well with
others required. Ability to identify and solve problems on own
initiative and as part of a team required. Ability to manage complex
technical details required. Ability to communicate technical concepts
to non-technical staff required.

Experience working in a library, academic or other research
environment preferred. Experience working in a digital library setting
preferred. Experience working in a production Unix/Linux environment
preferred. Experience working with Semantic Web technologies (RDF
triplestores; SPARQL queries; RDFa) preferred.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Ability to sit for 4 hours or more. Ability to use computers
extensively for 4 hours or more.

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity
Employer.

University Title: IT Programmer 2
Departmental Title: Programmer/Analyst 2
Department: DLDC
Classification: IT Exempt
Work Schedule: Full-time

To apply for this position submit a profile along with a resume and
cover letter to
https://jobopportunities.uchicago.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/Welcome_css.jsp

DLF has been working to coordinate and co-chair the Content & Scope Workstream for the Digital Public Library of America since mid-October. Part of this process involves lengthy discussion of key issues and goals with the workstream conveners and public members via listserv. The DPLA blog will now be posting listserv recaps at least once a month for all six of the workstreams: Audience & Participation, Content & Scope, Financial/Business Models, Governance, Legal Issues, and Technical Aspects. To read the December 2011 recaps, see the DPLA blog post. If you are interested in adding to the Content & Scope Workstream discussion, please join our listserv.

WANTED: MOTIVATED DEVELOPER to join the repositories group within Cornell University Library.

Join a 6 person team working on major repository projects including arXiv.org (http://arxiv.org/, which has transformed scientific communication, allowing scientists to disseminate their work rapidly and broadly and democratizing access to scientific research), Project Euclid (http://projecteuclid.org/, a collaboration with Duke publishing 110k mathematics articles, 80k of which are open-access), our eCommons institutional repository (http://ecommons.cornell.edu/), and the library’s archival repository. We work with Python, Perl, Java, Solr/Lucene, Fedora, etc., and deliver services to hundreds of thousands of users.

This position (Repository Developer/Applications Developer III, job# 16552) is within the Cornell University Library, at the center of the Cornell campus in Ithaca, NY. Located in the beautiful Finger Lakes region, Ithaca consistently appears in Top-10 lists of desirable places to live.

For more information and to apply, please visit: http://goo.gl/H1Zh8

Discovery Metadata Librarian-16551

Cornell University Library is seeking a creative individual to focus on the creation, maintenance, and enrichment of metadata representing Cornell’s digital, physical, and virtual collections of resources. In cooperation with other library staff, this newly-defined position will provide metadata management and resource discovery expertise to Cornell while monitoring external developments and changing needs in these areas. This position will focus on metadata maintenance activities, the integration of metadata between systems, and building better relationships between resources aligning with the broader context of Cornell’s digital and programmatic needs. To be successful, close collaboration will be essential in working with library staff devoted to acquisitions, batch processing, electronic resources, repositories, information technologies, and public services.

Duties and Responsibilities:
• Manipulate metadata to provide multiple access points for library resources, regardless of location or format.
• Plan and integrate electronic resources and batch processing work as it relates to cataloging and metadata quality.
• Perform outreach and seek opportunities for collaborative efforts within Library Technical Services and beyond to enhance and broaden metadata operations.
• Oversee the creation and management of metadata for various repositories.
• Develop and provide training to library staff regarding resource description and metadata management.
• Develop an expertise in linked data, semantic web applications, and ontologies for discovery of bibliographic data and information.
• Serve as a metadata consultant to larger library projects/initiatives.
• Serve on a library team to address a better discovery and access solutions for library users.
• Serve as a leader within and beyond Library Technical Services on matters of resource description and metadata management.
• Monitor national and international trends in metadata, cataloging, and discovery.
• Maintain a working knowledge of a variety of library and bibliographic metadata formats, both traditional and emerging.
• Participate in the growing strategic alliance between Columbia University Libraries (2CUL) on cataloging and metadata initiatives.

Qualifications:
• M.L.S. or equivalent graduate degree.
• Experience in an academic library, museum, archive, or a comparable environment.
• Experience in creating, editing, and transforming MARC and/or non-MARC metadata.
• Ability to work well in a collaborative team-based environment.
• Strong communication (oral and written), interpersonal, and presentation skills.
• Ability to analyze and to solve problems creatively and flexibly in a complex and rapidly changing environment.
• Strong service orientation and interest in information users’ values and needs.
• Aptitude for learning new technologies and metadata standards.
• Self-motivation, ability to multi-task, and ability to exercise independent judgment.
• Interest in professional development activities, including research and participation in professional organizations.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience with linked data, semantic web applications, ontologies, and RDF.
• Experience in transformation of XML documents using XSLT
• Ability to write scripts and/or other programming skills.
• Experience with metadata issues related to the discovery of academic resources.

Background: Cornell University is an Ivy League comprehensive research university located in Ithaca in the scenic Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. The town and university offer a unique cosmopolitan and international atmosphere in a beautiful natural setting of waterfalls, gorges, and lakes. The university comprises 14 schools with over 2,700 faculty members and nearly 21,600 students enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional schools. The Cornell University Library is a vigorous professional organization with a strong track record in innovation and service quality. It contains nearly 8 million printed volumes, 99,000 current serials in print or online, over 650,000 additional networked electronic resources, and rich materials in other formats. The Library was a recipient of the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Excellence in Academic Libraries Award in 2002.

Benefits: Comprehensive benefits package including 22 vacation days, 11 paid holidays, health insurance, life insurance, and university retirement contributions (TIAA-CREF and other options). Professional travel funding available.

Application Procedure: Please include a cover letter, resume, and the names, phone numbers, and addresses for three references. Application deadline is January 31, 2012. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Salary will be competitive and commensurate with experience. Visa sponsorship is not available for this position. To apply, please visit: http://www.hr.cornell.edu/jobs/positions.html

Cornell University, located in Ithaca, New York, is an inclusive, dynamic, and innovative Ivy League university and New York’s land-grant institution. Its staff, faculty, and students impart an uncommon sense of larger purpose and contribute creative ideas and best practices to further the university’s mission of teaching, research, and outreach. Cornell University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.

Interested in helping to launch a large-scale digital public library in the United States? Excited about the future of online access to information? Want to collaborate closely with innovative partners in public and research libraries, government, publishing, and elsewhere? Look no further! The Berkman Center seeks a part-time Research Assistant for the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA) planning initiative.
Read the rest of this entry »

Digital Services at the University of Alabama is seeking excellent candidates for two new exempt staff positions: Digitization Technologist and Digital Repository Manager. Read the rest of this entry »

Today, December 1, 2011, on the Kojo Nnamdi Show, Maura Marx, Director of the Digital Public Library of America Secretariat at the Berkman Center at Harvard University, Martin Kalfatovic, Associate Director of Digital Services at the Smithsonian Libraries and Co-chair of the Technical Workstream of the DPLA, and Maria Pallante, United States Register of Copyrights, discussed the mission, goals, potential challenges, and future of the DPLA. Read the rest of this entry »

Come hack on Ruby on Rails, jQuery, Hydra, Blacklight, Fedora, and Solr with our team.

The Libraries and Information Technology Services are working together to create institutional curation and publishing services. This position is part of a five-person software development team working on web applications and tools, in support of these services, to track bits, publish bits to the web, and care for the bits so that they remain hale and hearty. We <3 the bits; do you? Read the rest of this entry »