Digital Production Librarian

Recently, I posted an entry about the new roles of librarians. In this post I would like to refer to another type of these new roles. The Digital Production Librarian is a post in which the successful candidate will serve as an expert on digitization standards and best practices for all formats; establish and maintain digital conversion best practices for all formats; implement digitization project workflows; schedule and oversee digitization projects; and supervise digitization staff. The essential functions for this post are: "... manage the operations of the Digital Production Centre, purchase, maintain and update digitization hardware and software, collaborate with library staff and college faculty to select appropriate materials, design and implement project workflows, schedule digitization projects, provide written progress reports on digital projects, determine digitization cost for each project, identify digital storage needs and recommend storage medium, and maintain documentation on digitization best practices and digital preservation. The required qualifications for this post are: "MLS, MLIS or equivalent degree, experience with digitization projects for a digital library, with 2 years of experience preferred, comprehensive, hands-on experience creating digital collections in an academic library setting, knowledge of digitization best practices in an academic environment, knowledge of how digital library collections are used in an academic setting, familiarity with digital preservation and a trusted digital repository, knowledge of existing and emerging metadata schemas, advanced PC computer skills, and commonly-used productivity and internet applications, awareness of copyright laws and rights management issues in a digital environment, effective communication, planning, time management and organizational skills, ability to work independently and in a team environment, adeptness at working in a rapidly changing technological environment." These new roles show we need to reconsider the library educations in our LIS schools.

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