Archivist jobs in Rockford, IL

Working within an environment that is dynamic, positive, innovative, and responsive, the Beloit College Library and Information Technology Services (LITS) provides high-quality access to information services and technology resources. LITS is committed to providing leadership and services that enable students, faculty, and staff to creatively and productively enhance the College's academic, administrative, and co-curricular environments.

The College Archivist oversees all aspects of collection development and care for the Beloit College Archives and Special Collections, which feature a wide variety of materials including manuscripts, books and publications, memorabilia, photographs, and audiovisual material. These collections include materials from the College's history, the City of Beloit, the greater region, and donated special collections. The College Archivist provides leadership and direction for archive and special collection development decisions based on knowledge of institutional and regional history and culture, awareness of archival standards and trends, and understanding user needs. They are responsible for processing collections to archival standards, including providing access to collections through finding aids and developing accessible and well-organized digital collections of print and images. The Archivist will work closely with faculty and students to incorporate physical and digital primary source materials into classroom learning, assignments, and internships, and may engage in classroom teaching.

Characteristic Duties and Responsibilities

Collection Management

1. Develop, assess, manage, and promote physical and born-digital collections.
2. Implement and maintain a collections management system for the physical and digital holdings contained within the Beloit College Archives.
3. Establish and document collections policies, maintenance, and retention schedules for physical and digital materials.
4. Manage born-digital materials, including preservation, organization, and access.
5. Evaluate existing and incoming archival collections/series for capacity to become digital.
6. Identify archival materials in need of repair or preservation and carry out or recommend conservation measures.
7. Arrange with college offices, faculty, and student groups to save and add appropriate materials to the Archives and maintain continuing liaison with each to ensure uninterrupted receipt.
8. Assist in obtaining internal and external grant funding for collection development and maintenance, and to serve the educational mission of the college.

Research, Reference, and Instruction

1. Develop and deliver instruction for classes and courses, connecting students to history through primary sources in the College Archives.
2. Promote knowledge and use of the collections by offering presentations, talks, and tours, to campus and community groups and design both physical and digital exhibits.
3. Assist patrons, including Beloit College students, faculty, staff as well as alumni, community members, and other researchers, in using the Archives, provide research consultation, conduct research to fulfill requests, and retrieve information and material as needed.
4. Mentor students interested in pursuing careers in archives, libraries, and museums.
5. Train and supervise student assistants, supervise student projects, academic internships, and participate in appropriate College programs related to archives and special collections.
6. Teach occasional classes individually or in collaboration with faculty as well as actively partner with the Museum Studies program and with academic departments.

Leadership

1. Participate in library-wide planning, management, decision making, and formulation of library-wide policies and procedures.
2. Collaborate on setting departmental goals, policies, procedures, practices, and workflows.
3. Fosters user focused collaboration, diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.
4. Prepare relevant statistical information and reports as needed.
5. Lead one or more internal LITS work groups or project teams.

Outreach and Engagement

1. Creates informative and engaging displays on a diverse range of topics relevant to the community.
2. Provide professional development and serve as a resource for LITS staff on creating and delivering engaging instruction, research, and academic outreach for students.

1. Creates and coordinates outreach and programming opportunities, collaborates with campus stakeholders, and participates in campus events. Leads outreach efforts by identifying and developing strategies to enhance perceptions of LITS and engagement with its resources, services, and programs.
2. Conducts surveys, focus group sessions and market research among the library's various user populations to assess the quality and use of collections and services.
3. Act as a liaison with certain departments and student life units, paying close attention to student diversity organizations and special populations such as students with learning differences, academically at-risk students, distance education students, international students, non-traditional adult undergraduates and employed professionals.

Professional Service and Engagement

1. Participate in library, Beloit College, and community meetings, events, and committees
2. Engage in professional development to keep abreast of trends, developments, best practices, and technologies as appropriate for this position
3. Contribute to the profession through organizational work, presenting papers, and/or publishing

Credentials and Experience

1. MLS from an ALA accredited Institution or equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
2. Demonstrated archive experience with both physical and digital materials.
3. Demonstrated experience in creating metadata descriptions, digitization, and care of born-digital materials.
4. Demonstrated experience preparing and delivering academic content and working with faculty and students to incorporate archival materials into projects.
5. Demonstrated experience accessioning, arranging, and describing both physical and born digital archival material.