Position: Senior Assistant Librarian for Digital Archivist
Effective Date: On or about August 18, 2025 (Fall Semester)
Salary: The Senior Assistant Librarian (12-Month) classification salary is $85,524 to $182,532/per year (12 monthly payments per year). The anticipated hiring range is $86,000 to $96,000/per year. Salary offered is commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Application Deadline: Review of applications to begin February 13, 2025. Position opened until filled (or recruitment canceled).
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). It also earned the prestigious Seal of Excelencia in 2023, joining a distinctive group of colleges and universities who have been recognized for its commitment to Latine/x student success. CSULB is committed to serving diverse students and has established and actively supports the Black Excellence Collegium, dedicated to promoting Black excellence and advancing Black Student Success, and El Concilio for Latinx Success at the Beach, whose mission is to build capacity and promote inclusive servingness across initiatives and efforts towards Latine/x student, faculty, and staff success across campus. The President’s Equity & Change Commission is dedicated to achieving inclusive excellence in our community and culture and to interrogate, disrupt, and transform systemic inequities throughout the university. CSULB’s
Beach 2030 University Action Plans prioritize engaging all students; expanding access to higher education; promoting intellectual achievement; building community; and cultivating resilience.
Research and Information Services
The University Library supports the instructional and research needs of the campus community through its breadth and depth of collections, exceptional library faculty and staff-led services, and innovative use of library spaces. Currently, there are 18 full-time equivalent faculty members. Library faculty serve as subject-specialists and liaisons to CSULB’s 63 academic departments and programs, collectively delivering over 800 instruction sessions a semester. We work independently and collaboratively to strengthen student information literacy skills through one-on-one consultations, one-shot instruction, embedded course instruction, and modular and scalable eLearning experiences. We ensure that library collections align with curricular needs and reflect emerging discipline-specific knowledge. The University library has one of the largest collections in the California State University System. It is 8th in the system for print collections, 4th largest in ongoing subscription access, and 6th in overall library budgets.
About the Positon:
The Digital Archivist is responsible for conducting an assessment of the CSULB Special Collections and University Archives' (SCUA) collections in order to identify and implement a program for digital asset accessioning, description, preservation, and access. The Digital Archivist will build systems and standards-based workflows for born-digital assets and manage the stewardship of digital assets produced through digital reformatting of analog collections in Special Collections and University Archives. They will identify and develop relationships with stakeholders at CSULB and advocate effectively for the use of digital collections in support of teaching, research, and community engagement. Activities may take the form of providing advice and training for stakeholders and library employees on best practices related to digital archives, providing instruction based on digital humanities collections, and coordinating on-demand digitization requests and programmatic reformatting. The Digital Archivist will keep abreast of digital preservation trends and developments, as well as intellectual property issues of digital archives and share that knowledge with the library as well as the wider campus community. This position is an active member of the SCUA team, collaborating on digital preservation initiatives, digital exhibits, and other opportunities that highlight the collections.
Required Qualifications:
• Master's degree in library science or equivalent (MSLS, MLIS, MALS) from a library school program accredited by the American Library Association. Degree at time of application or official notification of completion of degree by August 1, 2025.
• Ability to work collaboratively with academic librarians and staff, teaching faculty, and students in a rapidly changing information environment
• Experience and/or demonstrated ability in reference and instructionally related activities
• Understanding of the impact of copyright law on digital preservation and access
• Demonstrated success working on digitization projects, managing digital collections, or other digital library-related work, including hands-on experience with related hardware and software
• Experience working with disciplinary standards and best practices in one or more of the following specializations: digital archives, digital preservation, and/or digital asset management
• Understanding of other key operations for born-digital archives, including appraisal, selection, and accessioning principles and practices
• Demonstrated ability to keep current with standards and new and emerging digital technologies and services
• Strong working knowledge of administrative, descriptive, and technical metadata for digitized and born-digital archival materials
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion and accessibility, and a commitment to and understanding of ethical and inclusive description and access strategies
• Exceptional interpersonal, oral, and written communication skills
• Willingness to advocate to and work with vendors and stakeholders, including but not limited to the Office of the Chief Information Officer, University Counsel, and Library Administration
• Demonstrated ability to foster an environment of collegiality, respect, trust, and teamwork
• Demonstrated commitment to working successfully with a diverse student population, including Black/African American, Latine/x, Native American/Indigenous, low-income, first-generation, and minoritized students.
Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience in a special collections library or similar institution
• SAA Digital Archives Specialist certificate
• Knowledge of records management best practices
• Experience training or mentoring colleagues
• Familiarity with digital humanities scholarship and/or praxis
• Experience of successfully working with populations demographically and/or socioeconomically similar to the CSULB student body.
• Experience mentoring or supporting students with minoritized identities or experience using inclusive and culturally relevant teaching strategies in a diverse classroom.
Duties:
• Provide in-person and online reference services at a service-oriented and all-purpose research and information services desk including some evenings and weekends
• Conduct programming / instruction for the digital archives
• Provide instructional support for Digital Humanities
• Train colleagues on relevant current trends, standards, best practices, and technologies in digital collections and preservation
• Manage, develop, and implement policies, workflows, and infrastructures for managing born-digital materials based on disciplinary standards and best practices for ingest, storage, preservation, arrangement, migration, description, and access to digital records on current and legacy physical media
• Assess, selects, implements, and manages new systems, equipment, and software for digital preservation and digital asset management in legacy, current, and emerging data formats, and manage these tools’ compatibility with existing systems including metadata requirements
• Integrates appropriate tools to help ensure authenticity and preservation of digital archival materials when accessioning from a variety of storage media
• Creates and updates finding aids for born-digital archival collections
• Appraises, arranges, and describes digital, and hybrid collections in accordance with archival best practices and priorities
• Develops policies and guidelines for digitization projects, in collaboration with library and/or campus colleagues
• Manage statistical reporting, informed about emerging technologies, and monitors rapidly changing standards and practices for digital content creation and management
• Participates in collection development in collaboration with University Library colleagues.
• Maintains knowledge of relevant current trends, standards, best practices, and technologies through professional activities such as conference attendance and participation, service in relevant professional organizations, and ongoing training
• Engage in research, publication, and presentation activities to meet the requirements for tenure and promotion
• Engage in library and university governance including library and campus committees
• Participate in service to the department, university, and community
CSULB seeks to recruit faculty who enthusiastically support the University’s strong commitment to the academic success of all of our students, including students of color, students with disabilities, students who are first generation to college, veterans, students with diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and students of diverse sexual orientations and gender expressions. CSULB seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the People of California, to maintain the excellence of the University, and to offer our students a rich variety of expertise, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.
Learning Opportunities and Benefits:
• Library administration enthusiastically encourages participation in professional development activities, including but not limited to attending regional and national conferences, and participating in courses, workshops, and other programs.
• Newly hired librarians are assigned a support team of tenured and tenure track librarian mentors that provide guidance through the tenure process.
• Library faculty can participate in Faculty Center and Academic Technology Services (ATS) professional development programs, workshops, and sessions aimed at supporting teaching, scholarship, and service.
Information on excellent benefits package available to CSULB faculty is located here:
CSU Employee Benefits
How to Apply - Required Documentation:
• An Equity and Diversity Statement about your teaching or other experiences, successes, and challenges in working with a diverse student population (maximum two pages, single-spaced). For further information and guidelines, please visit:
http://www.csulb.edu/EquityDiversityStatement• Letter of application addressing the required and preferred qualifications
• CV
• Names and contact information for three references (to be contacted for confidential letters of recommendation should you reach the finalist stage)
• Evidence of Society of American Archivist (SAA) Digital Archives Specialist certificate, if applicable
• Finalists should be prepared to submit an official transcript (e-transcript preferred, if available)
How to Apply: Click Apply Now icon to complete the CSULB online application
Requests for information and process should be addressed to:
Library Administration – University Library
California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90840
Requests for information about the position should be addressed to:
Library Administration – University Library
California State University, Long Beach
1250 Bellflower Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90840
EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS:
A background check (including a criminal record check and telephone reference check with most recent employer) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered a position with the CSU. Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the application status of applicants or continued employment of current CSU employees who apply for the position.
The person holding this position is considered a “mandated reporter” under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083 Revised July 21, 2017 as a condition of employment.
Pursuant to the California State University (CSU) Out-of-State Employment Policy, hiring employees to perform CSU-related work outside of California is prohibited effective January 1, 2022. By prohibiting employment outside of California, the CSU also prohibits hiring and retaining employees working permanently from a business location outside of the United States. Exceptions to the Policy are limited to approved and documented purposes for conducting CSU business outside of California.
The CSU strongly recommends that all individuals who access any in-person program or activity (on- or off-campus) operated or controlled by the University follow the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations adopted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) applicable to their age, medical condition, and other relevant indications and comply with other safety measures established by each campus.
Additionally, per the CSU COVID19 Vaccination Policy, all faculty, staff, administrators, and students who are accessing campus facilities are recommended to receive immunization against COVID 19 but are not required to be vaccinated at this time. The systemwide COVID19 questions may be sent to
fahr@csulb.edu.
CSULB is committed to creating a community in which a diverse population can learn, live, and work in an atmosphere of tolerance, civility and respect for the rights and sensibilities of each individual, without regard to race or ethnicity (including color or ancestry), nationality, religion or religious creed, gender (or sex), gender identity (including transgender), gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, disability (physical or mental), medical condition, genetic information, age, veteran or military status. CSULB is an Equal Opportunity Employer.