Robbin Collection Music Cataloger – Main Campus Libraries

The Robbin Collection Music Cataloger catalogs and processes music manuscripts, archival materials, and other special collections materials in the Leon Robbin Collection of Music Manuscripts, as well as other relevant music holdings of the Booth Family Center for Special Collections. S/he surveys these collections and develops comprehensive plans for cataloging and/or arranging and describing these materials. Reporting to the Curator of Rare Books, the Cataloger has duties that include but are not limited to:

Accessioning, Cataloging and Processing

• Surveys and organizes unaccessioned and unprocessed, as well as previously processed, music manuscripts, printed music scores, and related archival materials.

• Creates accession records as needed for unaccessioned material.

• Creates comprehensive processing and cataloging plans for these collections in order to organize, process and catalog the materials using standard tools such as RDA, AACR2, LCSH, LC Classification, MARC, OCLC, and/or, when appropriate for archival materials, ArchivesSpace.

• Arranges and describes archival materials in these collections as appropriate.

• Re-houses collections as needed and identifies any preservation concerns.

• Identifies related work to be completed by students or other staff.

• Coordinates the work of student assistants assigned to music processing tasks.

Digitization

• Develops criteria for selection of items for digitization.

• Ensures consistent metadata creation for selected items.

• Manages delivery and receipt of collection material to Digital Services.

Outreach, Instruction and Reference

• Engages Georgetown faculty and students and supports development of curriculum and instruction using the Robbin Collection and related music collections held in Special Collections.

• Promotes the Robbin Collection and related collections through publications such as articles and blog posts, as well as presentations and exhibitions.

• Creates LibGuides and other research tools for students and researchers.

Professional Contributions & Development

• Participates in unit, Department, and Library staff meetings as appropriate. 

• Contributes to the profession through active involvement in local, regional and national professional associations and organizations.

• Represents the Library to local and national groups interested in the Library’s music holdings.

• Keeps abreast of developments, trends and issues in the library and archives fields.

• Participates in strategic planning, suggests revisions to policies and enhancements to services, and prepares statistics and writes reports as needed.

Curatorial 

• Assists the Curator of Rare Books in identifying and assessing opportunities for acquisition.

• Makes recommendations for collection development strategy relating to the music manuscripts collection.

Requirements

• Master’s degree – either an ALA-accredited MLS with emphasis on special collections, archives, and/or music librarianship (or experience equivalent to a special collections concentration); or a Master’s degree in music, musicology, or a relevant humanities field

• 1 year of experience working in a special collections or archival repository, preferably in a university environment

• Experience cataloging rare books or processing manuscript materials according to established national metadata standards

• A firm understanding of cataloging and/or archival theory and practice, including national standards such as AACR2, MARC, and/or DACS and EAD; and working knowledge of ArchivesSpace or other archival management systems

• Knowledge of – or familiarity with – other relevant standards, including DCRM, RDA, and Dublin Core

• Familiarity with databases and spreadsheets (such as Access and Excel), and ability to edit data

• Ability to adhere to common metadata standards, normalize data across fields, determine minimum data requirements, and populate records according to these standards

• Excellent organizational skills, accuracy, and attention to detail

• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills

Preferred Qualifications

• 1 year of experience with archival standards, cataloging practices and procedures, and working with rare, archival, or special collections

• Experience with collection management databases and creating finding aids

• Knowledge of music and music history, primarily 19th- and 20th-century classical music, and secondarily jazz and big band

• Familiarity with music cataloging principles and procedures

• Familiarity with authority files and common metadata standards

• Solid working knowledge of one or more foreign languages – preferably German, French, Italian, or Spanish

This position is part-time at 20 hours per week for a 3 year term.

The Joseph Mark Lauinger Memorial Library, located on the Main Campus of Georgetown University, houses materials in the humanities, social sciences and business, as well as U.S. federal government documents and the Booth Family Center for Special Collections, which includes archives, rare books, manuscripts and rare prints. Lauinger Library also serves as the center for the following: The Gelardin New Media Center; the Durkin Collection; the McGhee Collection; the McGhee Center Collection in Alanya, Turkey; the Villa Le Balze Collection in Fiesole, Italy; and the Woodstock Theological Center Library.