Report on Information for Job Description of a Library Digitization Technician

You are a departmental supervisor in a library. This assignment requires you to gather information that will be used to write a job description for a position in your library.
1. The job position that needs to be filled in the digital Academic Library in question is Library Digitization Technician. Since the library serves universities, its students and faculty and staff, the job responsibility of Library Digitization Technician is very significant for the smooth functioning of the library which aims to move on to digitization of its papers and books. The job description is as follows – effective management of manuscripts, books and other papers and determines their suitability for digitization and undertaking conservation techniques to help improve the condition of them and enable digitization (LeFurgy, 2013).
2. The minimum educational qualification is Graduation done in the past 2 years with Degree in book conservation or paper conservation and should be able to showcase efficient conservation skills including that of remedial, diagnostic and research skills.
3. The specific skills and knowledge required for the job role is:
  • Demonstrate effectively the benefits of knowledge and expertise in professional development and showcase interest in conservation and supporting digitisation
  • Must possess good verbal and written communication skills and must have the ability to communicate about own preferred treatment options and elaborate on the implication of these options.
  • Must have ability to write reports and produce effective documentation 
  • Must possess good time management skills in order to prioritize work 
  • Must possess a clear understanding of and the application of the professional ethical code to practical projects of conservation 
  • Should be able to work in teams and be willing and friendly with other Library technicians, so that a harmony in the work place can be maintained 
  • Basic computer skills and MS Office knowledge will be appreciated 
  • Must have the right legal elements to work in United Kingdom. 
4. Minimum 6 months of experience in conservation and digitization work is required for this role and candidates with prior experience in working in large academic libraries and undergoing digitization will be preferred. 
5. The ability to interact well and work will with others is an advantage for this job role. Conservation and digitization is not a one man work, and a number of individuals have to conduct this and work as a team. Hence, a person, who is friendly and easy to get along with a pleasant personality, will be better suited for this job. 
6. It is a disability confident position, and disabled qualified individuals, who can meet the job roles and conduct conservation work and digitisation work, would be interviewed along with others. 
7. The advertisement for this job along with specifications will be posted in the University Weekly, and the leading job websites of United Kingdom namely, Reed, Monster, Jobsite, Indeed etc. 
8. The interview questions which are likely to be asked are as follows; 
  • Hello Ms. A, hope you did not have any problem reaching here. Now can you tell us about yourself? 
  • What made you choose library as your subject and conservation / digitisation as your special paper?
  • Do you have any previous experience on such a job role? If yes, where?
  • What about this job makes you interested in it? As much as I understand the job tasks require tremendous amount of patience.
  • What as per to you are the strongest qualities you possess? What again, are not strong?
  • What is the one aspect of your previous relevant experience, which you loved to do and made you choose it as your career?
  • What was the biggest challenge you faced in your previous experience? 
  • How would you add on to this present job role? Do you feel you are the right candidate for this task?
  • What do you feel about digital preservation? How is it going to change the future library management? Please elaborate?
  • Who is there is your family? If it is required can you travel for this job? What are your expectations from this job? 
Associated Rationale  of Job Descriptions
  1. To complete effectively under supervision, the treatment of manuscripts, books and papers – the rationale of this being the core aim of a library digitisation technician is to improve the condition of manuscripts, books and papers and convert them to digital files (Conway, 2010). 
  2. Assessment of different items and determining their digitization suitability – This is a critical aspect as choosing the right digitisation strategy is also required and every strategy does not work in every item. 
  3. Undertaking and developing treatments to improve the condition, longitivity and the accessibility of the concerned item to enable digitization – this too forms a core job responsibility for the position. 
  4. Making decisions which are critical about appropriate procedures to use on each of the items – As mentioned above, this is significant as not all strategies and procedures will work on all types of items to be conserved and digitised (Olatokun, 2008). 
  5. Self management of planning and organizing effective work in order to meet project deadlines and flows of work – This is of critical importance, and the candidate should be self motivated to sustain the work flow in the library. 
  6. Update the documentation of projects, including spreadsheets and databases – This is needed to be done for understanding which elements are already digitised and which needs to be in future so that redundant work is not done in the library (Verheusen, 2008). 
  7. G.    Order different collection items from the storage areas and working with library assistants – Digitisation and conservation is not done by one person and requires the help of several people; hence for the candidate to be an effective collaborator and communicator is of importance (Chapman, 2011).
  8. Assist the imaging colleagues with queries associating to collection care – This is to facilitate the process of conservation and digitisation.  
  9. To ensure that items are stored perfectly at all times – Again, another important aspect of the job which overall promotes effective library management. 
  10. To maintain accurate written records of individual treatments partaken, time spent, methodology and the results – To keep the office and documentation up to date and accurate
  11. Assist in the administrative work whenever required – To smoothen the process of operations 
  12. Expected to have a cheerful disposition and willingness to participate in different tasks including risk management – A lot of manuscripts and papers / books might be in very vulnerable state due to age, and conserving strategies pose a serious threat to their being. Hence it is of critical importance that the job holder works with others and conducts risk management and determines the right strategies to adapt for conserving such. 

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References

Chapman, J. (2011). the roles of the metadata librarian in a research library. Library Resources & Technical Services , 51 (4), 279 - 285.
Conway, P. (2010). Preservation in the age of Google : Digitiation, digital preservation and dilemmas. The Library Quarterly , 80 (10), 61 - 79.
LeFurgy, B. (2013). Digitization and digital Preservation : Questions Persist. US: Library of Congress.
Olatokun, W. (2008). A Survey of Preservation and Conservation Practices and Techniques in Nigerian University Libraries. LIBRES - Library & Information Science Research Electronic Journal , 18 (2), 21-34.
Verheusen, A. (2008). Mass Digitisation by libraries : Issues concerning organization, quality and efficiency. Liber Quarterly , 18 (1), 89 - 94.

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