Job Description:
Application instructions for this and all current OPB employment opportunities are available at OPB's careers page.
OPB is a leader in public media, serving diverse communities of the Northwest with fact-based, in-depth news and information about politics, the environment, science, arts, history, and cultures; business, education and more. Powered by the generous support of members, OPB seeks out a variety of voices in our communities and lifts up authentic stories of the people, places, events and issues of the region, providing context and a deeper understanding. OPB’s independent journalism and programs are available at opb.org, on OPB Radio and OPB TV. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook.
We’re recruiting a Media Archivist! As a member of the Media Operations team, you will get to be involved in supporting the content that OPB creates while making sure it’s preserved for future generations. In this role, you will work with both digital and physical media assets. If you have experience with digital asset management systems and you're interested in working on a collaborative team, we would love to see you apply!
Reporting to the Director of Media Operations and working closely with technology and content teams and the archives steering committee, the Media Archivist is responsible for establishing and maintaining archival workflows for arrangement and description, preservation, and access; providing expertise with and guiding development of appraisal, accession, and retention policies; collaborating with technology and media asset management teams to manage and preserve digital assets; and overseeing and proactively advising content creators and other teams across OPB on cataloging, metadata, and naming convention strategies and enhancement efforts. This position acts as part of the media asset management (MAM) governance committee, to approve, create and maintain consistent workflow designs and business solutions in the MAM system.
55% - Technical:
- Survey archival holdings and recommend and implement preservation priorities and actions for archival media in various digital and physical formats.
- Develop, maintain, and revise metadata, controlled vocabulary, and taxonomy strategies.
- Stay current on emerging cataloging and metadata trends relevant to OPB’s needs.
- Define and manage search indexes and search criteria based on user needs and feedback.
- Collaborate with content teams to define and revise naming convention practices.
- Collaborate with media operations and visuals teams to develop and refine processes for archival ingest and distribution requests.
- Maintain processes for storage and retrieval of assets to meet internal and external demands for access to OPB content.
- Maintain security of archival collections.
- Coordinate and manage preservation projects with external vendors.
- Perform and manage quality assurance on media deliverables received from preservation reformatting vendors.
- Arrange and describe archival materials from OPB original productions, including audio, video, photographs, documents, etc., in support of streamlined search and retrieval of materials.
- Participate in ongoing professional conversations and committee work in the field of audiovisual archives and public media and stay informed about emerging trends and best practices.
- Serve as a subject matter expert on the media asset management system, advising on and refining metadata and digital preservation strategies.
- Serve as a governance team member of the media asset management support team and help guide and define procedures and standards for the system.
- Provide user support as a core member of the media asset management support team
20% - Collaboration:
- Assist and advise content and other OPB teams on identifying media and associated elements with enduring value from OPB productions and assist with developing and refining workflows to ingest, organize, and retrieve those assets.
- Investigate and advise internal teams and external users on usage and rights-related interests and questions for archival materials.
- Stay engaged with content teams on new and current productions and recommend relevant archival materials for potential use in those productions.
- Work collaboratively across teams to develop appraisal, accession, and retention standards and policies.
- Collaborate with OPB volunteers and the volunteer resources team on archival projects.
- Partner with the OPB Member Center to assist with requests for archival content.
- Train staff on workflows and procedures for metadata entry, search and retrieval of assets, accessioning, and duplication and ingest requests.
- Work with media operations and visuals teams to define and improve ingest and distribution procedures for archival content.
- Collaborate with development team members on grant initiatives and other funding resources to preserve, digitize, and make accessible archival holdings.
- Work with engineering, IT, and digital platform development teams to inform and create efficient workflows for content creation, storage, and delivery.
- Serve on various OPB internal committees and teams including but not limited to the Equity Team, or special project teams. Champion organizational initiatives such as DEI training and tools.
20% - Supervision:
- Coordinate and collaborate with staff members, including volunteers, interns, and temporary staff, as needed.
- Oversee and coordinate time and work to be done in the Archives, both physical and digital.
5% - Administration:
- Serve as primary contact and respond to requests for information on archival holdings from the public and from OPB staff members.
- Search for materials and rights information related to requests from both internal and external users.
- Track requests for archival media from start to completion.
- Collaborate with visuals and legal teams to respond to and fill license and duplication requests for archival media and advise on usage limitations and rights status.
- Determine new ways to promote use of archival materials and to preserve and promote OPB’s enduring history.
This position will be physically located in the OPB Archives and works at a computer the majority of the time, entering data and reviewing documents and media clips, with some time spent inventorying, organizing, and labeling materials in the onsite Archives storage space. Work may be performed remotely using equipment provided by OPB. Some lifting of boxes up to 30 - 40 lbs. may be required.
- Five years of experience leading or working in moving image or audiovisual archives, library and information science, museum studies, or relevant field.
- Experience working with both current and legacy audiovisual formats and files and legacy playback equipment.
- Understanding of copyright law, rights and permissions, licensing, and privacy issues.
- Knowledge of cataloging, metadata, and digital preservation trends and best practices.
- Experience with digital asset management systems.
- Ability to use workplace technology effectively including email, calendar, internet, video conferencing, searching databases, creating spreadsheets.
- Excellent communication skills and experience establishing positive and productive collaborations with a wide variety of people.
- Comfortable working on a team that values everyone’s unique outlooks, skills, and experiences to work toward a shared goal
- Comfortable working in a change-oriented environment. Able to participate in thinking outside of the box, propose solutions, and help implement them
- Experience with managing digital preservation projects, including conducting preservation surveys and prioritizing materials for preservation, establishing and adhering to project metadata standards and file naming conventions, and performing quality assurance on project deliverables.
- Enthusiasm for the services and mission of Oregon Public Broadcasting
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working with archival collections in a public media organization or similar environment.
- Experience working closely with creative teams and content creators.
- Knowledge of archival theory and practice.
- Experience using audio and video editing software, such as Adobe Audition, Media Encoder, Premiere.
- Experience working with audiovisual preservation vendors and establishing project scope and timelines with vendors.
- Experience managing staff, including volunteers and interns.
- Knowledge of Pacific Northwest history, culture and communities.
- Knowledge of inclusive cataloging and metadata practices and remediation efforts that support removal of harmful language within collection-level and item-level descriptions.
- This position reports to the Director of Media Operations and is benefits eligible
- The probable hiring range for this exempt position is between $63,000 - $73,000 annually, depending on qualifications.
- For the safety of our employees, the contractors/vendors we work with, and the public we serve, OPB has a mandatory COVID vaccination policy and all employees are required to show proof of vaccination.
- This position has access to highly sensitive data and therefore must pass a background check.
For application instructions, please visit OPB's careers page. You will be asked to create an account, upload your cover letter and resume and answer a few position-related questions. Once you click “submit” you cannot make changes to your application.
Your application materials are due by 8:59 PM Pacific Time on June 8, 2023.
OPB is an Equal Opportunity Employer.