Gratz College has emerged as a field-leader in open-access Digital Humanities that support its degree programs and public learning and scholarship. Gratz is in the process of launching a platform to host several significant digital collections that include the Elie Wiesel Archives, Rebecca Gratz Correspondence, the Gratz Holocaust Oral History Archive, Lena Allen-Shore Papers, and the Eric Mandell German Music Collection. These materials will be hosted and launched on “Grayzel,” a new digital platform to curate and share the breadth of Jewish Wisdom pertaining to Modern Jewish History and Culture. The site is built in Drupal with an Islandora DAM.

Founded in 1895, Gratz College was the first independent Jewish school of higher learning in North America and a leader in online-based twenty-first century advanced education. In concert with its evergreen mission to support Jewish wisdom and education, Gratz College, located in Melrose Park, PA, operates the world’s largest Holocaust and Genocide Studies program, a robust Education department, and innovative graduate pathways in Jewish Studies.

Position Summary

The Digital Archivist works on location with the Director of Digital Scholarship and another archivist to process and describe Gratz’s physical collections prior to digitization and to create finding aids. The Digital Archivist will help establish the policies and protocol for this landmark project in Digital Jewish Studies. Hybrid: 3–4 days in person in Jenkintown, PA (Mon–Thurs), Fri (WFH).

Immediate Project Responsibilities

The immediate project centers on the management of already digitized material and the physical processing of the Elie Wiesel Archive (estimated at 200 linear feet), which should take another 12 months. As a considerable amount of this material is not in English, familiarity with Yiddish, French, or Hebrew is preferable.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Collaborate in evaluating and updating metadata schema, controlled vocabularies, and protocols for quality control of schema and data collection.
• Work with team members to evaluate and update digital processing workflows.
• Assist in updating current digital holdings/records to meet established standards for migration into the newly developed site.
• Collaborate with the Director of Digital Scholarship and other archives staff to set goals for the arrangement and description of collections, and community education objectives.
• Provide strategic oversight for the accession, evaluation, analysis, arrangement, and description of collection materials, building on existing standards.
• Create finding aids for processed collections.

All applicants should assemble a portfolio that includes a cover letter and CV. First round interviews will begin the week of April 21. Gratz College is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, genetic information, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or protected veteran status. For questions about the position or to submit an application, please contact Alison Joseph, Director of Digital Scholarship ajoseph@gratz.edu.

Essential Qualifications 

• ALA-accredited MLS degree or Master’s degree in Archival Studies or related field.
• Demonstrated experience with the arrangement and description of multi-format archival collections.
• Demonstrated experience working with digital archives (especially digitized assets).
• Demonstrated experience with platforms for managing and/or accessing digital objects and collections.
• Knowledge of disciplinary standards and best practices in one or more of the following specializations: digital archives, digital preservation, and/or digital asset management.
• Knowledge of metadata standards related to digitization and digital preservation.
• Demonstrated success working on digitization projects, managing digital collections, or other digital library-related work, including hands-on experience with related hardware and software.
• Agility with OpenRefine or other similar software for managing, cleaning, and organizing large quantities of data.
• Familiarity with current developments in processing procedures and ability to learn new technologies and collection management systems.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and tasks and to work effectively, both independently and collaboratively.
• Excellent interpersonal, organizational, written, and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated initiative, flexibility, and commitment to professional engagement and continuous learning. 

Required Technologies:

OpenRefine (or similar), ArchivesSpace, Islandora, Microsoft 365. 

About Gratz College

Gratz College has a long history of educational service to the Philadelphia area. Founded in 1895, Gratz is the oldest independent and pluralistic college for Jewish studies in North America. From its inception Gratz holds the distinction of being the first institution of advanced Jewish learning to accept women on par with men. Addressing evolving needs, Gratz College grew to offer training programs for educators and communal professionals in the Jewish and secular communities. Over the last 20 years, the College has expanded its offerings to include a broad array of credentials and programs, including a PhD and EdD, masters’ level programs, BA completion programs, and graduate and undergraduate certificates. An early adopter of online education, Gratz offers blended and fully online degrees and has enrolled students from 36 states and 6 countries. Gratz is a private non-profit institution with a Carnegie Classification as a Master’s – Large Programs level and first received accreditation from the Middle States Commission for Higher Education (MSCHE) in 1967. The institution is guided with transparency by its Board of Governors.

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