Museum Vision and Mission:

MOHAI is treasured locally and respected nationally as a vibrant resource where history inspires us to be our best. By collecting and preserving artifacts and stories of our diverse history, MOHAI highlights our regional tradition of innovation and imagination. Through compelling exhibits, scholarship, education, public programs, and community engagement, MOHAI bridges the past, present, and future.

Position Title: Temporary Digital Collections Specialist

Reports to: Library Collections Manager

Office Location: MOHAI McQuaid Resource Center at Georgetown

Classification: Temporary, Non-Exempt, Part-time, Hourly

Schedule: Weekdays, approximately 15 hours per week

Rate of Pay: $22-$24 per hour

Employment Period: February-June, 2023 (exact start date flexible – maximum 300 hours total)

Position Description:

The Temporary Digital Collections Specialist will participate in a maximum 300-hour 4Culture-funded project to inventory MOHAI’s Sophie Frye Bass Library’s digital materials, including entering descriptions into the Library’s collection management system, identifying materials with highest preservation concerns, and suggesting materials to add to the online collection. This position reports to the Library Collections Manager and is a member of the Collections Resources department.

Key Responsibilities:

• Conduct an inventory of the Library’s digital media materials, from born-digital collections items to digital copies of materials, identifying various types of files in a variety of locations and noting duplicates.
• Assess materials for immediate preservation concerns, based on condition and informational value.
• Generate basic metadata and catalog in collections database Proficio.
• Suggest items of high value to be added to MOHAI’s online collection (https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/imlsmohai/search), based on the Library’s priority of telling stories of those under-represented in the historical narrative.
• Ensure that all interactions are culturally responsive, respectful, and based on a foundation of MOHAI’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent museum work experience. Position suitable for current information sciences student nearing graduation or recent graduate.
• Previous experience with digital collections required; demonstrated knowledge of current best practices in digital preservation preferred.
• Experience analyzing materials for their content and assessing them based on pre-determined criteria.
• Experience working collaboratively with colleagues.
• Ability to communicate clearly both verbally and in writing.
• Good attention to detail in keeping track of workflow and in maintaining quality control.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite; experience with library information systems or collections management databases preferred.
• Enthusiasm for MOHAI’s exhibits, programs, and mission.

Find yourself checking a lot of these boxes but doubting whether you should apply? If you meet some of the requirements and you share MOHAI’s values and support our mission, we encourage you to apply. As part of our ongoing commitment to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace, we’re invested in building teams with a wide variety of backgrounds, identities, and experiences.

Museum Overview:

For 70 years, MOHAI has been dedicated to enriching lives by preserving, sharing, and teaching the diverse history of Seattle, the Puget Sound region and the nation. With a collection of more than 4 million artifacts, photographs, oral histories and archival items, and an expansive schedule of exhibits and programs, MOHAI is the region’s premier history center. MOHAI operates a dramatic and award-winning museum in Lake Union Park in Seattle’s vibrant South Lake Union neighborhood and a Resource Center in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. MOHAI also hosts the Bezos Center for Innovation, focusing on the history and future of innovation in the Puget Sound region. MOHAI is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, and has been selected by USA Today as one of the Top Ten History Museums in the nation. For more information, please visit mohai.org.

MOHAI’s research library, known as the Sophie Frye Bass Library, preserves and provides access to more than 4 million historic items, including photographs, manuscripts, maps, books, motion pictures, oral histories, and printed ephemera. Founded as the Seattle Historical Society in 1914, MOHAI began its collecting to tell the histories of the city’s founding families and major industries. Since the 1990s, the curatorial team has refined the museum’s collecting to tell more diverse and complete stories of our region. For the past twenty-five years, MOHAI has been digitizing its historic photographs to share through online collections and now digitizes a variety of audio and video materials, and beginning the mid-2010s, MOHAI has been collecting born-digital material.

To Apply:

Please email letter of interest, resume, and three references to Human.Resources@mohai.org.

No phone calls, please.

MOHAI is a 501(c)(3) organization and an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to building a team and an organizational culture that fosters inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. We encourage candidates of color to apply.