Advancing the University’s digital preservation capabilities is the strategic core of this role, ensuring the integrated management of born-digital and digitized archival materials. The incumbent leads initiatives to implement sustainable access to the digital archives and a digital preservation strategy, providing expert guidance on digital access and digital preservation standards and practices.
Responsibilities
Establish and maintain archival preservation systems to enable long-term storage and access to the University’s digital assets
Provide expert reference and research services for born-digital and digitized holdings, including locating sources, answering questions, making on-demand digital reproductions, and responding to related information requests
Lead University Web Archiving initiatives as required
Develop legacy media migration guidelines and establish a migration program to ensure sustainable format transitions
Develop and document standards-based practices (OAIS, international standards) to establish a compliant framework for acquiring, arranging, describing, preserving and making accessible born-digital material
Evaluate acquisitions to determine archival value, technical feasibility, preservation needs, and strategic alignment and established priorities
Create and maintain standards-aligned metadata to facilitate collection discovery and outreach
Provide expert research services to support institutional, scholarly and community engagement with holdings
Document access conditions to ensure transparent rights management and legal compliance
Implement archival management software to enable efficient user access and discovery
Advise stakeholders on digital records management to embed preservation best practices University-wide
Provide training as required to staff to build organizational capacity for digital preservation
Prepare reports and proposals to inform resource allocation and strategic decisions
Support partnerships across the University to promote awareness and adoption of digital preservation practices
Facilitate instructional sessions, workshops, and exhibitions to maximize collection visibility and use
Support cross-university partnerships to advance institutional adoption of preservation practices
Coordinate and liaise with donors, records creators, archival staff, and technical staff to coordinate born-digital transfers, documentation, transfer methods, and preservation actions
Requirements
Graduate degree in Archival Studies, Library and Information Studies, or a related field
Minimum of three years of experience in an archival or records management setting, including experience working with born-digital materials
Millions of jobs, with real people getting hired every day
200,000+
New jobs added daily
7,000,000+
Verified job listings
1,000,000+
Tailored applications submitted
Bilingualism (French and English), oral and written expression
Theoretical and practical knowledge of archival functions, including appraisal, acquisition, preservation, arrangement and description, reference, access, and outreach
Knowledge of archival descriptive, metadata, and data structure standards, including RAD, ISAD(G), Dublin Core, EAD, MODS, METS, and PREMIS
Knowledge of digital preservation standards and frameworks, including OAIS and Trustworthy Digital Repositories
Experience with digital preservation and born-digital processing tools such as Archivematica, BitCurator, Exactly, ePADD, or comparable tools
Knowledge of storage media, file systems, software environments, and file formats relevant to born-digital acquisition, transfer, preservation, and access
Knowledge of Linux and command-line interfaces, or willingness to learn
Experience with digital repository, archival management, or digital asset management systems
Ability to analyze records and apply rules, policies, and legislation related to acquisition, selection, access, privacy, copyright, and archival use
Familiarity with emerging technologies, including AI applications in archival processing, description, access, and preservation
Strong analytical, problem-solving, planning, and organizational skills, including the ability to work under pressure with minimal supervision
Ability to collaborate effectively with technical, archival, and institutional stakeholders
Ability to deliver training, workshops, documentation, and guidance for staff, researchers, and University stakeholders
Nice to have:
Familiarity with scripting languages such as Python
Important Details
Anticipated Duration: 6 months
Application deadline: 2026/10/30
Hours per week: 35
Position may be subject to a telework agreement
About the Company
The University of Ottawa embraces diversity and inclusion in the workplace, fostering a culture of respect, teamwork and inclusion, where collaboration, innovation, and creativity fuel its quest for research and teaching excellence.
At the University of Ottawa, the largest bilingual university in the world, students can choose to study in French, in English, or in both languages.
