Digital Archivist

Job Description

As a member of the Walt Disney Animation Research Library (ARL), the Digital Archivist is responsible for designing, organizing and maintaining the Walt Disney Animation Studio's born digital art archive and creating structures to make it accessible to members of the ARL, WDAS and other members of the Walt Disney Company.

This position is also responsible for liaising with production departments to keep up with the current technologies and structures used in each production and prepare assets for transfer to the ARL. In addition, this person will be part of a team currently at work to install a new collections management system and to migrate current physical and digital asset data into the new system. This person will report to the Art Collections Manager at the Animation Research Library.

This position works with a team of professionals dedicated to the preservation and digitization of the ARL collections at the highest possible level of quality. The ARL houses a collection of more than 65,000,000 pieces of physical artwork, as well as a rapidly growing collection of born digital artwork – currently estimated at 3.4 petabytes - which includes, but is not limited to, conceptual art, storyboards, production artwork, 3 dimensional models, textures, image files and final rendered images. The Digital archivist is an integral member of a team of Collection, Research, Design, Exhibition and Image Capture Specialists who make-up the ARL.

Responsibilities:
• Responsible for processing, cataloging, indexing, and preserving born digital material
• Work with WDAS production and technical teams, as well as the ARL's technology team, to streamline archival processes and ensure the long-term preservation and usability of production assets
• Develop and implement metadata conventions, create consistent file structures, naming conventions and format standards to ensure the long-term accessibility of born-digital assets
• Provide input into determining which file formats are useful for preservation and/or potential production re-use, as well as preparing assets for transfer to the ARL
• In partnership with the ARL's Archives Data Specialist, create and maintain the integrity of the ARL authority records and thesauri; add new terms and review existing terms; continue the establishment of guidelines for, and assist in the training of personnel in the cataloguing born digital assets
• Integral member of the ARL team currently working with a vendor to customize a new Collections Management System to reflect the needs of the ARL's unique collection
• In concert with other ARL team members, continue to evolve and set workflow standards for cataloguing and ingestion of assets
• Train staff on how to use and search digital resources internal to the ARL (CMS) and from the suite of tools used in production (DPIX, Raconteur, etc.) and ensure that documentation is created and maintained for those systems/tools
• Serve as a resource for questions on use and retrieval of born digital archive assets
• Responsible for metadata accuracy and policy guideline adherence
• Keep up with emerging technologies and software development created/supported by the WDAS technology teams
• Use tools to help automate the editing and searching the filesystem to create rules for what is included in the Collections Management System.
• Work with individual production teams to keep up with the current technologies and tools used in each production
• Design and configure future production metadata models while maintaining current system
• Responsible for acquiring and maintaining knowledge of industry state-of-the-art collections and retrieval technologies for digital assets, including search techniques, query methods, metadata assignment and digital preservation best practices, in order to research and implement new systems and protocols.
• Work with ARL managers and studio personnel to evaluate which assets should be fully integrated into the collections management systems and which should be second tier access.
• Create and maintain a records management schedule to review migration of assets over time
• Create reports and queries from ARL and production databases, for senior management review

Basic Qualifications:
• Innovator who is eager to take on the challenge of creating a new system that will work for a range of clients
• Strong technical skills including experience working with a wide range of operating systems, storage systems, file types, and digital asset management systems
• Experience processing, cataloging, indexing, and preserving physical and digital materials
• Comfortable with reaching out to film production staff and learning their process
• Knowledge of digital preservation methods and best practices for long term information retrieval, including metadata and taxonomy work
• Experience working with large collections of born-digital assets
• Excellent people skills with strong verbal and writen communication skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Discretion in working with sensitive materials
• Proven ability to be self-directed, self-motivated, and proactive
• Ability to manage time effectively and bring projects to completion despite conflicting deadlines
• Proven ability to work in a collaborative environment
• Positive 'can do' attitude and a high level of professionalism
• BS degree required; Master's degree in Library Science, Museum Studies or another relevant subjects a plus
• Minimum of 3+ years of relevant work experience
• Ability to lift, pull or push up to 30 lbs. when needed
• Environmental conditions that include lower temperatures (58-70°F) and workspaces with multiple obstructions

Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience with archiving film and/or animation materials a plus, but not required

About The Walt Disney Studios:

For over 90 years, The Walt Disney Studios has been the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built. Today the Studio brings quality movies, music and stage plays to consumers throughout the world. Feature films are released under the following banners: Disney, including Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios, Disneynature, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm. The Disney Music Group encompasses the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records labels, as well as Disney Music Publishing. The Disney Theatrical Group produces and licenses live events, including Disney on Broadway, Disney On Ice and Disney Live!. Ours is a culture of innovation, inspiration and collaboration that brings together visionary artists, gifted technologists and savvy business minds to conjure up magical entertainment experiences for a global audience.

Jobcode: Reference SBJ-gm30mr-13-58-156-237-42 in your application.