Elma Lewis Digital Project Assistant

About the Opportunity

Elma Lewis Digital Project Assistants

The Northeastern University Library is hiring part-time assistants for a grant-funded project supported by Boston's Community Preservation Department. The project, Black Art and Joy in Boston (and Beyond): Elma Lewis and the National Center of Afro-American Artists focuses on digitizing, cataloging, and publishing materials from four archival collections documenting the life and legacy of Elma Lewis (1921-2004). These collections include her personal papers, as well as records from the Elma Lewis School of Fine Arts, the National Center of Afro-American Artists, and its museum-highlighting her work to promote Afrocentric visual and performing arts.

Part-time assistants will contribute to the descriptive work for the Elma Lewis collections, with assignments determined by project priorities. Primary responsibilities include cataloging textual materials in spreadsheets according to departmental standards and project-specific instructions from the Project Librarian. Additional tasks may involve post-production processing of digitized texts, assisting with automated captioning workflows for audiovisual materials, and developing contextual documentation about the people, places, and objects represented in the collections.

The assistant will work within the highly collaborative Digital Production Services department and also partner with staff from Archives and Special Collections. The position requires some experience with metadata creation (ideally using MODS, Dublin Core, or EAD), familiarity with authority files and controlled vocabularies (such as LCSH, LCNAF, and AAT), and a demonstrated interest in inclusive cataloging and reparative description. Strong attention to detail and the ability to thrive in a collaborative environment are essential.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Enrollment in an ALA-accredited MLS or MLIS or equivalent experience
• Professional experience with metadata schemas and item-level archival cataloging
• Knowledge of controlled vocabularies and thesauri
• Exposure to inclusive and reparative description principles
• Attention to detail
• Proven ability to work independently
• Strong communication skills

Hours: 15-18 hours a week. Hours can be flexible, but some availability on Tuesdays is strongly preferred.

Location: Hybrid and fully remote work available.

Pay Rate: $21 per hour

Position Type

Temporary