Curator of Collections

Job Description Summary

Duties include ongoing support and oversight of the teaching programs, digital conversion programs, metadata consultation, design, and development services to facilitate the use of digital and analogue information; formulating and implementing policies and procedures for access, retrieval description, preservation, and management of objects in digital collection systems; providing specialized reference and research services to faculty and students; assessing the department’s visual information needs and the provision of digital data in accordance with the UBC copyright guidelines; hiring and training of staff and student assistants; liaising in collaborative projects within the department and other units; participating in staff recruitment; developing and monitoring unit budget; writing annual reports and grant proposals; and overseeing facility needs and utilization.

Organizational Status

Reporting to the administrator and head, the curator of collections works closely with art history faculty and graduate students, and the Faculty of Arts Instructional Support and Information Technology (Arts ISIT) unit. The incumbent interacts and communicates with all members of the unit, faculty, and staff from other units, department suppliers, and members of the general public. Acts as VRC/departmental liaison in collaborative projects and planning with other units on campus and affiliated institutions.

Work Performed

• Administers and manages the Visual Resources Centre, including policymaking and implementation of procedures to facilitate the teaching, learning and research of visual culture in accordance with the University’s/department’s mission and goals.
• Oversees collection development and maintenance of 550,000+ items of visual material, including 35mm photographic slides, 16mm films, videos, laserdiscs, DVDs, Blu-rays, databases, and servers of 65,000+ digital images/data for teaching and learning; monitors storage/access needs of visual materials as a campus-wide resource for interdisciplinary studies and, potentially, as a vital community resource for distance learning.
• Researches, selects, and implements, in consultation with IT specialists, new technologies in digitization, database development, information storage and delivery as in metadata construction, and scalability to include future collection growth; drafts metadata components to decode the obsolete platform in order to facilitate the process of extracting and migrating digital assets; contributes to collaborative planning and implementation in areas related to visual resources, library, media/classroom services, and archives.
• Plans, evaluates, develops, improves, and integrates electronic access, storage, and web-based technologies for the collections as demonstrated in the use of online systems, namely Ferret (TMAP, 2005-09), Quest Image Gallery (MDID2, 2009-2017), Arts Digital Repository (OMEKA, 2017-2020), Pix Arts Digital Image Repository (WORDPRESS, 2019+), ARTstor, Canvas (LMS), and University Data Centre (UBC IT); creates and maintains local documentation on metadata standards and metadata applications guidelines.
• Supervises all aspects of the VRC operation; evaluates and maintains image- production needs and standards for potential and ongoing projects; produces and archives computer-based digitization of images and documentation for the course-related AHVA/VISA server accessible to faculty and students in a secured Intranet environment; updates image servers and monitors off-campus online access; establishes workflows for metadata creation or capture; ensures optimal conditions for image- quality control are maintained at imaging workstations; identifies image/data errors, makes corrections and coordinates the ingest and release of updated images.
• Formulates and implements a versatile cataloguing system based on the standards developed and recommended by various bodies, including the Visual Resources Association (VRA), Dublin Core (DC), Art & Architecture Thesaurus (AAT), Cataloguing Cultural Objects (CCO), Categories for the Description of Works of Art (CDWA), and Library of Congress (LC); develops features and functionality compatible to those used in the visual resources community, anticipating future collaboration and sharing.
• Trains and supervises staff, teaching assistants, research assistants, and project assistants in the production, local processing, cataloguing, circulation control, and preservation of analogue slides and electronic files; provides technical and academic reference services to faculty, students, and staff in the use of the VRC collections and equipment; participates in staff recruitment.
• Prepares grant proposals and collaborates in other projects for ongoing support and development of digital imaging, computer technology, and equipment as well as photographic and AV equipment; submits applications semiannually for funding to hire student help.
• Determines acquisition policy by assessing the visual information needs of faculty, TAs, sessional instructors, and students as reflected in their teaching, learning, and research.
• Stays abreast of copyright issues, current issues, and trends in metadata and digital content management in the field of visual culture and in a world of rapidly changing electronic resources.
• Applies good practices by understanding and observing the Copyright Guidelines for UBC faculty, staff, and students in order to perform duties that are in accordance with the educational exceptions under the Copyright Modernization Act and Fair Dealing requirements.
• Develops and manages the VRC budget in consultation with the department administrator; produces periodic updates and an analytical annual report.
• Represents the VRC and AHVA by participating in meetings and on committees.
• Promotes faculty and student research through maintaining collections of publications, exhibition catalogues, and research outputs.
• Works closely with the Guest Lecture Committee and departmental colleagues on special department programs and events. Liaises with guest scholars and artists, arranges AV and recording for lectures with Arts ISIT, ensuring online availability for community reference and departmental archives.
• Evaluates donations of visual material by communicating with donors and representatives in UBC Development + Alumni Engagement in order to select the types deemed most suited to the needs of the department and the VRC; appraises the value of a donation to issue official receipt for tax purposes.
• Serves, during and after regular operating hours, as a resource person for department special programs and events.
• Performs other related duties as required.

Minimum Qualifications

Master’s degree in a relevant discipline. Minimum of six years of related experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

Preferred Qualifications

Master’s degree in Library/Information/Archival Science. Candidate must have demonstrated experience with an excellent knowledge of:

• History of art and architecture, visual imagery, and cultural representations as a whole.
• All aspects of digital imaging, analogue/digital photography, and management/preservation of digital assets.
• Collegiality, communication and analytic skills, including the ability to work well and to lead within a team environment, to interact with faculty, students, staff, and diverse groups of other personnel in a diplomatic and professional manner.
• PC and Mac computers, Adobe CS, MS Office, production and management of large numbers of digital images; operate and maintain digital capture devices. Familiarity with Canvas and/or other online learning platforms.
• All aspects of technical, administrative, and descriptive image metadata, digital asset management and tracking systems; community-based best practices for digital photography and capture, and colour management and profiling.
• Understanding of metadata and taxonomy constructs as related to controlled vocabularies within a digital asset management system and data content management principles.
• Training and supervising staff in the use of cataloguing and metadata tools.
• Bibliographic control issues and information management of a variety of metadata standards such as MARC, AACR2, VRA Core, Dublin Core, AAT, CCO, CDWA, AAT, ULAN, TGN, LC, etc.
• Digital collection management, electronic resource management, and metadata standards and formats.
• Planning, analyzing, and solving problems creatively, flexibly, and resourcefully; organizational skills in handling complex analytical and detailed work with accuracy and precision.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively in a multi-faceted and fast-paced context; proactively assisting and advising colleagues with numerous varied research queries for visual images.
• Professional development activities, including research and participation in professional organizations.
• Audio, video, and other multimedia file formats and web applications.
• Analogue formats such as 35mm slides, transparencies, prints, and photographs.
• Prior professional experience in an academic or special library.

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