Digitalization Specialist

LAC Federal is seeking an experienced full-time Digitization Specialist for a position with our client, a prestigious government library located in Beltsville, MD. The Digitization Specialist will work with the federal staff to plan and carryout a large-scale digitization project of federal agency publications. The Specialist will provide configuration management, systems administration, and operational support for the digital preservation repository and associated digitization infrastructure. This role ensures that digitized materials, metadata, and preservation files are properly ingested, validated, stored, and maintained in accordance with established digital preservation standards and agency operational requirements.

The Specialist works at the intersection of library metadata, digital imaging workflows, repository configuration, and preservation storage systems to ensure long-term accessibility, integrity, and reliability of digital collections.

Responsibilities:

Administer and support NAL’s digital preservation repository, ensuring proper ingestion, storage, validation, and retrieval of digital objects.

Configure and maintain repository settings, workflows, user permissions, and metadata schemas in alignment with NAL policies and standards.

Monitor repository performance, storage utilization, file integrity, and preservation workflows.

Implement fixity checks, version control procedures, and validation routines to ensure authenticity and long-term integrity of digital assets.

Maintain accurate documentation of repository configurations, change controls, and system updates.

Establish and maintain configuration baselines for repository software, digitization-related applications, and preservation workflows.

Implement structured change management processes to ensure updates and modifications are tested, approved, and recorded.

Coordinate with vendors and IT stakeholders to troubleshoot issues, deploy patches, and resolve system-level concerns.

Ensure repository systems comply with file naming conventions, metadata standards, and digital object storage requirements.

Ensure accurate mapping and transformation of MARC-based bibliographic metadata into repository-compatible digital metadata formats.

Validate metadata during ingest to confirm compliance with NAL digitization processing requirements and ANSI/NISO holdings standards.

Support integration between catalog systems and the digital preservation repository.

Oversee digital object packaging, including structural, descriptive, administrative, and preservation metadata components.

Perform routine maintenance of digitization-related software systems and digital storage environments.

Monitor system logs, workflow queues, and repository ingestion pipelines to ensure uninterrupted operations.

Support backup, replication, and disaster recovery procedures to ensure digital preservation continuity.

Identify risks to system stability or data integrity and recommend corrective actions.

Utilize workflow management systems (e.g., JIRA) to track repository-related tasks and technical issues.

Contribute to monthly activity reporting, documenting system status, configuration changes, repository metrics, and identified operational risks.

Provide technical recommendations to improve efficiency, reliability, and preservation quality across digitization and repository operations.