Archives Associate

Department: Library 

Job Type: Continuing

Full-time/Part-time: Full Time (>=1249 hrs/year) 

Campus: Waterloo 

Reports to: Head, Archives and Special Collections

Employee Group: WLUSA 

Application Deadline: 01/31/2025 

Requisition ID: 8808 

Wilfrid Laurier University is a leading multi-campus university that excels at educating with purpose. Through its exceptional employees, students, researchers, leaders, and educators, Laurier has built a reputation as a world-class institution known for its rich student experience, academic excellence, and global impact. With a commitment to Indigenization and commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, Laurier’s thriving community has a place for everyone.

Laurier has more than 21,000 students and 2,100 faculty and staff across campuses in Waterloo and Brantford, as well locations in Kitchener and Milton. The university is committed to providing an inclusive workplace, a flexible work policy and employing a workforce that is reflective of local and national demographics. Laurier's Waterloo, Kitchener, and Brantford campuses are located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe, and Haudenosaunee peoples. This land is part of the Dish with One Spoon Treaty between the Haudenosaunee and Anishnaabe peoples and symbolizes the agreement to share, protect our resources, and not to engage in conflict.  Laurier's Milton campus is located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and part of the Nanfan Treaty of 1701 between the British Crown and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Head, Archives and Special Collections, the Archives Associate plays a pivotal role in the management, preservation, and promotion of Archives and Special Collections. This position requires expertise in archival standards, digital preservation, and public service, ensuring that collections are accessible to researchers, students, and the wider community. The Archives Associate actively contributes to the organization and description of physical and digital materials, processes university records, and ensures proper cataloguing in line with established archival and metadata standards. Additionally, the role supports the safe storage and conservation of Archives and Special Collections’ holdings, helping maintain the longevity of diverse collections.

A significant component of the position involves providing reference and instructional services and community outreach. The Archives Associate conducts research for internal and external researchers and community members, supervises the reading room, and offers specialized guidance on archival holdings. They also develop and implement social media strategies to promote the Archives and Special Collections, expanding engagement and public awareness. Instructional activities, such as delivering workshops or class modules, further enhance the educational mission of Archives and Special Collections.

The ideal candidate is detail-oriented, organized, and technologically adept, with proficiency in archival management tools, digital preservation systems, and social media platforms. With a focus on collaboration, this role works closely with the Head of Archives and Special Collections, the Archives Administrator, and university departments to support the development of exhibits, special projects, and events that showcase the archival holdings and enhance the institution’s academic and public outreach efforts.

Accountabilities

Research and Reference Services

• Conducts reference interviews with internal and external researchers and community members
• Identifies relevant archives, special collections, and rare books based on analysis of researchers’ questions
• Conducts research on behalf of university administrators, such as the Secretariat’s Office and Institutional Research, or remote academic researchers
• Interprets and applies access procedures and legislation, including the Copyright Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
• Registers researchers and supervises the reading room to ensure the safety and security of Archives and Special Collections’ holdings
• Creates digital reproductions of archives holdings in response to researcher requests
• Retrieves and returns materials to storage vaults

Instructional and Outreach Programming

• Develops, creates, and implements instructional modules for visiting classes and community groups
• Delivers classroom instruction and follow-up reference service to undergraduate and graduate students on a variety of topics in collaboration with faculty members
• Represents Archives and Special Collections at meetings, special events, and exhibits on and off campus
• Strategizes ideas for future outreach initiatives

Arrangement and Description

• Organizes and compiles information for accession and descriptive records, including preparing file lists
• Accessions records into Archives and Special Collections’ holdings
• Arranges and describes archival records according to industry standards (Rules for Archival Description) and in-house policies and procedures
• Completes physical processing tasks, such as re-foldering, re-boxing and storing archival materials
• Conducts preventive conservation on Archives and Special Collections’ holdings
• Assesses the physical and digital preservation needs of records in a variety of media and determines the optimal preservation strategy to ensure the longevity of the materials
• Researches the background of record creators and individuals, families, and organizations found in the Archives’ holdings
• Creates, edits, and publishes digital finding aids using archival management systems, such as Access to Memory (AtoM)

Digital Asset Management

• Creates, edits, and publishes metadata records to provide public access to Archives and Special Collections’ holdings using digital asset management systems
• Digitizes rare and unique material from Archives and Special Collections
• Prepares shipments of materials for digitization by outside vendors, including creating item lists, verifying and creating appropriate metadata, assigning identifiers, rehousing items, packing and tracking items
• Receives return shipments from outside vendors, including returning items to storage, reviewing the quality and completeness of the digitized files, and storing digital files appropriately
• Ingests digital assets from local storage into the digital preservation system
• Monitors digital assets to verify data integrity and accuracy
• Contributes to documenting workflows for departmental digital preservation work

Cataloguing

• Critically analyzes, verifies, creates and edits detailed bibliographic records in the Library catalogue, and other databases, for both virtual and physical research resources available to the Laurier community and to the public
• Interprets and applies prescribed international descriptive cataloguing rules including Anglo American Cataloging Rules II and Resource Description and Access
• Interprets and applies metadata formats such as Dublin Core, Library of Congress classifications and subject headings, and in-house procedures
• Establishes access points for the catalogue/metadata records when such are not supplied in a derived record in consultation with the Head of Cataloguing and the Archives Administrator
• Maintains accurate holdings and item data for all items catalogued

Wilfrid Laurier University Official Records

• Receives, accessions and archives official university records and publications from across campuses according to established Archives and Special Collections’ policies
• Ensures that holdings are complete and up-to-date, by liaising with various senior contacts across the university
• Captures content from university and university-related websites, and other organizations with whom the Archives and Special Collections maintains formal donation agreements
• Develops and maintains ingest and storage processes to manage the transfer and long-term preservation of digital records
• Compiles statistical data to be used by Institutional Research and the Head, Archives and Special Collections for monthly and annual reports

Social Media Strategy                                                                                                 .

• Directs and creates social media strategy by developing the message and voice of Archives and Special Collections
• Researches, creates and disseminates social media updates across multiple platforms
• Monitors website and social media accounts
• Reports and summarizes social media analytics to Head, Archives and Special Collections

Special Projects

• Develops, independently and collaboratively, exhibits, special events, and other special projects as assigned

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in humanities, social sciences, or related discipline;

• Minimum two years relevant work experience in Archives or other heritage organizations, including public service and collections management responsibilities ;

• Archival Technician Diploma preferred;

• Experience applying and interpreting the Rules for Archival Description, metadata standards, and relevant controlled vocabularies;

• Experience using archival management systems, such as Access to Memory (AtoM);

• Experience using digital preservation systems, such as Archivematica;

• Experience digitizing and editing photographs;

• Experience conducting effective reference interviews;

• Knowledge of instructional and outreach practices;

• Proven attention to detail, and ability to work in a consistently accurate and efficient manner;

• Strong organization and time management skills;

• Proven ability to write in a clear and concise fashion;

• Experience managing a social media strategy for non-profit organizations;

• Advanced computer skills, including Microsoft Office Suite, Adobe Acrobat; Adobe Photoshop;

• Knowledge and familiarity of university organization is an asset;

• Ability to lift up to 25 lbs.

This position has been deemed eligible for educational equivalencies.   

Compensation
Position Grade: Level D
Rate of pay: $37.22 - $39.35 per hour with an annual step progression on anniversary date to $42.54  per hour.

Considerations for new hire step placements include, qualifications and length/depth of required experience, relevant market rates for similar jobs, internal equity, and estimated learning curve in starting the job.

Hours of Work: The normal hours of work are 8:30 am to 4:30 pm, Monday to Friday.  Flexibility in hours will be required, including evening and/or weekend work due to special events, community outreach and instructional activities.  When possible, the manager will adjust the work schedule so that no more than 35 hours are worked in a week.

Job Evaluation Factor Scores 

Wilfrid Laurier University endeavors to fill positions with qualified candidates who have a combination of education, experience, skills and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position while demonstrating Laurier's Employee Success Factors.

Equity, diversity and creating a culture of inclusion are part of Laurier’s core values and central to the Laurier Strategy. Laurier is committed to increasing the diversity of faculty and staff and welcomes applications from candidates who identify as Indigenous, racialized, having disabilities, and from persons of any minority sexual and gender identities. Indigenous candidates who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact the Office of Indigenous Initiatives. Candidates from other equity deserving groups who would like to learn more about equity and inclusive programing at Laurier are welcomed to contact Equity & Accessibility. We have strived to make our application process accessible, however if you require any assistance applying for a position or would like this job posting in an alternative format, please contact Human Resources. Contact information can be found at careers.wlu.ca/content/How-to-apply/

Should you be interested in learning more about this opportunity, please visit www.wlu.ca/careers for additional information and the online application system. All applications must be submitted online. Please note, a resume and cover letter will be required in electronic form.