Job Summary

The Furman University Libraries welcome applications for a newly-created full-time faculty position of Archivist at the rank of Assistant/Associate Librarian in the Department of Special Collections and Archives.

About Us

Furman University is a selective private liberal arts college committed to helping students develop intellectually, personally, and interpersonally and providing the practical skills necessary to succeed in a rapidly-changing world. Furman faculty are exceptional teacher-scholars who mentor undergraduate students within a campus community that values and encourages diverse ideas and perspectives. Furman has an institutional commitment to embrace diversity as an implicit value and as an implicit practice in all of its endeavors. Following an inquiry into Furman’s ties to slavery, the Board of Trustees unanimously approved a series of recommendations that will help educate the community about Furman’s history and commemorate Furman’s first African American students through educational programs, statues, historical plaques, and scholarships. Furman has a newly-established Humanities Center in which the libraries will play an active role.

Our recently-launched strategic vision, The Furman Advantage, promises students an individualized four-year pathway facilitated by team of mentors and infused with a rich and varied set of high-impact experiences outside the classroom that include undergraduate research, study away, internships, community-focused learning, and opportunities to engage across differences.

Furman is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty and staff, and actively encourages applications from members of all groups underrepresented in higher education. The University aspires to create a community of people representing a multiplicity of identities including race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, spiritual belief, socioeconomic background, geographic origin, ideology, world view, and varied abilities. Several faculty interest groups have formed within these underrepresented populations including African Americans and LGBTQ+. These groups encourage interested parties to interact with them during the search process. Furman extends comprehensive benefits to domestic partners of employees.

The Furman University Libraries include the James B. Duke Library, the Sanders Science Library, and the Maxwell Music Library. The Libraries have 26 employees (13 library faculty and 13 staff) and a robust collection of electronic and print materials. The Libraries are a member of the Oberlin Group consortium of liberal arts college libraries and are in the process of migrating to a shared Alma/Primo library services platform.

The Department of Special Collections and Archives houses Furman’s collections of rare books, manuscripts, and the Furman University Archives. It houses the South Carolina Poetry Archives; several music collections, including the newly-acquired Microtonal Music Archive, the largest of its kind in the country; the South Carolina Baptist Historical Collection; and collections of historical objects and artifacts. Collection strengths include African American materials; Victorian London and the British empire; medieval manuscripts; British and American conduct manuals and courtesy books; LGBTQ+ history; growing collections in the history of books and printing; and collections of queer zines and contemporary artists’ books. The Department offers summer research and creative fellowships for undergraduate students and supports high-impact classroom experiences by offering fellowships for Furman faculty to enhance their course offerings using Special Collections materials.

Furman University is located on traditional Cherokee land in Greenville, South Carolina, which is one of the fastest growing cities in the Southeast and is ranked among “America’s Ten Best” by Forbes Magazine. The charming downtown features excellent restaurants, in-town parks, shops, museums, galleries, music venues, and theaters. The city also has excellent public and private schools and a vibrant international community. A 20-mile bike and running trail connects the university to Greenville and to Travelers Rest, which was named “one of America’s coolest small towns.” The surrounding area abounds with outdoor recreational activities and has some of the most beautiful lakes, rivers, and mountains in the country. Greenville is within easy driving distance to Asheville, Atlanta, Charlotte, the Blue Ridge Mountains and Atlantic Beaches. Greenville-Spartanburg Airport runs daily flights to major cities and airline hubs.

Position Summary

This position works in the Department of Special Collections and Archives under the supervision of the Associate Librarian for Special Collections and University Archivist. Their primary responsibilities will be the appraisal, acquisition, arrangement and description, access services, and reference work for the Furman University Archives and manuscript collections. Together with the Associate Librarian, they will work on campus-wide efforts and initiatives on records management, instruction, and outreach. This position works closely with the Digital Collections Center in the Furman Libraries and with Furman faculty interested in creating digital collections and digital scholarship projects using the university’s archival and manuscript collections. 

Essential Duties

• Processes archival and manuscript collections of analog and born-digital materials for discovery and creates and updates archival and manuscript research guides and finding aids.
• Promotes and supports collection access for researchers, donors, and Furman faculty, staff, alumni/ae, and students.
• Develops procedures and workflows for managing born-digital materials for ingest, description, preservation, and access.
• Works with faculty, staff, students, alumni/ae, and potential donors to identify collection needs, appraise and accept gifts, transfers of university records, and acquire additions to collections.
• Works together with the Special Collections Assistant to manage archival workflow and processing priorities.
• Working with faculty, creates, supports, and promotes high-impact classroom experiences for Furman students.
• Provides reference and research service in Special Collections and Archives.
• Recommends, updates, implements, and assesses archival policies and procedures.
• Promotes the collections through physical and online exhibitions, publications, and social media.
• Functions as a member of the University faculty, including attendance at faculty meetings and, when possible, membership on faculty committees.
• Participates actively in the archives and library professions as part of professional development.
• Maintains up-to-date knowledge of trends and emerging technologies in the archival and special collections library fields.

Required Qualifications

• ALA-accredited MLS/MLIS in library and information science with formal training in archival work. Other advanced degree in a relevant discipline with significant and additional training and/or experience that specifically addresses the essential duties of this position will be considered.
• Experience arranging and describing archival and manuscript materials, preferably in an academic setting.
• Demonstrated commitment to a reparative framework in archival work and diversity and inclusion as an essential component of archival practice.
• Experience providing research, reference, and instructional services in an academic library setting.
• Demonstrably strong interpersonal, collaboration, and communications skills.
• Strong cultural competencies and a desire to work with diverse groups of patrons, staff, and students.
• Experience working collaboratively and independently with varied groups within a large organization and in a team environment.
• Knowledge of current archival practices and descriptive standards such as DACS, EAD, and MARC.
• Ability to tolerate occasional dirty/dusty conditions and lift and move a minimum of 40 pounds.

Preferred Qualifications

• Two years of full-time archival experience in an academic setting.
• Experience implementing and working with ArchivesSpace and/or other archival content management tools such as Omeka strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated knowledge of digital preservation.
• Knowledge of Archive-It or similar web archiving tools. 
• Experience working with web archives, digital repositories, and born-digital materials.
• Knowledge of records management best practices.

Salary and Benefits

Salary commensurate with experience (minimum $53,000). Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life plans, and matching retirement plan (TIAA).

Application Information

Interested applicants should submit a letter of application and CV following the instructions on this page. Please include contact information for three professional references.

Review of applications will begin on: April 13, 2020.  

Please follow these instructions to ensure your application is received successfully:

1. Go to Furman's Employment Website and select "Apply". Create an account.

2. Have all the required documents ready before you begin the application process. You cannot save your progress once you have started. If the process times out, you will lose your entire application. Required documents are:
   1. Cover letter
   2. Curriculum vitae/resume

3. On the Quick Apply page, upload your CV/resume and the system will extract content to auto-populate many of the fields in the application form.

4. On the My Information page, confirm your contact information is correct.

5. On the My Experience page, do the following:
   1. Confirm that the "Work Experience" and "Education" were correctly extracted from your CV/resume especially the "Role Description" fields. Correct any problems.
   2. In the "Field of Study" drop-down, type in your field (e.g. "Library Science") rather than scrolling through the drop-down list which is incomplete. If you have a degree with no field of study, type "None".
   3. The "Resume/CV" section is where you will upload your cover letter. Your CV/resume should already be uploaded to this section from earlier. Select "Upload" and add your cover letter. Please wait for the document to finish uploading before clicking "Next".

6. On the Application Questions page, provide contact information for your references.

7. On the Review page, ensure your information is correct and you have uploaded all required documents. You can make changes by hitting "Back" and "Next". If multiple pages require changes, make changes to the earlier pages first and the later pages last.

Once submitted, you will not be able to edit your application other than to change your contact information.