University of Michigan

*Note: This position has been filled. The University of Michigan Library (MLibrary) seeks a post-doctoral fellow to engage with its world-leading efforts in digital preservation and data curation. MLibrary hosts and operates the repository infrastructure for HathiTrust, operates one of the most comprehensive institutional repositories, has mounted a substantial support effort around data management, and will soon be initiating a campus-wide data management service in collaboration with the University’s central IT provider.  Reporting to the AUL for Research Services, the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Data Curation will play a pivotal research and assessment role in several data curation efforts.

• U-M’s campus IT governance process recently endorsed the Library’s proposal for a data curation service, to be offered in conjunction with U-M ITS.  The University Library will be the primary service provider for the service. As such, MLibrary will serve as the “front door” to the service and offer all support and business services to researchers. ITS will serve as the technology provider of much of the back-end infrastructure (although cloud service providers will also be considered as appropriate).  Within MLibrary, this service will be closely aligned with the newly-formed M-Library Research Services division, e.g., engaging library subject specialists for expert consultation. The Post-Doctoral Fellow in Data Curation will perform needs assessment, service design and will assist in planning for future phases of the service.
• The campus-wide data curation service will, tentatively, operate within a separate instance of the DSpace software, now also used for MLibrary’s Deep Blue service. Building the service on DSpace will allow us to capitalize on our existing expertise and deep knowledge of this platform. We will need to modify DSpace, for example, to support the deposit/ingest of larger files and transfer of larger packages out of the system. The design of the new service will be complementary to Deep Blue and aligned as a data-oriented service, designed for data with specific characteristics.The Post-Doctoral Fellow in Data Curation will collaborate closely with two MLibrary Library IT departments (DLPS and Core Services) on specifications to DSpace modifications.
• The Post-Doctoral Fellow in Data Curation will work with MLibrary's Preservation department and digital preservation librarian to define preservation attributes for data that have potential for long-term retention.
• Additionally, the Post-Doctoral Fellow in Data Curation will work with other MLibrary staff on a wide range of curatorial services, including data documentation and assistance with developing appropriate data management plans.

Required Skills:

• PhD work in a scientific, information, or social science discipline focusing on quantitative methods, preferably including work with large datasets
• A good understanding of data management
• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Familiarity with relevant encoding and metadata standards, including XML
• Project management skills highly desired
• Programming skills would be highly useful but not required