Bodleian Digital Library
Job description and selection criteria
Job title
Digital Preservation Specialist – Policy and Planning (Polonsky Fellow)
Division
Academic Services and University Collections (ASUC)
Department
Bodleian Libraries
Location
Osney One
Grade and salary
Grade 7: £30,738 - £37,768 p.a
Hours
Full time
Contract type
Fixed term for a period of 2 years
Reporting to
Head of Digital Collections and Preservation
Vacancy reference
TBC
Additional information
This post requires Disclosure Scotland and financial background checks
Closing date
(See job advert)
Introduction
The University
The University of Oxford is a complex and stimulating organisation, which enjoys an international
reputation as a world-class centre of excellence in research and teaching. It employs over 10,000
staff and has a student population of over 22,000.
Our annual income in 2013/14 was £1,174.4m. Oxford is one of Europe's most innovative and
entrepreneurial universities: income from external research contracts exceeds £478.3m p.a., and
more than 80 spin-off companies have been created.
Oxford is a collegiate university, consisting of the central University and colleges. The central
University is composed of academic departments and research centres, administrative departments,
libraries and museums. There is a highly devolved operational structure, which is split across four
academic divisions, Academic Services and University Collections and University Administrative
Services. For further information, please see:
www.ox.ac.uk/staff/about_the_university/new_to_the_university/structure_of_university.
For more information please visit http://www.ox.ac.uk/about
Academic Services and University Collections
The Academic Services and University Collections (ASUC) group includes the providers of the major
academic services to the divisions, and also departments with responsibilities including, but
extending beyond, the immediate teaching and research needs of the University. The collections
embodied within these departments are an essential part of the University’s wider nature and
mission. They are part of its heritage as the country’s oldest University and now form a resource of
national and international importance for teaching, research and cultural life; they also make a
major contribution to the University’s outreach and access missions.
For more information please visit: http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/asuc/
The Bodleian Libraries
The University of Oxford’s many libraries contain the largest and most diverse collections for the
support of teaching and research in any institution of higher education in the United Kingdom. Its
library holdings as a whole are world-class. Because its principal library, the Bodleian, has been in
effect a library of legal deposit for almost 400 years, members of the University and scholars from
far and wide have a reasonable expectation of satisfying a very high proportion of their library needs
somewhere within Oxford’s libraries.
The libraries, which together form Bodleian Libraries, contain more than 10 million volumes; and, if
periodical parts are included, Bodleian Libraries adds to stock an average of well over 1000 items per
day throughout the year. A large proportion of the library stock will be preserved in perpetuity and a
significant percentage of the legal deposit intake forms a part of the national printed archive.
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In addition to its vast print and archival collections, Bodleian Libraries offers access to over 60,000 ejournals and over 900 licensed electronic databases and reference works. The library service is
currently also significantly extending its e-book collection to support both learning and research.
For more information please visit: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/
Bodleian Digital Library Department
Bodleian Digital Library Systems and Services (BDLSS) provides a variety of digital services,
applications and infrastructure for students, researchers and staff of the University of Oxford.
BDLSS manages over 10 million bibliographic records, more than 1 million high resolution images of
the Bodleian’s most valuable collections, over 400,000 digitized books, 30,000 highly structured
texts, a growing collection of research datasets, and numerous websites and applications held in a
virtual infrastructure that approaches petabyte scale.
The University of Oxford has a rich and dynamic digital service landscape, including a wide variety of
departmental digital projects, a large IT Services department, the Oxford e-Research Centre and the
Oxford Internet Institute. The Bodleian Libraries are closely interlinked with all digital stakeholders
and contribute to the achievement of an outstanding digital experience at the University of Oxford.
Digital library services and applications
BDLSS provides support to the Bodleian Libraries’ Library Management System (Aleph), and SOLO,
the principal library catalogue and search interface for the Bodleian Libraries, in addition to
providing platforms and interfaces for the University's large collection of scholarly electronic
resources. BDLSS also supports a number of web-based applications and catalogues for digital
research and scholarship.
Open Access and Research Data Management
BDLSS has developed and manages Oxford’s open access repository, Oxford University Research
Archive (ORA) which contains approximately 180,000 items of metadata and 15,000 full-text articles.
We have also developed several tools to facilitate persistent archiving and preservation of scholarly
outputs including the Camelot data model underpinning the repository. BDLSS is a member of the
Open Access Oxford initiative in partnership with the University’s Research Services department.
ORA-Data, Oxford's archival store for research data, provides a local long-term data repository as a
supplement or alternative for academics to domain-specific repositories, in full compliance with
EPSRC and ESRC guidelines for research data management. BDLSS works in partnership with IT
Services and Research Services to deliver a wide range of research data management services
including data management plans and is planning for secure archiving of confidential data.
The University of Oxford is a partner in the Alan Turing Institute and the Bodleian Libraries is
supporting this joint venture in the provision of library and research infrastructure.
Digitization Services
The Bodleian Libraries recently launched Digital.Bodleian http://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk as a single,
unified platform for public and scholarly access to its digitized collections. Goobi is used as a
workflow tool for major digitization projects and is being used to facilitate and streamline online
access to digital images of our collections. Goobi is being rolled out to support commercial
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digitization services. In addition, a major capital review of imaging infrastructure is being carried out
with a view to further investment and development. The Bodleian is a partner in a number of
collaborative digitization initiatives.
Digital Preservation
BDLSS holds the responsibility to preserve the Bodleian’s digital collections in perpetuity. In pursuit
of this aim, BDLSS is planning new digital preservation services which incorporate digital
preservation policies, audit and certification; technical delivery and workflow tools; and training and
capacity development. BDLSS recently established VIPR as a new, resilient, mirrored virtual
infrastructure supporting super-fast networking and collection and application storage at petabyte
scale, which will support preservation and delivery in the digital age.
Support to Digital Research and Scholarship
BDLSS helps academics answer research questions through the use of digital tools and techniques.
BDLSS works closely with academics, educators and students of the University to provide a range of
support services for research and teaching, including project management for digital initiatives,
software engineering, user experience and interface design, data modeling, resource description and
discovery and other consultancy. Past projects include Fihrist (http://www.fihrist.org.uk), What’s the
Score (http://www.whats-the-score.org) and Image Match (http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk).
Several members of the BDLSS team have a wealth of editorial experience in humanities-based
encoding projects such as the EEBO-TCP project, and BDLSS offers consultancy and support services
for anyone wishing to create a full-text digital resource.
The Bodleian has seed funding to develop the Centre for Digital Research/Scholarship as a centre for
innovation with digital collections, tools and impact generation. As well as supporting projects in
Humanities, the Bodleian Libraries would like to provide similar services in scientific and social
science disciplines, in particular in the emerging fields of data science and informatics.
For more information please see: http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/bdlss.
Job description
Overview of the role
This is one of three key posts being funded for two years (2016 to 2018) to evaluate the University of
Oxford’s digital preservation requirements (for activities led by the Bodleian Libraries), produce
policies and plans to develop long-term sustainable digital preservation activities for the Library,
undertake preliminary technical interventions to address these requirements and ensure
appropriate capacity-building, outreach and training. An important aspect of the work is to develop
a detailed business case that will enable the Library to target appropriate funding sources and plan
for an on-going digital preservation activities that are sustained and embedded into ‘business as
usual’ operations. The focus of this role is on policy development and planning for digital
preservation. The other two Polonsky Digital Preservation Fellows will be focused on Technology;
and Outreach and Training, respectively.
This initial two-year programme is funded by a generous £0.5m gift from the Polonsky Foundation,
which in addition to salaries will incorporate provision of external consultancy, training and travel. A
unique aspect of this programme is that it is a shared endeavour with Cambridge University, also led
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by the Library. Roles will be mirrored at each site and the paired Fellows and local teams will work
very closely together, sharing knowledge and providing peer review and collaborative support. There
will be local line management structures at each site, and in addition there will be shared
management and steering groups put in place to support and help coordinate activity across the two
Universities.
The purpose of this post is to ensure that digital preservation planning and policy development, with
a focus on audit and certification aspects, have been carried out for the collections held by the
Bodleian Libraries on behalf of the University of Oxford; and other responsibilities set out in the
Programme Plan to be agreed with the Bodleian Libraries and Cambridge University Library, and the
grant agreement to be signed with the Polonsky Foundation. The post holder will foster
collaborative relationships with Cambridge University Library and with key digital institutions in
Oxford across all disciplines, including the faculties and Divisions, OeRC, Oxford Internet Institute,
OUP, Bodleian Libraries, Museums and IT services, and Centres for Doctoral Training.
Responsibilities/duties
 Develop a preservation strategy and preservation policy, building on existing documentation,
best practice and working with internal and external stakeholders
 Conduct an initial collections audit, focusing on the digitised image-based collections, and
identified any gaps. Translate the collections audit into a prioritised preservation plan
 Review existing digital preservation standards (such as the Data Seal of Approval) and make
recommendations in order to achieve certification. Implement the recommendations as
appropriate
 Develop a collections profile for the digitised image-based collections, which can be extended to
other collections
 Develop a preservation plan for the digitised image-based collections, specifying which file
formats are preferred, format validation routines, virus checking, migration paths and other
preservation actions that need to be taken
 Work with colleagues in the Bodleian Libraries to implement the plan or parts of the plan,
depending on the availability of resources, with a focus on the digitised image-based collections
 Develop a collections profile for the audio-visual collections or other collections deemed to be at
high risk
 Contribute to the development of a business case and sustainability plan for digital preservation
operations and services at the Bodleian in conjunction with colleagues
 Disseminate the key findings of their work to at least one conference and submitted one journal
article based on their work in collaboration with colleagues per year
 Provide appropriate communication and input to the joint Steering Committee and the Digital
Preservation Programme Board
 Foster collaborative working relationships between Cambridge University Library, the Bodleian
Libraries and institutions in Oxford, including the Faculties and Divisions, OeRC, OII, IT Services,
Museums, and OUP.
 Travel to other sites/ conferences/ institutions in the UK and internationally as required.
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The University’s policy on retirement
The University operates an employer justified retirement age for all academic and related posts (any
grade above grade 5), for which the retirement date is the 30 September immediately preceding the
68th birthday.
The justification for this is explained at:
www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/end/retirement/revisedejra/revaim/
For existing employees any employment beyond the retirement age is subject to approval through
the procedures outlined at:
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/personnel/end/retirement/revisedejra/revproc/
Other duties
 Participate in a regular Annual Review
 Undertake any necessary training identified
 Comply with health and safety regulations
 Comply with the policies and procedures set out in the Staff Handbook for Academic-related Staff
 Any other duties that may be required from time to time commensurate with the grade of the
job
The Bodleian Libraries reserve the right to make reasonable amendments to the job description in
consultation with the post-holder at any time.
Selection criteria
Essential criteria

Some experience of and enthusiasm for digital preservation policy development and
implementation, preferably gained in one of the following environments: academic, libraries,
archives, museums or corporate setting.

Knowledge of certification standards such as DRAMBORA, TRAC, Data Seal of Approval.

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the credibility to work well with
colleagues within Bodleian Libraries and with high-level internal and external partners.

Ability to work successfully as part of a matrix team and with stakeholders across the University
and with external partners

Self-motivated, with an ability to prioritise and manage conflicting demands and tight deadlines.

Strong problem solving and analytical skills.

A positive approach to acquiring new skills

Commitment to building capacity with others and disseminating new skills and learning for the
benefit of the digital preservation community.
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Desirable criteria

Knowledge and experience in the digital preservation and management of library and archive
materials, both born-digital and digitized.

Familiarity with the practical application of the Open Archival Information System (OAIS)
reference model.

Familiarity with the operation of repository systems such as Fedora, DSpace and E-prints.

Familiarity with third-party digital preservation workflow tools and software applications such as
that provided by Archivematica, Rosetta (Ex-Libris) and Preservica.

Experience with XML schemas used in digital preservation such as METS and PREMIS.

Postgraduate qualification or equivalent experience in a field of relevance to digital preservation
in any subject or discipline.

An appreciation of the ecosystem of issues relating to digital preservation, access and re-use,
such as reproducibility, citation and re-use, and software sustainability.

Professionally active, serving on national and international committees and working groups and
disseminating work through publications, conferences, social media and other routes.
Pre-employment screening
Please note that the appointment of the successful candidate will be subject to standard preemployment screening, as applicable to the post. This will include right-to-work, proof of identity
and references. All applicants must read the candidate notes on the University’s pre-employment
screening procedures, found at:
www.ox.ac.uk/about/jobs/preemploymentscreening/.
Furthermore, additional pre-employment screening is required for this post, as such; the successful
candidate will be required to undergo University security screening.
Working at the University of Oxford
For further information about working at Oxford, please see:
www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/jobs/professionalandmanagement/
References
Please give the details of two people who have agreed to provide a reference for you. If you have
previously been employed, your referees should be people who have managed you for a
considerable period, and at least one of them should be your formal line manager in your most
recent job. Otherwise they may be people who have supervised you in a recent college, school, or
voluntary experience. It is helpful if you can tell us briefly how each referee knows you (e.g. ‘line
manager’, ‘college tutor’). Your referees should not be related to you.
Your referees will be asked to comment on your suitability for the post and to provide details of the
dates of your employment; your attendance during the last 12 months; and of any disciplinary
processes which are still considered ‘live’. We will assume that we may approach them at any stage
unless you tell us otherwise. If you wish us to ask for your permission before approaching a
particular referee, or to contact them only under certain circumstances (for example, if you are
called to interview) you must state this explicitly alongside the details of the relevant referee(s).
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If you currently work, or have previously worked, for the University of Oxford, we will also take up a
reference from the head or administrator of the previous employing department. This will be in
addition to taking references from the referees you have provided.
Supporting Statement
The supporting statement should explain your relevant experience which may have been gained in
employment, education, or you may have taken time away from these activities in order to raise a
family, care for a dependant, or travel for example. Your application will be judged solely on the
basis of how you demonstrate that that you meet the selection criteria outlined above and we are
happy to consider evidence of transferable skills or experience which you may have gained outside
the context of paid employment or education.
Your supporting statement should list each of the essential and desirable selection criteria in the
further particulars and explain how you meet each one.
The inclusion of the statement is a mandatory step in the online application process. Please note
that CVs will not be considered as part of the selection process and will not therefore be accepted as
a substitute for a supporting statement.
All applications must be received by 12:00 midday (GMT) on the closing date stated in the online
advertisement.
Priority applications
From time to time the University has applications from current employees who are at risk of
redundancy. Should an application form be received from one of these people, they will be given
preferential treatment and will be considered prior to other applicants.
Information for priority candidates
A priority candidate is a University employee who is seeking redeployment owing to the fact that he
or she has been advised that they are at risk of redundancy, or on grounds of ill-health/disability.
Priority candidates are issued with a redeployment letter by their employing departments.
If you are a priority candidate, please ensure that you:
- attach your redeployment letter to your application
- explain in your covering letter how you meet the selection criteria for the post.
Further help and support is available from http://www.ox.ac.uk/about_the_university/jobs/support/
Please note that you will be notified of the progress of your application by automatic e-mails from
our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk mail regularly to ensure that you receive all
e-mails.
Relocation
At the moment, the Bodleian Libraries is not offering relocation expenses to this post
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