ASSISTANT ARCHIVIST for New York Public Radio

Posted On: September 15, 2010

Journalism Internship

Media Organization:New York Public Radio

Company Description

New York Public Radio is New York's premier public radio franchise, comprising WNYC FM, WNYC AM, and WQXR, as well as www.wnyc.org and www.wqxr.org. As America's most listened-to AM/FM news and talk public radio stations, reaching 1.1 million listeners every week, WNYC extends New York City's cultural riches to the entire country on-air and online, and presents the best national offerings from networks National Public Radio, Public Radio International, American Public Media, and the British Broadcasting Company. WNYC 93.9 FM broadcasts a wide range of daily news, talk, cultural and music programming, while WNYC AM 820 maintains a stronger focus on breaking news and international news reporting. Classical 105.9 WQXR is New York City's sole 24-hour classical music station, presenting new and landmark classical recordings as well as live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, among other New York City venues, immersing listeners in the city's rich musical life. In addition to its audio content, WNYC produces content for live, radio and web audiences from The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station's street-level multipurpose, multiplatform broadcast studio and performance space. For more information about WNYC, visit www.wnyc.org.

Job Description

Established in the year 2000, the WNYC Archives are New York Public Radio's physical link to the station's rich and storied past. Managed by the Director of Archives--an archivist and audio preservation specialist--the department provides a central repository for thousands of recordings, photographs, memorabilia, and institutional records. Among its holdings are more than 50,000 recordings in a variety of formats, from early lacquer and acetate discs to reel-to-reel tape, DBX 700, F1 Beta, DAT, MD and CD formats. Video materials are a new and growing component of the collection and are currently stored on a variety of formats. In addition, NYPR's recent acquisition of WQXR includes the WQXR archives of audio, paper and photo materials.

The Assistant Archivist position is a two-year, full-time National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funded position with a projected start date of September 1, 2010. It will focus on the digital reformatting of older analog materials on lacquer disc and tape (1938-1970). All reformatted items are to be cataloged using a PBCore metadata schema with an eye to exporting all entries as MARC records. The Assistant Archivists will work closely with the Senior Archivist, Archivist and Web Content Producer and will be expected to meet series of production deadlines involving preservation-quality transfers of historical audio materials.

Responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• Reformat & digitize audio materials on an ongoing basis
• Organize, catalog and re-house historical sound collections
• Comply with all NYPR and department policies and guidelines
• This position requires use of a computer, telephone and other office and broadcast equipment; ability to communicate effectively through a variety of methods; this position requires the person to be able to lift or handle equipment up to 50 pounds
• Additional duties and special projects as assigned

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree
• Strong audio engineering background and experience
• At least two years professional archives experience or equivalent
• Highly organized and detail oriented
• Knowledge of current archival preservation and conservation practices
• Knowledge of digital audio and video formats and storage issues
• Knowledge of PBCore, MARC 21, AACR2 and LCSH
• Familiarity with ProTools or similar software packages for recording, editing and mixing audio preferred.
• Knowledge of standard desktop software applications
• Requires the intellectual and emotional depth, maturity, self-confidence and interpersonal skills to work effectively and/or interact with the other archive staff, station employees, colleagues, industry representatives and cultural partners (as needed) - required
• Excellent communication skills—both oral and written—with an impressive reputation for building and maintaining relationships with people at all levels of an organization, across a diverse range of cultural, generational, ethnic, racial, educational and social backgrounds - required
• Familiarity with NYPR programs preferred
• Demonstrated experience working with audio recordings preferred
• Web writing experience, a plus
• Interest in New York City history and classical music preferred

This position is covered by a collective bargaining agreement between New York Public Radio and AFTRA.

Note: The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees, and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer.

To Apply

To apply for this opportunity, please submit a cover letter, salary requirements and resume online to jobs@wnyc.org with "Asst Archivist" and your last name in the subject line.

NYPR must receive all information requested in order to consider your candid