Accessioning Archivist

Department: Library Special Collections

Rank and Salary: Assistant Librarian to Associate Librarian ($72,224 - $102,121)

Position Availability: Immediately

Application deadline for first consideration: August 6, 2025

The UCLA Library seeks a highly collaborative and knowledgeable professional archivist to lead accessioning activities in Library Special Collections.

Reporting to the Team Leader for Collection Management, the Accessioning Archivist has primary responsibility for accessioning activities and, through the establishment and management of an accessioning program, contributes to the department's efforts to provide holistic stewardship for all collections throughout their life cycle.

Specific duties and responsibilities include:

• Designs and carries out archival accessioning for both newly acquired and backlog collections through approaches that are user-centered, access-driven, and compliant with national standards and best practices.
• Engages in pre-custodial interventions and preparation of collections for physical and custodial transfer to LSC, working closely with colleagues across Distinctive Collections in the assessment and appraisal of collection materials.
• Establishes physical, legal, and intellectual control of incoming and backlogged acquisitions, facilitating location management and physical storage of incoming and backlogged acquisitions.
• Leads the development and implementation of systematic accessioning strategies for LSC-stewarded collections, and provides and implements recommendations to scale LSC's accessioning program.
• Prepares and presents statistical, narrative, and visual reports for internal and external stakeholders.
• Collaborates with the Digital Archivist to develop and implement policies and workflows for the transfer and accessioning of born-digital materials.
• Collaborates with Preservation & Conservation to establish systematic preservation assessment practices and integrate them into LSC's workflows.
• Collaborates with Collection Management colleagues to oversee the stewardship of the physical and digital collection files related to LSC's archival collections.
• Supervises and directs the work of the Acquisitions and Accessioning Assistant, project assistants, and student employees to carry out accessioning activities.
• Contributes to department and library-wide outreach and community engagement activities, such as instruction and presentations, reference services, and social media.
• Makes professional contributions to activities related to archives and special collections at UCLA and at regional or national levels.
• Works closely with Library Development to identify and steward donors, collections, and endowed gift funds.
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

Additionally, the successful candidate will be committed to engagement with and promotion of the UCLA Principles of Community and the True Bruin Values.

UCLA welcomes and encourages diversity and seeks applications and nominations from women and minorities. UCLA seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the people of California, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.

UCLA is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy. We are committed to attracting and retaining a diverse workforce along with honoring unique experiences, perspectives, and identities. Together, our community strives to create and maintain working and learning environments that are inclusive, equitable and welcoming.

Under federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally authorized to work in the United States as established by providing documents specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Employment is contingent upon completion of satisfactory background investigation.

Professional librarians at UCLA are academic appointees. Librarians at UCLA are represented by an exclusive bargaining agent, University Council - American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT). This is a represented position. They are entitled to appropriate professional leave, two days per month of vacation leave, one day per month of sick leave, and all other benefits bargained in the collective bargaining agreement. The University has an excellent retirement system and sponsors a variety of group health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans in addition to other benefits. Relocation assistance may be provided.

Appointees to the librarian series at UC shall have professional backgrounds that demonstrate a high degree of creativity, teamwork, and flexibility. Such background will normally include a professional degree from an ALA-accredited library and information science graduate program. In addition to professional competence and quality of service within the library in the primary job, advancement in the librarian series requires professional involvement and contributions outside of the library, and/or university and community service, and/or scholarly activities. Candidates must show evidence or promise of such contributions.

Library Special Collections (LSC) builds and stewards special collections resources, services, and operations. The department consists of four teams: Curatorial; Processing/Center for Primary Research and Training (CFPRT); Collection Management (CM); and Public Services, Outreach, and Community Engagement (PSOCE).

• The Curatorial Team is responsible for collection development and acquisition of materials in support of research and teaching.
• The CFPRT makes collection material discoverable and accessible through ethical and iterative processing in a pedagogical model.
• The CM Team ensures responsible stewardship of collections through ethical accessioning, cataloging, and management of collections storage.
• The PSOCE Team integrates public-facing operations for LSC including reference and instruction, programmatic events, and activities.

The entire staff of approximately 30 FTE work together holistically to build, preserve, and provide access to the outstanding rare and unique holdings of the UCLA Library. LSC works closely with our colleagues within the Distinctive Collections portfolio to steward a range of international resources in support of UCLA's mission for the betterment of our global society.

As one of the world's great public research universities, UCLA integrates education, research, and public service so that each enriches and extends the others. From its beautiful neighborhood campus in a uniquely diverse and vibrant city on the Pacific Rim, teaching and research extend beyond the classroom, office, and lab through active engagement with communities, organizations, projects, and partnerships throughout the region and around the world.

UCLA's diverse community of scholars encompasses nearly 30,000 undergraduates pursuing 125 majors, 13,000 graduate students in fifty-nine research programs, and 4,000 faculty members including Nobel Laureates; Rhodes Scholars; MacArthur Fellows; winners of the Fields Medal, National Medal of Science, Pritzker Prize, and Pulitzer Prize; and recipients of Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, and Golden Globes. UCLA ranks tenth in the Times of London Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, twelfth in the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and fifth in the U.S. by Washington Monthly. The National Research Council ranks forty of its graduate and doctoral research programs among its top ten.

To enable our accomplished students, faculty, and staff to create, disseminate, and apply knowledge for the benefit of global society, the UCLA Library is re-envisioning how it acquires, synthesizes, and shares knowledge and information across academic audiences and with the public. The services and expertise we provide via our collections connect users to their learning needs, their research, or their creative efforts. We do this by ensuring discoverability; engaging in curricular support and advancing information literacy for our students; by offering scaled support asynchronously, through online training modules, and research support. We offer targeted services for our graduate and undergraduate students trying to solve a problem, understand a system, or learning how to use a new tool to responsibly manage and explore data. We develop public programming, exhibitions, curated experiences, and other engagement opportunities to connect our unique collections, cultural materials, research resources, and services with the campus and greater LA communities fostering discovery, dialogue, and access to collections for visitors, researchers and lifelong learners alike. The Library serves UCLA students, faculty, and staff whenever and wherever they need its resources and expertise. Reconfigured, high-tech spaces and services in its ten campus libraries enable users and librarians to explore and work with print and digital materials collaboratively or individually, pursue new lines of inquiry, and develop new pedagogical approaches as well as novel forms of scholarship. More than 3.5 million people visit annually, while an additional 3.4 million visitors enter online through its virtual front doors.

Whether on campus or online, the Library forms the intellectual heart of UCLA, a hub for cutting-edge discovery, scholarship, and instruction.

Visit the Jobs @ UCLA Library website at: https://www.library.ucla.edu/about/jobs/

• ALA-accredited Master's Degree in Library or Information Science required at the time of hire; OR Master's degree (or other advanced degree) in Information Sciences or related field at the time of hire and work experience in a library setting.
• Experience in archival accessioning, arrangement, and description.
• Experience applying efficient processing techniques, in accessioning, appraising, arranging, describing, and preserving archival collections and preparing finding aids for collections of varying size, condition, content, and complexity.
• Knowledge of archival principles, responsible collection stewardship, as well as best practices for accessioning, efficient processing, and archival description.
• Experience managing metadata for archival collections, including data standardization, remediation, and repurposing metadata for reuse, as well as an understanding of metadata mapping.
• Experience with or interest in expanding knowledge ofArchivesSpace, Airtable, or other archival information management systems.
• Knowledge, understanding, and desire to engage with current developments, trends, and technologies in special collections.
• Ability to stay abreast of privacy, confidentiality, copyright, and related policies associated with acquisition, access, and use of archives and special collections materials.
• Knowledge of appraisal theory and approaches of manuscripts and archives.
• Experience in communicating effectively with diverse communities and donors.
• Experience with scheduling, project planning, management, completion, and project assessment.
• Ability to balance competing priorities and work under tight deadlines.
• Strong research, project management, and oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and be self-motivated.
• Experience working in a highly collaborative team-based environment.
• Ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively and to promote teamwork, diversity, equality, and inclusiveness for the LSC accessioning program and within UCLA Libraries and the campus.

Applicants who possess the above required qualifications are strongly encouraged to apply and will be considered fully qualified. Applicants with all the above required qualifications and any of the following preferred qualifications or professional experiences are also encouraged to apply, however, the desired qualifications below are not required:

• Familiarity with the Guidelines for Efficient Archival Processing in the University of California Libraries, OCLC's Total Cost of Stewardship toolkit, and other models that promote ethical and iterative approaches to description and access.
• Demonstrated experience accessioning and processing born-digital materials.
• Experience with XML editing tools.
• Experience training and directing the work of student employees, delegating appropriate tasks and monitoring progress.
• Experience providing reference to special collections users.
• Knowledge of a language other than English.

• 3 required (contact information only)

Names and contact information for three professional references, including current or previous supervisor; contact information only.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, discrimination, dishonesty, or unethical conduct, as defined by the employer.
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  UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
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