Director of Barnard Archives and Special Collections

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About the Director of the Barnard Archives & Special Collections
The Director ensures the long-term stewardship accessibility and ethical care of materials documenting Barnard College and broader histories of feminist activism art and scholarship. This position is responsible for managing or coordinating management of the day to day operations of the archives which includes a portfolio of hiring training and supervising of professional and student staff preparing reports support for reference and consultation teaching faculty support donor development and administering an annual budget for acquisitions special projects preservation and supplies.

The Director plans organizes and oversees all aspects of the Colleges Archives and Special Collections. As part of the Barnard Library Management Team this position will collaborate across library departments to leverage our various resources for projects and services and to assess and create development opportunities for all staff. The Director will also work collaboratively across Barnard and the Columbia University Libraries partnership to expand access to collections develop inclusive and reparative archival practices and lead digital preservation initiatives that sustain the historical record.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Administration

• Provides leadership vision and management for the Barnard Archives and Special Collections developing policies setting long-term goals ensuring alignment with the mission and strategic priorities of Barnard College

• Responsible for overseeing the operations of the Archives including the hiring training and supervising professional staff (1-FTE) graduate assistants (2) and student workers (4) fostering a collaborative and inclusive work culture.

• Manages development strategic planning and grant-seeking initiatives that strengthen the Archives resources and visibility.

• Develops and communicates policies and procedures for the use of materials housed in the Archives.

Collection Development and Stewardship

• Leads efforts to appraise acquire process document and preserve Barnards institutional history and special collections materials in the areas of feminist history in all formats including born-digital and hybrid collections with adherence to standards and technical best practices shaping the future of the collection.

• Develops and maintains sustainable digital preservation workflows policies and infrastructure in collaboration with vendors Barnard Information Technology (BCIT) ATLIS staff.

• Manages archives software and systems including locally-hosted servers and cloud-hosted/vendor-supported digital collections.

• Management of physical plant; monitoring humidity and temperature working with Capital Projects on improvements to space.

Access Research and Pedagogy

• Directs plans prepares and promotes exhibitions loans and public programming of archival materials in collaboration with faculty librarians and other campus partners.

• Collaborates with faculty across disciplines to integrate primary source literacy and feminist archival theory into the curriculum.

• Manages and conducts archival and primary source reference consultation and instructional services to faculty students and administrators as well as outside researchers.

• Actively engages with Personal Librarians Milstein Centers faculty and students as partners in integrating archival research and methods into the curriculum exhibition programmatic work.

Outreach Collaboration and Partnership

• Builds partnerships with feminist activist and community archives to advance collective documentation and preservation goals regionally and nationally.

• Serves as the primary liaison to Columbia University Libraries archival and special collections community and coordinates with Columbia staff on the discovery of Barnard archival collections in Columbia systems such as FOLIO and ArcLight.

• Engages alumnae donors and the public in supporting and sustaining Barnards archival mission.

• Work closely with the Dean of the Library senior management team General Counsel and the Office of Development/Alumnae Relations (DevAR) to create fundraising strategies cultivate donors and write proposals to support the goals and activities of the Archives and Special Collections.

Skills Qualifications & Requirements:

Qualifications

Required:

• Masters degree in library and information science (ALA-accredited) archival studies or a closely related field.

• Minimum 5-7 years of progressively responsible experience in archives or special collections including supervisory experience.

• Demonstrated expertise in archival theory and practice including digital preservation and management of born-digital materials.

• Basic understanding of command line interface programmatic problem-solving and adapting open source tools to process describe and make archival materials accessible.

• Experience providing reference and instructional services in archives.

• Proven record of work in feminist activist or community-based archives or collections.

• Strong leadership collaboration and communication skills.

• Commitment to diversity equity inclusion and ethical stewardship in archival practice.

Preferred:

• Knowledge of metadata and descriptive standards (e.g. DACS EAD MODS Dublin Core) and digital preservation systems (e.g. Preservica Archivematica). Knowledge of EAD MODS or other metadata standards ArchivesSpace or other archival management software Archipelago or other digital asset management systems.

• Experience managing reference and/or instructional services in an archives.

• Experience processing archival collections including born digital archival materials.

• Knowledge of Folio or other ILS MARC description

• Interest and participation in relevant professional organizations.

• Successful track record in grant writing and project management.

• Familiarity with metadata workflows and digital humanities tools that support discovery and access.

Compensation and Benefits

Salary range: $120000$125000 annually commensurate with experience.

Barnard College offers a comprehensive benefits package including health vision dental and retirement plans; generous paid time off; and tuition benefits.

Preferred Application Deadline

For best consideration please submit your application by January 5 2026.

About Barnard College

Founded in 1889 Barnard College is a distinguished liberal arts college for women affiliated with Columbia University and located in the heart of New York City. The Barnard Archives and Special Collections document the Colleges history and its communitys deep engagements with feminism social justice and the artsensuring that the histories of women are preserved accessible and activated for generations to come.

The salary of the finalist selected for this role will be set based on a variety of factors including but not limited to departmental budgets qualifications experience education licenses specialty and training. The above hiring range represents the Colleges good faith and reasonable estimateof the range of possible compensation at the time of posting.

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