"A centre of excellence in digital information management, providing advice and services to the library, information and cultural heritage communities."

Person Specification

UKOLN is seeking an enthusiastic and committed person to lead the adoption of two new metadata application profiles.

UKOLN is a centre of expertise in digital information management, providing advice and services to the library, information, education and cultural heritage communities by:

• Influencing policy and informing practice
• Promoting community-building and consensus-making by actively raising awareness
• Advancing knowledge through research and development
• Building innovative systems and services based on Web technologies
• Acting as an agent for knowledge transfer

UKOLN is based at the University of Bath directed by Dr Liz Lyon and currently has a staff of twenty-nine. UKOLN is funded by the Council for Museums, Libraries & Archives (MLA); the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the funding bodies for higher and further education in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; as well as by project funding from the JISC, EPSRC and the European Community. UKOLN also receives support from the University of Bath where it is based.

UKOLN aims to inform practice and influence policy in the areas of: digital libraries, metadata and resource discovery, distributed library and information systems, bibliographic management, and web technologies. It provides network information services, including the Ariadne magazine, and runs workshops and conferences.

Attributes and Skills

The Research Officer (Metadata Advocacy) will require excellent communications skills, good technical expertise and experience across a range of information contexts.

The Research Officer (Metadata Advocacy) should be able to demonstrate the following skills and attributes:

Essential:

• An understanding and awareness of issues relating to the use of structured metadata to support information management, discovery and re-use.
• A detailed knowledge of Dublin Core, its use, and its mechanism for extension through the development of application profiles
• Interest in the development of digital repositories within the education sector; both in the UK and more widely.
• Understanding of technical and interoperability issues related to repositories and digital library infrastructure services.

Desirable:

• Good communication skills including the ability to present to a variety of audiences and to produce a range of publications (including research reports, journal articles, briefing papers, wikis and web pages).
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to support advocacy and advice sessions with academic and support staff within universities at a variety of operational levels
• Ability to work with small groups
• Ability to work independently, prioritise tasks and be confident in dealing with a range of external contacts