Work in Special Collections this Summer!

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC) Special Collections is responsible for acquiring, processing, digitizing, and preserving unique, cultural heritage materials. In particular, the materials focus on the university, Chattanooga, the state of Tennessee, and the American South. Student Assistants play critical roles in Special Collections by helping the repository create digital collections, finding aids, and exhibits of cultural heritage resources. Special Collections stresses a standards-based approach to digitization and description and uses archival and digital asset management systems commonly adopted by galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) in the United States.

• Special Collections provides in-depth training for student assistants so that they gain important transferrable skills and exposure to professional software applications that may help prepare them for graduate studies or careers in archival administration and records management.
• Special Collections communicates with student assistants through their MocsMail email accounts and shares documents with them via Google Drive. Schedules are managed through MocsMail calendars. Students are expected to consult their calendars and email daily.
• All student assistants are responsible for making their own parking arrangements. Further, student assistants working in Special Collections during must be willing work onsite during our regular hours of operation at least 15 hours a week during the UTC Summer Long Term (May 16, 2018 to August 7, 2018).

Part time student assistants working in Special Collections in Summer 2018 will be assigned to one of the following projects:

• Review and edit accession records in the recently-acquired Chattanooga History Collections to ensure compliance with local descriptive practices and ascertain important legal title and copyright transfer to inform future processing and digitization priorities.
• Edit images and review digital object metadata for materials in the Herman Lamb photographs collection in compliance with local digitization and descriptive practices.

• Ability to work independently and produce high quality, thorough, and accurate work
• Ability to follow detailed written instructions
• Strong organizational, analytical and problem-solving skills as well as demonstrated initiative and adaptability
• Working knowledge of office productivity suites, such as Microsoft Office and Google Drive
• Effective written and oral communication skills

• Demonstrated experience working in a library or archival repository
• Demonstrated experience using complex data entry systems

Student assistants working in Special Collections will be compensated at a rate of $7.25 per hour. They may not work more than 29 hours a week.

To apply, please send a cover letter, resume, and application to the Director of Special Collections, Carolyn Runyon, using the UT Vault.

• Log into UT Vault at vault.utk.edu using your alias address and UTC password. Every UTC student has an alias address. Example: abc123@mocs.utc.edu would enter her email address as ABC123@tennessee.edu.
• Address the message to Carolyn Runyon at Carolyn-Runyon@utc.edu with the Subject: Student Assistant Application – Your Name. Compose your message and attach your cover letter, resume, and complete application.
• Check the box “Send me verification when the message is received.”

Cover letters should provide a description of the applicant’s relevant experience and expertise and describe the applicant’s motivation for working in Special Collections. Candidates must interview with the Director of Special Collections.