Adult Services Librarian, Archivist

Position Description

Schedule: Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

A pay period is two weeks in length that starts on Wednesday and ends on Tuesday. Hours will include weekdays and may include evenings and weekends. This is a fully in-person role. The listed schedule and anticipated work location represents the Library’s current operational need and is part of a bargaining unit represented by AFSCME.

This recruitment is open to the public and to The Seattle Public Library’s employees and will remain open continuously. Candidates wishing to be considered in the first review should submit their application, cover letter, and resume in NEOGOV by 5:00 p.m. on April 19, 2026. Please note that the application period may close at any time after the first consideration date.

The Seattle Public Library is a dynamic urban library system that consists of the Central Library and 26 branch libraries, is Seattle's center of information and knowledge and one of the most popular and valued services in the city. Library staff members are highly regarded by the public for their knowledge, quality of service, and caring. Staff members are committed to the Library's values of care, connection, and learning. They are equitable, demonstrate respect, engage in partnerships, and are transparent in their communications and intentions. The Library seeks to foster a culture of innovation which focuses on creativity, engagement, learning, and staff well-being and belonging. If you share these values and meet the qualifications, the Library invites you to apply for this Special Collections Archivist, Librarian position.

The Seattle Public Library is actively seeking an innovative archival professional who sees collection engagement with the communities we serve as essential to all aspects of developing, delivering, evaluating and improving programs, services and content. The successful candidate will be a creative, self-directed professional with a strong work ethic, a collaborative work style, and a good sense of humor. They will have the ability to thrive in an environment that requires supportive teamwork to maintain a safe and welcoming service environment for patrons and staff.

Under the direction of the Special Collection Services Manager, the role will implement the archival collection preservation program at Seattle Public Library Special Collections. The position also serves as the primary subject matter expert on archival processes and best practices for the Special Collections unit, collaborating with the Special Collections team members on archival donations and the collections. This position will anticipate and respond to the evolving needs of existing and future archival materials by developing and implementing workflow practices for appraisal, donation guidelines, processing standards, descriptive practices, preservation/conservation, deaccession and disposition. The role works within budgets established for archival and preservation work and supplies in consultation with the Special Collections Services Manager. The position is responsible for performing processing work and documenting the progress of that work, including archival collection statistics. This role will also serve as a representative for emergency response for historical and cultural materials as defined by the system and through mutual aid agreements.

As a member of the Library Experience and Engagement Division, this position will be based at the Central Library and will report to the Special Collections Services Manager as part of the highly collaborative Special Collections team. The Archivist will steward archival collections through thoughtful selection, evaluation, accession, and preservation of donated or purchased archival materials in accordance with best practices for professional archives. This position will evaluate physical, digitized and born-digital materials prior to donation, then accession, process, and maintain materials (including digital preservation and format migration) added to the Special Collections.

The position serves in an advisory capacity as the primary subject-matter expert on Seattle Public Library’s Archival Collections and on archival processes and best practices — including accessioning, and description — throughout the system. The Archivist liaises with other archival institutions and special collections on records retention and transfer and the preservation, care, and disposition of materials. The role also works with Information Technology on digital collections asset preservation issues as a subject-matter expert on digital preservation best practices, workflows, and tools including but not limited to data security analysis (antivirus, etc.), file parity verification, and any other necessary data forensics.

Duties may include engagement with the staff of The Seattle Public Library Foundation and Friends of the Seattle Public Library on efforts to support Special Collections. The position also collaborates with Collection Curators and the Digital Collections Librarian to research and describe collection materials and prepare selected items for digitization.

Job Responsibilities

• Digital Archival Collections: accessions, analyzes, arranges, maintains and preserves.

• Programmatic Leadership: Understand and articulate how archival collections and the role of Archivist function within the context of system-wide service initiatives and local service delivery. Initiate conversations with staff about shared approaches to service delivery and empowering staff through increased collection awareness leading staff, volunteers, patrons, community partners, vendors, etc.
• Project Management: Initiate, develop, execute, and manage archival and preservation projects, which may include communication and coordination with administration, marketing, budget office, leadership, and project teams; may lead projects, committees and work groups with manager direction and support, and provide outcomes-based evaluation.
• Cultural Humility: Recognize the need to continually develop and practice cultural competence in resource assessment and in archival and special collections processing and descriptive practice

Qualifications

• Exemplary Customer Service: The successful candidate will have a proven commitment to public service and providing exceptional customer service. Candidates must possess excellent interpersonal communication, problem solving, customer relations and teamwork skills, a sense of humor, and demonstrate a positive and enthusiastic commitment to public service.
• Excellent written, verbal, and listening communication skills with a customer-oriented approach.
• Leadership: Applicants must be able to utilize their knowledge, skills, and abilities to effect positive change. They must actively seek out information from the library, archives, and museum profession and other industries; pursue opportunities to develop networks with the intent to learn about best practices from other organizations and share The Seattle Public Library’s best practices; take initiative in helping the organization to meet its goals; and be able to communicate how the Library is fulfilling its mission.
• Technology and Informational Resources: Must have current working knowledge of PCs in a Windows environment and library applications and be able to use online Internet searching methods and information resources. Working knowledge and ability with office productivity applications (e.g. MS Office and Excel). Experience with archives information management applications, modern digital preservation software solutions and integrated library systems is highly desirable.
• Intellectual Freedom: Applicants must have a strong commitment to intellectual freedom as defined by the American Library Association's Bill of Rights.
• Race and Social Justice Initiative: Applicants must be able to support the City of Seattle's Race and Social Justice Initiative and have a strong commitment to providing equitable services to marginalized or underserved populations throughout Seattle, and an understanding of how collection description and cataloging can contribute to equitable access to and representation within library collections for historically marginalized communities.
• Project Management and Teamwork Skills: Experience managing projects from inception though completion, delivering high-quality results. Planning programs and outreach, developing and implementing a project, and evaluation using outcomes-based evaluation methods. Experience serving as a member on a working committee or project team in lieu of the above experience may be considered.
• Effectively manages stressful situations and ambiguity.
• Effective conflict resolution skills with experience in de-escalating stressful situations.
• Experience with an integrated library system (ILS), catalog databases, streaming media, and other electronic resources.
• Basic knowledge and experience with a variety of office equipment (such as computers, photocopiers, and printers), and office applications (such as SharePoint, Microsoft Outlook, Word, and Excel).
• Other Required Skills and Abilities: Candidates must be flexible, able to handle multiple competing priorities and tasks, adaptable to change, and able to work effectively in a fast-paced, high-volume environment. Must have strong research skills. An ability to incorporate and apply newer/emerging technologies in support of creative, effective library services is desirable. Must be able to lift and carry up to 40 lbs. intermittently.
• Resiliency: Applicants must be resourceful and able to deal with evolving and emerging dynamics in the community as well as the workplace, cope with pressures, and learn from failures in ways that respond to the needs of those the position serves and help the organization move forward. Must have the ability to maintain a high level of professionalism and customer service.

• Excellent Communication and Interpersonal Skills: Experience in public speaking and formal writing skill is highly desired. Must be able to communicate clearly, diplomatically, and in a positive manner with staff and Library users from diverse language, ethnic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, as well as with neighborhood-based or special interest groups.
• Commitment to Continuous Learning: Acquire and maintain the necessary skills to better serve our patrons and help our organization evolve. A commitment to develop and grow a racial equity practice; this includes but is not limited to focusing on and addressing the emerging needs of specific groups and understanding the impacts of race and intersectionality in our larger systems, Library policy, programs and services.

• Special Collections Services: Three (3) years of professional experience in a special collections department, archives department, or similarly tasked agency developing and preserving collections. Candidates must also have knowledge of methods of developing and managing collections; knowledge and experience of collection needs assessment, analysis, budgeting, and purchasing.
• Knowledge of archival collection processing and library cataloging standards. Ability to process archival materials. Familiarity with archival collections management systems or databases, such as ArchivesSpace. Knowledge of basic preservation, conservation, and descriptive standards for archival collections. Preservation and conservation standards would include those maintained at Society of American Archivists, Library of Congress, and Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC). Understanding and experience with digital preservation standards such as OAIS.
• Three (3) years hands-on experience in archives handling physical, digitized and born digital resources. Experience, education, and/or knowledge of Seattle and Pacific Northwest culture and history.
• Professional Certification & Development: A Bachelor's degree in a relevant area (History, Lib Sci, Political Science) or professional credentials those provided through accredited testing such as Academy of Certified Archivists (ACA), with experience, education, and/or knowledge of Seattle and Pacific Northwest culture and history.

Additional Information

• Online application
• A cover letter that describes how your experience and skills align with the stated job responsibilities and qualifications. Please let us know why you are interested in this position.
• Current resume that summarizes relevant education, professional experience, training and skills.

The City of Seattle offers a comprehensive benefits package including vacation, holiday and sick leave as well as medical, dental, vision, life and long-term disability insurance for employees and their dependents.