The Juliette K. and Leonard S. Rakow Research Library of the Corning Museum of Glass is seeking a Supervisor, Archives and Manuscript Collections. The Supervisor leads a team of archivists responsible for developing, organizing, and providing access to the Rakow’s expansive glass-related archival collections. The Supervisor position reports to the Manager, Research & Collections Strategy and oversees the archival program at the library, driving a user-centered approach to processing. The Supervisor has oversight of a full-time processing archivist (currently open), a 40-hour supplemental staff archival position, and a Houghton Family Papers Project Archivist. The Rakow Library’s singular focus on glass encompasses a broad interdisciplinary and international reach and includes company archives, glass studios, artists’ papers, glass art organizations, gallery records, research collections, and the Museum’s institutional archives.
Responsibilities: The Supervisor, Archives and Manuscript Collections accessions, arranges, describes, and assists with providing access to and digitizing archival records and manuscript collections. This position implements user-focused, MPLP-informed descriptive practices for paper-based, analog, digitized, and born-digital materials. The Supervisor contributes to development and implementation of the institutional archive program. As a member of the Archives and Manuscripts Team, this position supervises project and processing archivists, carries out the team’s web-harvesting initiative, works towards continuous improvement of the team’s processing procedures, and sustains a team culture that is creative, openly collaborative, and dedicated to the unique needs of the Library’s collections and research communities.
Environment: The Rakow Library sustains a vibrant, singular collection that embodies thousands of years of knowledge on glass, glassmaking, and glassmakers to advance scholarship, creative practice, and the understanding of glass across a vast, interdisciplinary range of impact. The materiality of the collection reflects its historical reach and the research needs of multiple communities of inquiry, with a thriving, significant corpus of necessarily physical resources—such as design drawings and premodern manuscripts—alongside a growing suite of digitized and born-digital materials. Dedicated Rakow Library staff collaborate with curators at the Corning Museum of Glass and glassmakers on staff and in residence at the world-class Studio to build, sustain, and share with the world culturally relevant collections, amplifying diverse perspectives in glass.
ALA accredited master’s degree, international equivalent, or substantial relevant experience preferred. Experience with archives management, substantial relevant coursework, or a combination of education and experience in archives required. Three to five years’ experience working in archives. Supervisory experience preferred.
Established in 1951, the Corning Museum of Glass is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to exploring a single material: glass. Annually welcoming over 300,000 visitors from around the world, the Museum's campus is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass, the world’s foremost library on glass, and one of the top glassworking schools in the world. The Rakow Library sustains a vibrant, singular collection that embodies thousands of years of knowledge on glass, glassmaking, and glassmakers to advance scholarship, creative practice, and the understanding of glass across a vast, interdisciplinary range of impact. The materiality of the collection reflects its historical reach and the research needs of multiple communities of inquiry, with a thriving, significant corpus of necessarily physical resources—such as design drawings and premodern manuscripts—alongside a growing suite of digitized and born-digital materials. Dedicated Rakow Library staff collaborate with curators at the Corning Museum of Glass and glassmakers on staff and in residence at the world-class Studio to build, sustain, and share with the world culturally relevant collections, amplifying diverse perspectives in glass.