LAC Federal is seeking a detail-oriented Library Technicians to provide cataloging and metadata processing support for a federal research library in Washington, DC. The successful candidate will provide essential technical and paraprofessional support for a comprehensive cataloging, metadata cleanup, and collection maintenance program involving extensive scientific, historical, and multilingual research collections. Responsibilities include preparing materials for original and copy cataloging, creating digital reference packages for remote foreign-language catalogers, maintaining bibliographic holdings and item records in Ex Libris Alma, supporting inventory reconciliation and withdrawals, and assisting with the reduction of cataloging backlogs. The ideal candidate will have experience in library technical services, strong organizational and computer skills, and the ability to recognize and distinguish multiple foreign-language writing systems.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Receive, sort, inventory, and prepare library materials for cataloging, including monographs, serials, electronic-resource documentation, and specialized research publications.
- Conduct preliminary bibliographic searches in Ex Libris Alma and OCLC WorldCat to identify existing records, verify basic bibliographic information, and assist professional catalogers with copy cataloging workflows.
- Create and update bibliographic holdings and item records in Alma under established procedures, including barcodes, item statuses, locations, call numbers, and other inventory control information.
- Prepare standardized digital reference packages for remote foreign-language catalogers by scanning or photographing title pages, covers, colophons, tables of contents, publication information, and other required descriptive elements.
- Recognize and distinguish multiple foreign-language writing systems, including Latin, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Greek, and other scripts, to support accurate material identification and assignment to qualified catalogers.
- Track foreign-language cataloging assignments, maintain digital file organization, monitor work status, and reconcile completed records with corresponding physical materials.
- Assist with cataloging backlog reduction by organizing materials, maintaining processing queues, recording production statistics, and preparing items for review by professional catalogers.
- Support bibliographic and metadata cleanup activities, including identifying duplicate records, missing or inconsistent item information, encoding anomalies, diacritical errors, and discrepancies requiring professional review.
- Conduct physical inventory reconciliation, shelf verification, and collection maintenance activities, including identification of missing, misplaced, duplicate, damaged, or incorrectly recorded materials.
- Process approved withdrawals and disposition actions, including updating Alma item and holdings records, preparing materials for transfer or removal, and maintaining accurate documentation and audit trails.
- Assist with serials maintenance by verifying issue information, recording enumeration and chronology, updating item records, and identifying inconsistencies in serial holdings.
- Handle, transport, and organize library materials in accordance with established preservation, security, and collection management procedures, including occasional assignments at off-site storage facilities.
