About the position
The Getty Provenance Index (GPI) department at the Getty Research Institute is seeking a collaborative and innovative Metadata Integration Specialist to contribute to the team's new Linked Open Data (LOD) environment. This role is pivotal in the development and implementation of semantic data workflows aimed at producing open, structured, and linkable evidence-based data within the GPI's instance of Arches, an open-source software platform designed for managing cultural heritage data. The GPI serves as a pioneering digital resource for art provenance, collecting, and art markets research, providing open access to data about the ownership of artworks from primary sources dating back to the 16th century. As the future Arches expert user in the department, the Metadata Integration Specialist will collaborate on the development, documentation, and execution of workflows and practices for metadata creation, curation, mapping, and ingestion into Arches. The candidate will apply their knowledge of international semantic data standards and computational methods for linked data analysis, manipulation, and enrichment, which are essential for supporting data interoperability and reuse. This position also offers the opportunity to shape ongoing efforts across the Getty Research Institute to create and leverage metadata that enhances integrated discovery and access to collections and related digital content. Furthermore, the role is critical in contributing to the larger LOD and Arches community at Getty. The responsibilities include researching, creating, and curating metadata of advanced complexity to support art provenance and humanities research, applying advanced knowledge of established semantic data standards and best practices, and facilitating data cleaning and transformations. The specialist will also ensure the technical requirements for metadata crosswalks, mapping, and semantic data integration into Arches are met, while contributing to scripting processes for automating departmental workflows or tasks, particularly using Python. Participation in testing and analysis of new technologies, procedures, projects, and external data contributions is also expected, along with documentation of standards and procedures and producing data-driven analysis and reports. The role requires collaboration with the Arches System Administrator and other GRI units, as well as outreach activities that involve researching, writing, presenting, and publishing about work activities and data collections.
Responsibilities
- Researches, creates, and curates metadata of advanced complexity to support art provenance and humanities research.
- Applies advanced knowledge of established semantic data standards and best practices.
- Facilitates and/or completes data cleaning and transformations, as well as data analysis and reporting using tools such as OpenRefine and SPARQL.
- Ensures the technical requirements for metadata crosswalks, mapping, and semantic data integration into Arches.
- Contributes to scripting processes for automating departmental workflows or tasks (e.g. using Python), related to both Arches and legacy workflows and systems.
- Participates in the testing and analysis of proposed new technologies, procedures, projects and external data contributions.
- Contributes to documentation of standards and procedures; produces data-driven analysis and reports.
- Tests and requests updates to Arches related to data models and system configurations; communicates new development requirements and collaborates with other GRI units using the platform.
- Acts as a link between the Arches community and the GPI, working in partnership with the Arches System Administrator in Getty Digital.
- Collaborates within and outside the department to identify cross-functional and/or cross-entity partnerships to facilitate metadata reuse and enrichment.
- Leverages expertise to develop new workflows and adoption of new technologies.
- Contributes to departmental outreach activities by researching, writing, presenting and publishing about work activities and data collections.
Requirements
- MA degree in library and information science, digital humanities or cultural heritage field, or related discipline.
- 2+ years related professional experience, preferably in an art-related or cultural heritage organization.
- Preferred familiarity with technical documentation of linked data models, systems, and data management workflows.
- Familiarity with the Arches platform or graph databases is a plus.
- Technical expertise in computational methods and tools for data analysis and data management.
Nice-to-haves
- Familiarity with technical report writing.
- Experience with techniques for metadata creation and reconciliation highly desirable.
- Basic understanding of linked data and the semantic web; will require developing expertise with CIDOC-CRM and Linked.Art, JSON-LD and SPARQL.
- Will require developing expertise in working in Arches, which is used and maintained by a robust international community of users.
Benefits
- 401(a)
- Health insurance
- On-site gym
- Dental insurance
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vision insurance
- 403(b)
