Positions Open - March 2023

Short-term Contract Positions:

Request for Qualifications:

MNMA is seeking qualified subcontractor applicants to work together on a Moving Image Archive Collection Care Management project featuring an Archive Coordinator (in person access) and a Collection Cataloger (for possible remote access). Applicants can bid on either or both contractor positions. Project duration: April 15, 2023-November 15, 2023. No funds are available for responding to our "Request for Qualifications" Please send email inquiries to Projects@mnmediarts.org

Project summary:

Video Artist Melisande Charles (1931-2017) Collection Care Inventory Assessment project will catalog both analog and digital materials. This project will identify instantiations of media content, determine any variations or elements of her creative workflow, compare multimedia formats and evaluate the previously converted media file validity and accuracy. The project will evaluate the previous visual inventories and supporting materials. The project will determine a strategy and recommendations for any additional digital conversion efforts.

The media collection consists of 15 Media boxes analog containing 156 media assets type and sizes: 3/4" Umatic, 1" Type C, and VHS, plus paper documents in two file boxes 16 & 17. Media Collection Digital Files (previously converted from analog assets) 154 .MOV files and other born digital files on hard drives (artist interviews) plus 112 .MP4 duplicates of the .MOV masters consisting of 2 TB of data backed up on four (2 TB) HDDs. The project will create a Society of American Archivists (SAA) compliant Finding Aid and a proposed digital file organizational structure based on the Asset ID Numbers .

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Successful applicants will have archive management experience in moving image collection care projects, Digital Asset Management plan development and coordination, digital photo skills, online photo gallery creation, working with G-suite tools, .XLS Excel files, Open Office .ODS and .CSV text files. Preferred experience with multi-drive directory cataloging applications like NeoFinder search tool, Media-Info application, VLC and Quicktime video player apps. Cataloging roles should include expertise in moving images collection assessment, item level cataloging, inventory and SAA compliant Finding Aid creation.

Education & Experience: Advanced Degree in Library Science or a relevant academic discipline with demonstrated understanding of archives and libraries, or a combination of education and relevant experience. Previous experience desirable in cataloging moving image media and knowledge of videotape or film digital conversion.

RFQ schedule:

Upon email receipt, MNMA will provide a link to the collection's “2016 Box level photo inventory”. Questions will be answered via email 3/1-3/3/23 Final Responses due March 7, 2023. (Resume credentials. experience, expertise, timeframe compatibility, costs estimates and hourly rates) We will be making vendor selections March 13-15, 2023.

Video Artist Melisande Charles Collection Care Inventory Assessment Project
Project Plan and Schedule: April 15- October 15, 2023

Archive Coordinator and Collection Cataloger roles, responsibilities and collaborations.

1. Archive Coordinator will follow an overall Digital Asset Management Plan that will include visual inventory requirements for descriptive metadata, keyword lists and controlled vocabularies. Project director will share the Metadata Schema for this project that includes the MNHS suggested descriptive metadata fields.
2. Archive Coordinator will attach new ID numbers to the physical media assets, then assign new file numbers to the previously converted to digital files and the born digital artist interview files. For further descriptive metadata input, on a remote access basis, Contractor will create a web-ready folder gallery of individual photos of the asset’s label and case information with the photo file name based on existing asset numbers.
3. Archive Coordinator will repackage the collection into new numbered storage boxes and the digital assets migrated to a new set of hard drives for backup and a set for sharing in the cataloging process.
4. Collection Cataloger will be guided by a custom metadata schema that includes Dublin Core basic fields, MNHS suggested fields, keyword lists for search terms, and controlled vocabulary lists.
5. Collection Cataloger will verify asset ID numbers, codecs, resolutions and data rates for the physical media assets, the assets previously converted to digital files and the born digital artist interview files. This includes matching descriptive and technical metadata of the digital file instantiations to their source analog asset IDs,
6. Collection Cataloger will also summarize in the inventory the born-digital (interview) files and previously converted digital files. Cataloger will also prepare a list of analog asset candidates, based on a provided selected criteria, for the collection’s ongoing digital conversion and preservation efforts.
7. Archive Coordinator will review the visual inventory spreadsheet data to verify descriptive metadata for each asset, verify key words and controlled vocabularies, and inspect any unconfirmed media assets for possible identification. The Coordinator, using the MP4 files of the existing digital conversions, will confirm the digital files match to their analog assets as needed. Create a preliminary Finding Aid "draft" that should meet Society of American Archivists (SAA) standards
8. Collection Cataloger , based on the approved Finding Aid, contractor will complete the addition of descriptive data to facilitate online sharing of metadata and catalog records.

Please provide a separate bid for each position; Archive Coordinator or Collection Cataloger .

All Final Responses due by March 7, 2023

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Contact information:
Minnesota Media Arts
Ron McCoy, Project Director, TCART member.
projects@mnmediaarts.org
612-627-9253

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Minnesota Media Arts
Our mission is to help artists and arts/community media organizations preserve their cultural heritage as recorded on magnetic media, through legacy media collection management, digitization and media production services that can stream, document and archive events.