How to Apply
A cover letter as the first page of your resume is required. It should address your specific interest in the position and outline your skills and related experience.
Job Summary
The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), based at the University of Michigan, is one of the largest archives of digitized social and behavioral health research data. There are thousands of individual data collections (studies) in ICPSR's holdings. They are shared and archived at ICPSR by researchers and funding agencies so that other researchers may download and reuse the data. Do you like the idea of being a data reuse detective--searching scholarly sources to identify when authors utilize data from studies held at ICPSR? If so, consider joining our team as an Information Resources Specialist Intermediate in ICPSR's Metadata and Preservation unit.
You will work with other team members to add to the ICPSR Bibliography of Data-related Literature, a continually growing, searchable database of nearly 120,000 curated publication citations that link ICPSR studies to the citing literature. Originally funded by the National Science Foundation, the ICPSR Bibliography is a unique, freely available resource for students, researchers, instructors, librarians, and others who want to find and read the literature in which research data were analyzed.
Sponsorship
We are currently unable to consider candidates who are not authorized to work in the United States. Additionally, we are not offering visa sponsorship for this position. Applicants must have appropriate work authorization at the time of application.
This position is included in the bargaining unit represented by the University Staff United (USU), which represents bargaining unit members in all matters with respect to wages, benefits, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. Until a collective bargaining agreement is ratified, the position will remain under current university policies and practices. Once ratified, the new contract will govern this position. For more information on USU, please visit https://universitystaffunited.org/.
Responsibilities*
The Information Resources Specialist Intermediate reports to a librarian, who assigns them a portfolio of data studies pertaining to a broad range of fields of research. They are responsible for building the collection of data-related literature for those studies. They also review and collect publications supplied in other ways, including via API queries of large bibliographic corpora, which return potentially viable publications to collect.
Recognizing meaningful data use requires significant investigative work and expertise in navigating a variety of bibliographic sources and the ICPSR study catalog. The Information Resources Specialist Intermediate gains a deep familiarity with the unique metadata describing each ICPSR study in their assigned portfolio. This is essential for determining which specific study(s) is being used in a given publication, and whether the publication is collectible, according to internal guidelines and standards. They also keep detailed records of their searches, along with notes about key traits in the study metadata, or the idiosyncratic ways in which the data are referred to in the citing literature.
Having judged a publication to meet ICPSR's collection standards, the Information Resources Specialist Intermediate adds its citation metadata to a database, enhancing it with meaningful indexing and linking metadata. These unique, enhanced records can then be displayed and searched in ICPSR's study catalog, thus providing evidence of data reuse, as well as valuable metadata to support data discovery.
Further, the Information Resources Specialist utilizes the ICPSR Bibliography as a source of information, itself, about the trends and practices surrounding data reuse and data citation. With this knowledge, they are able to participate in research and to help create Bibliography-specific resources for instruction and outreach.
Required Qualifications*
- Bachelor's degree in the social sciences or information/library science.
- Significant experience constructing queries in scholarly literature databases and other authoritative sources.
- Good understanding of the terminology associated with methodologies and practices in the social sciences and behavioral health sciences.
- Experience evaluating scholarly literature for specific information.
- Experience performing accurate data entry and using spreadsheet software.
- Demonstrated productivity while working independently.
- Excellent English-language reading and writing skills.
- Highly-focused, organized, and detail-oriented.
Desired Qualifications*
- Master's degree in a social science, information/library science, or relevant field
- Working knowledge of citation management software
- Experience using SQL and Python
Work Locations
This position allows flexible scheduling and a hybrid or fully onsite work environment.
Modes of Work
Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.
Additional Information
The Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Michigan, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to ground our research in varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning. For more about ISR's commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, please click here.
Benefits at the University of Michigan
In addition to a career filled with purpose and opportunity, the University of Michigan offers an excellent benefits package to help you stay well, protect yourself and any eligible family members, and plan for a secure future.
This position is included in the bargaining unit represented by the University Staff United (USU), which represents bargaining unit members in all matters with respect to wages, benefits, hours and other terms and conditions of employment. Until a collective bargaining agreement is ratified, the position will remain under current university policies and practices. Once ratified, the new contract will govern this position. For more information on USU, please visit https://universitystaffunited.org/.
Background Screening
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Application Deadline
Institute for Social Research job openings are posted for a minimum of fourteen (14) calendar days. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period has ended.
U-M EEO Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.