Digitization Librarian; Librarian

Salary: $46,588.80 - $77,924.00 Annually

Location: Norfolk VA 23510, VA

Job Type: Permanent Full-time

Job Number: 13683

Department: Library

Opening Date: 11/26/2025

Closing Date: 12/13/2025 11:59 PM Eastern

The Digitization Librarian is responsible for digitizing and cataloging archival materials—including documents, images, and other historically significant items—to help preserve the region’s history for future generations. While this role involves direct work with historical materials, the librarian’s primary focus is a combination of assisting patrons with their research requests.

Whether stationed at the service desk or working behind the scenes, the librarian plays a crucial role in connecting patrons with the information they seek from the collection. When not directly assisting patrons, the librarian dedicates time to digitizing and cataloging archival holdings, ensuring they are accessible and properly described. The librarian also assists with rehousing digitized materials, ensuring they are stored using industry-standard containers and preservation methods.

The typical distribution of work time is as follows:

• 50% Research support and patron assistance
• 45% Digitization and cataloging
• 5% Programming, training, and other duties

Sargeant Memorial Collection (SMC) serves as the Norfolk Public Library’s primary repository for local history and genealogy resources. Its origins date back to 1894, when William Sargeant became Norfolk’s first professional librarian and envisioned a library resource containing local directories and newspapers to satisfy the community’s curiosity about its past. The collection was formally established in 1927 in honor of Sargeant’s dedication.

Today, the SMC houses a diverse array of materials, including over 26,000 cataloged books, approximately 2,500 linear feet of special collections, and archival city records spanning from the early 1700s to the early 2000s. Each year, SMC staff respond to nearly 700 research requests from across the country and around the world.

Since 2005, the SMC has undertaken a digitization initiative to selectively preserve items from its holdings. Currently, the collection includes approximately 16,000 digital items in its online digital asset management system and around 10 terabytes of digitized content. The SMC is equipped with several professional flatbed scanners and a large-format scanner capable of handling materials up to 40x60 inches in a single pass.

Notable collections include the Virginian-Pilot newspaper photograph morgue (mid-1920s to 2000), the Photo Craftsman Photograph Collection, the Guaranty Title and Trust Company records, the Norfolk Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority records, and the papers of William Conway Whittle, Jr.

Essential functions include but are not limited to:

• Professional knowledge of research, public history, and library services to be able to perform reference functions after appropriate training in software, NPL policies and procedures in accordance with the ALA Library Bill of Rights, Freedom to Read statement, the SAA Core Values of Archivists, and the Code of Ethics for Archivists.
• Conducts historical and genealogical research for patrons.
• Coordinates and oversees digitization for legacy and newly acquired collections, including assessing, digitizing, cataloging, and rehousing.
• Creates automated finding aids and catalogs collections into collection management and digital asset management system.
• Acts as manager on duty when the department supervisor is not available. Duties include providing reference services, resolving patron problems, overseeing staff projects, acting as the main contact for facility maintenance and security, and occasionally working evenings or weekends.
• Performs donor relations, collection development, and program management duties as part of an archives team.
• Participates in programming including planning, scheduling, execution, and evaluation.
• Conducts outreach activities including consulting with outside entities as it relates to best practices in archiving and arranging records.
• Assist in generating reports on various usage of the collection and…