The University of Sheffield is a remarkable place to work. Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their diverse backgrounds, abilities and beliefs make Sheffield a world-class university.

We offer a fantastic range of benefits including a highly competitive annual leave entitlement (with the ability to purchase more), a generous pensions scheme, flexible working opportunities, a commitment to your development and wellbeing, a wide range of retail discounts, and much more. Find out more about our benefits (opens in a new window) and join us to become part of something special.

Overview

The University of Sheffield Library is seeking a skilled and passionate individual to work as part of the Special Collections, Heritage and Archives (SCHA) team on a project to develop a Digital Scholarship Suite and services within the library. This project has been enabled by a generous legacy gift left by Eric Pattison, an Alumnus of the School of English at the University of Sheffield. This role presents an exciting opportunity to provide greater digital access to our unique and distinctive collections and to input into the development of digital scholarship services. As well as carrying out digitisation of the collections, you will coordinate external digitisation projects, establish and improve our digitisation workflows, and work with  academics and other key stakeholders, SCHA and the project team to develop new ways to access and use our collections for education and research. Your work will support fulfilling the Library’s objective to increase the cultural impact and engagement of our collections, as outlined in our Five Year Plan. This is an exciting time for the archives. If you share our vision and have the skills and knowledge to make it a reality, we would love you to join our team. 

Main duties and responsibilities

• Use specialist skills to digitise materials from Special Collections, Heritage and Archive’s (SCHA’s) unique and distinctive collections, in a variety of formats, using a range of equipment.
• Coordinate external digitisation projects, ensuring adherence to standards.
• Store digitised outputs and create metadata for access and preservation following international standards. 
• Assist with the fulfilment of digitisation requests, advising on copyright and GDPR, selecting the best method to fulfil requests, and produce digital copies.
• Carry out copyright and GDPR risk assessments.
• Establish workflows and standards for loading metadata and files into discovery and delivery systems, and oversee that process.
• Enhance the visibility and usability of key material and collections by leading and contributing to digital scholarship projects, including supporting researchers to use digital collections and metadata as datasets for computational analysis.
• Work alongside library colleagues to contribute to an integrated approach to digital collections management for the SCHA collections.
• Supervise and plan the work of student placements and volunteers.
• Support SCHA outreach, including assisting with exhibitions and events, which may involve occasional evening and weekend work
• Carry out other duties, commensurate with the grade and remit of the post

Person Specification

Our diverse community of staff and students recognises the unique abilities, backgrounds, and beliefs of all. We foster a culture where everyone feels they belong and is respected. Even if your past experience doesn't match perfectly with this role's criteria, your contribution is valuable, and we encourage you to apply. Please ensure that you reference the application criteria in the application statement when you apply.

Further Information

Next steps in the recruitment process

Details of the next steps will be provided to shortlisted candidates. We plan to let candidates know if they have progressed to the selection stage within two weeks of the closing date, subject to the volume of applications received. If you need any support, equipment or adjustments to enable you to participate in any element of the recruitment process you can contact library-hr@sheffield.ac.uk

Our vision and strategic plan

We are the University of Sheffield. This is our vision: sheffield.ac.uk/vision (opens in new window).

What we offer

• A minimum of 38 days annual leave including bank holiday and closure days (pro rata) with the ability to purchase more.
• Flexible working opportunities, including hybrid working for some roles.
• Generous pension scheme.
• A wide range of discounts and rewards on shopping, eating out and travel.
• A variety of staff networks, providing opportunities for social interaction, peer support and personal development (for example, Race Equality, LGBT+, Women’s and Parent’s networks).
• Recognition Awards to reward staff who go above and beyond in their role.
• A commitment to your development access to learning and mentoring schemes; integrated with our Professional Services Shared Skills Framework
• A range of generous family-friendly policies
  • paid time off for parenting and caring emergencies
  • support for those going through the menopause
  • paid time off and support for fertility treatment
  • and more

More details can be found on our benefits page: sheffield.ac.uk/jobs/benefits (opens in a new window).

We are a Disability Confident Employer. If you have a disability and meet the essential criteria for this job you will be invited to take part in the next stage of the selection process.

Closing Date : 23/11/2025 

We are a research university with a global reputation for excellence. Our ideas and expertise change the world for the better, making a real difference to society. We know that when people come together with different views, approaches and insights it can lead to richer, more creative and innovative teaching and research and the highest levels of student experience. Our University Vision (www.sheffield.ac.uk/vision) outlines our commitment to building a diverse community of staff and students that recognises and values the abilities, backgrounds, beliefs and ways of living for everyone.