Berkeley Lab’s Computational Research Division has an opening for a Research Data Librarian / Metadata Specialist (Postdoctoral Scholar). The incumbent will work with the DOE’s environmental science community in dramatically improving the access and usability of their datasets. The DOE’s Environmental Systems Science Data Infrastructure for a Virtual Ecosystem (ESS-DIVE) is a new digital library for Earth and environmental science data. ESS-DIVE will store diverse datasets from various environmental sciences including hydrology, geology, ecology, geochemistry, biology, climate and geophysics.

Defining and adopting the right digital preservation practices and standards for this data are active research topics, involving an interdisciplinary community of data scientists, digital librarians and environmental scientists. The project will involve working with the digital libraries community and DOE’s Environmental System Science (ESS) community to select or develop best practices for description, curation, and archiving of the diverse data types. We seek talented individuals with training in library and information science and a strong aptitude for and interest in computational/data science.

You will join the research and development team working on building the ESS-DIVE digital library. The candidate will be expected to address challenges such as the following:

• Develop an understanding of the evolving Digital Object Identifier (DOI) space and other unique identifier assignment and versioning schemes.

• Development of approaches for unique identifiers in ESS-DIVE.

• Understanding the space of data asset definition and implementation of hierarchical data package and file approaches.

• Recommendation of metadata standards for data package and file metadata.

• Advancements in data and metadata search.

The successful candidate will join a dynamic interdisciplinary team based at LBNL and will work closely with data scientists, and a diverse set of environmental researchers including field scientists, modelers and experimentalists.

What You Will Do:

• Research and provide recommendations on the application of digital preservation standards to content in ESS-DIVE and help to advance the standards to fit environmental data.

• Work with the community to define digital library processes and interfaces.

• Perform research and participate in curation of submitted environmental data.

• Develop structured metadata to enable integration of diverse data by location or sample information and use by the terrestrial and subsurface ecosystem community.

• Research advanced search and visualization for data.

• Help integrate best practices in DOI, and other unique identifier assignment and versioning schemes with ESS-DIVE.

• Create recommendations for managing hierarchical datasets and fine-grained file and package metadata.

• Collaborate with ESS projects and cyberinfrastructure working groups to enable implementation of standards.

• Work in a multidisciplinary team environment, including staff with backgrounds in earth and environmental sciences, digital library tools, techniques, and practices, computer science, etc.

• Author peer-reviewed journal articles and contribute to grant proposals.

What is Required:

• Ph.D. or equivalent experience in library and information science or data science related fields.

• Demonstrated experience with information organization and access in the context of digital libraries.

• Familiarity with programming languages such as Python, C++, Java, or scripting languages.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills.

• Established record of peer reviewed publications.

Additional Desired Qualifications:

• Knowledge of current digital preservation and metadata standards.

• Knowledge of data indexing, sorting, and retrieval techniques.

• Knowledge of linked data and semantic web development and technologies.

• Experience working with large digital collections and datasets.

• Experience gathering requirements and developing use cases.

The posting shall remain open until the position is filled.

Notes:

• This is a full time, 2 years, postdoctoral appointment with the possibility of renewal based upon satisfactory job performance, continuing availability of funds and ongoing operational needs. You must have less than 3 years paid postdoctoral experience. Salary for Postdoctoral positions depends on years of experience post-degree.

• Full-time, M-F, exempt (monthly paid) from overtime pay.

• Salary will be predetermined based on postdoctoral step rates.

• This position may be subject to a background check. Any convictions will be evaluated to determine if they directly relate to the responsibilities and requirements of the position. Having a conviction history will not automatically disqualify an applicant from being considered for employment.

• Work will be primarily performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA.

Berkeley Lab (LBNL) addresses the world’s most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab’s scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

Equal Employment Opportunity: Berkeley Lab is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status. Berkeley Lab is in compliance with the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision under 41 CFR 60-1.4.  Click here to view the poster and supplement: "Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law."