Taxonomist - LAC Group

Location: USA - DC - Washington DC

LAC Group is seeking an experienced Taxonomist to work for a major federal museum in Washington, DC. The selected individual will create, edit, and synthesize structured taxonomies used for organizing, indexing and retrieving information. Additionally, the taxonomist works with multiple stakeholders to develop and promote new taxonomies that meet the agency’s knowledge organization needs. This is a 12-months full-time (40 hours a week; Monday to Friday) benefited contract position. Potential to extend contract pending budget allocation.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Work with end users and other stakeholders to understand taxonomy needs, priorities, and business requirements
• Will play a leadership role in synthesizing extant vocabularies, then finalizing a controlled vocabulary for use across the institution to serve both researchers and the public
• Train users and support implementation
• Work closely with metadata specialists within the museum and other departments to ensure consistent application of the library's taxonomies, controlled vocabularies, and external authorities.
• Work on taxonomy and metadata governance and standards with other departments in a collaborative and complementary way; establish processes for ongoing updates.
• Develop taxonomies by consulting a variety of sources such as: third-party taxonomies; end users, subject matter experts, and other stakeholders; literature reviews; analysis of agency’s research, policy work, and other agency documentation; and eventually, through semi-automated methods.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• 3+ years of experience in full-time taxonomy development that demonstrates growing complexity
• A demonstrated understanding of the relationships between and uses of taxonomies, thesauri, ontologies, metadata management and application, controlled vocabularies, and authority control
• Comfortable taking an active and visible role representing the Museum team and its objectives to diverse stakeholders
• Experience with taxonomy management tools such as MultiTes, TopBraid, PoolParty, Data Harmony, SmartLogic, Synaptica
• Familiarity with library metadata standards such as AACR2-R, RDA, MARC21, MODS, Dublin Core, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and LC classification schedules
• Ability to work closely with end users to facilitate their input into taxonomy development
• Excellent interpersonal, written and verbal communication skills
• Ability to obtain buy-in from diverse user groups, and to write technical documentation
• Familiarity with creating and optimizing auto-categorization rules
• Familiarity and experience with linked data concepts and standards

DESIRED:

• Subject matter expertise in aviation/space is preferred but not required

LAC Group is an Equal Opportunity Employer / Affirmative Action Employer who values diversity in the workplace.