Posted to IASSIST on: 2007-12-18
Employer: Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning
Employer URL: http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/
Description
The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), is seeking to hire a Data Librarian / Metadata Specialist for the Research and Analysis Group. CMAP was created recently to integrate planning for land use and transportation in the counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will. CMAP and its partners are removing barriers to cooperation across geographical boundaries and subject areas such as land use, transportation, natural resources, housing, and economic development. By understanding how these issues – and our communities' futures – are inter-related, CMAP seeks to change the way planning is conducted in northeastern Illinois.
Position Description The needs of the Agency often require large amounts of data from public and private sources; while some data are project specific, many data sets, particularly GIS data, benefit numerous projects. The accumulation of these data sets in a central repository has created the need for a data librarian to take charge of the acquisition, description and dissemination of GIS and related data. The data librarian’s primary roles are:
- To maintain the Agency’s central repository ensuring that all data sets added to the data library contain an accurate description of the data applying minimally compliant Federal Geographic Data Committee’s (FGDC) metadata standards;
- To assist in the creation of metadata for agency-derived data sets, and train agency staff in data and metadata literacy;
- To serve as the primary agent for data acquisition from outside agencies, establishing and maintaining user agreements, supplementing metadata records, and keeping CMAP technical staff apprised of updates;
- To serve as the first point of contact for external data requests from individuals, organizations and other government agencies;
- To ensure that data entered into the central repository are registered with all appropriate CMAP data directories.
The successful candidate should have considerable experience working with both spatial and non-spatial data sets that originate from a variety of sources (e.g. government, private, not-for-profit) and possess the skills to create FGDC-compliant metadata for those data sets. Strong communication and interpersonal skills are essential to all aspects of this position, as is the ability to take initiative and work independently. The candidate must have a familiarity with urban planning concepts relating to land use, transportation, and natural resources. A solid understanding of databases and data applications is essential; a basic familiarity with computer programming concepts will be helpful.
Education and Experience Preferred: a master’s degree in library information science with a strong emphasis on geography, urban planning, or a related discipline. A minimum of three years’ professional experience working with ESRI’s suite of ArcGIS products (ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcSDE, ArcIMS) and familiarity with the Federal Geographic Data Committee’s (FGDC) Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata.
Archived on: 2008-02-28