Location: Remote-first with regular Wisconsin travel
Reports To: Executive Director
Status: Full-time, grant-funded, 16-month limited term
Annual Salary: $60,615
Help safeguard Wisconsin’s Native cultural heritage.
At WiLS (Wisconsin Library Services), we believe libraries and cultural institutions make the world a better place, and we’re on a mission to help them do more with their time and resources. We’re looking for a Rapid Response Community Archivist (Archivist) to join our small-but-mighty team and provide culturally relevant archival and digital stewardship expertise to tribal libraries, archives, museums, and cultural workers across Wisconsin.
This position is part of a larger effort to address urgent digital preservation and curation needs among Wisconsin Native Nations and to mitigate the loss of critical data and at-risk knowledge. Working directly with tribal cultural workers, the Archivist will help preserve and provide access to culturally significant materials in ways that align with community priorities, cultural protocols, sovereignty, and self-determination.
This is an opportunity to do meaningful, community-driven work while helping develop a model for equitable archival support.
In this role, you’ll enjoy:
- Meaningful, community-centered work: You’ll collaborate with Native Nations to identify and address urgent digital stewardship needs and help safeguard cultural heritage and at-risk knowledge.
- Relationship-based work: This position prioritizes a “slow archives” approach, emphasizing relationship-building, deep engagement, ethical considerations, and community-led decision-making.
- A supportive work environment: You’ll have the independence to own your daily work and the flexibility of a remote work environment, paired with a warm, collaborative team.
- Opportunities to make an impact: You’ll work directly with tribal cultural workers to develop sustainable digital stewardship practices and connect communities with technical expertise and resources.
- A values-centered culture: We’re a collaborative, mission-driven nonprofit that is committed to actually living our values (and we have a lot of fun doing it).
Read more about how working at WiLS gives employees opportunities to grow, as well as a sense of connectedness, purpose, and agency in their work.
The Rapid Response Community Archivist will provide technical expertise and targeted support to at least six Native Nations across Wisconsin. A pre-arranged project with the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa Community is already in place, with additional project partners identified based on urgency, cultural significance, and feasibility.
Working collaboratively with tribal cultural workers, the Archivist will develop project plans and timelines and provide support for a range of digital stewardship activities, which may include:
- Cataloging and inventorying collection materials
- Assessing and planning digitization projects
- Digitizing at-risk materials and transferring materials to stable digital formats
- Developing policies and procedures for managing digital assets
- Creating accessioning and cataloging policies
- Advising on digital preservation practices
- Recommending appropriate technologies and software, such as FADGI-compliant scanners and Mukurtu CMS
- Advising on culturally appropriate metadata and description practices
- Collaborating on safe handling procedures for cultural and historical resources
- Gathering data and insights about digital stewardship projects
- Connecting project partners with expertise and resources through the Culture Keepers Collective Advisory Council
Throughout this work, the Archivist will provide guidance on established digital preservation practices while respecting the sovereignty, self-determination, cultural protocols, and priorities of Wisconsin’s Native Nations.
We are a remote team with a local heart. Because this position will regularly travel to Native Nations and project sites across Wisconsin, candidates must be Wisconsin residents or willing to relocate to Wisconsin. Reliable transportation for statewide travel is required; mileage reimbursement is provided in accordance with organizational policy, if applicable.
For more details about the position and how to apply, see the full Rapid Response Community Archivist job description.
If you have any questions about what it’s like to work at WiLS, please feel free to reach out to any WiLS staff member. We are happy to answer any questions you have. If you have questions about the position, email Erin Hughes at ehughes@wils.org.
WiLS is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. Employees must be authorized to work in the United States and may be subject to background check prior to hire.
