Open Publishing Accessibility and Production Assistant

The Pennsylvania State University Libraries invite applications for the position of Open Publishing Accessibility and Production Assistant in the Research Informatics and Publishing department. This part-time position will report to the Open Publishing Team Lead and serve as a member of the Open Publishing team.

This position will primarily be responsible for production and digital accessibility support for open access journals to ensure that everyone can access our publications equitably and with minimal barriers. The position will also support journal publishing workflows through metadata management and content migrations. The position may also assist with document quality assurance in order to ensure accessibility compliance and maintain a standard of excellence for our publications. Production work is done using primarily Microsoft Office and Adobe software to support the publication of open access scholarly journals and other digital publications on open-source platforms and software, such as Open Journal Systems (OJS).

Specific tasks will include:

• Ensuring document (primarily PDF) and web accessibility compliance with WCAG 2.1 Level AA

• Quality assurance for article content and metadata

• Managing and publishing content within the OJS platform

• Participating in Open Publishing team meetings and discussions

• May communicate and coordinate with journal editors as needed

• May support additional projects depending on unit need and individual interest

Required competencies include:

• Proficient in office productivity software (especially word processors and spreadsheets)

• Familiar with and willing to learn Adobe Creative Suite tools (especially Acrobat Pro)

• Ability to work on projects independently with minimal supervision and/or as part of a team in order to meet deadlines.

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

• Ability to provide effective communication with stakeholders (I.e. editors, authors, library colleagues, external partners).

Preferred skills and abilities include:

• Knowledge of document and web accessibility best practices.

• Experience with quality assurance and/or proofreading.

• Familiarity with the scholarly publishing process.

• Familiarity with content management systems, publishing platforms, and/or open-source software such as Open Journal Systems (OJS).