A role by any other name: A content analysis of digital asset management on library and archives job boards

A digital asset manager curates the sum of an institution’s knowledge in the form of digital assets. A cursory review of job advertisements reinforces the ubiquity of digital asset management (DAM) in library and archival contexts. However, it also reveals great variability in how this specialised work is articulated in advertisements, the credentials sought by employers and the salaries offered. This study assesses the state, scope and attributes of DAM positions using a content analysis of 98 unique job advertisements for DAM positions collected from library and archive job boards over a six-month period. Voyant, an open source text analysis tool, was utilised to yield word and phrase frequencies to aid interpretation of scope of work, position expectations and education requirements. The results provide insights to aid organisations in recruiting DAM librarians and archivists, guide students in forging career paths in DAM, and inform development of the DAM curriculum in higher education. To meet the needs of the field, the authors recommend clarity in DAM job scopes, developing technological and personnel capacity to support the work, and calibrating compensation among employment sectors to elevate the importance of the work and promote equity across the profession.