Jay Moschella Email & Phone Number

As the Curator of Rare Books at the BPL, I am responsible for a diverse portfolio of collections stewardship areas, including: cataloging, acquisition, and physical organization of collections; reference and instruction services, donor relations, and interpretation of collections in support of the library’s strategy and mission. I also participate in major outreach projects, and curated the 2016 exhibition "Shakespeare Unauthorized," which focused on the biography and bibliography of William… Show more As the Curator of Rare Books at the BPL, I am responsible for a diverse portfolio of collections stewardship areas, including: cataloging, acquisition, and physical organization of collections; reference and instruction services, donor relations, and interpretation of collections in support of the library’s strategy and mission. I also participate in major outreach projects, and curated the 2016 exhibition "Shakespeare Unauthorized," which focused on the biography and bibliography of William Shakespeare and drew over 65,000 visitors to the library gallery.My engagement with the collections that I work on is driven primarily by my interest in bibliographical description. I have designed cataloging protocols for collections of incunabula, early American imprints, early modern English drama, Spanish and Portuguese literature, medieval and renaissance manuscripts, and modern manuscripts, among others. Show less

Greater Boston Area

As the primary cataloger for rare printed works and manuscripts held by the Boston Public Library, I researched and described both medieval and modern manuscripts, print ephemera, early collections of photographs, and historic titles dating from the advent of printing through the 21st century. Though my descriptive responsibilities spanned all of these materials, I had a particular focus on rare and early editions of Shakespeare, along with the identification and description of early modern… Show more As the primary cataloger for rare printed works and manuscripts held by the Boston Public Library, I researched and described both medieval and modern manuscripts, print ephemera, early collections of photographs, and historic titles dating from the advent of printing through the 21st century. Though my descriptive responsibilities spanned all of these materials, I had a particular focus on rare and early editions of Shakespeare, along with the identification and description of early modern English playbooks. Beyond my every-day cataloging duties, I also:• Established and implemented local descriptive policies• Provided in-depth reference services for researchers with complex bibliographical queries• Participated in the formulation of strategies for the preservation of physical and digital collections • Highlighted local collections through talks and presentations for current and potential donors, tour groups, and visiting classes; highlighted specific items via long-form blog posts on the BPL website• Curated major exhibitions Show less

Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Ma

• Created complex, original bibliographic description of rare books, serials, and ephemera, largely from the hand-press era, and primarily focused on the strongest subject areas of the Burns Library collection, including Irish history, Jesuitica, and fine print publications, among others• Hired, trained, and supervised staff of five employees in all areas of bibliographic control, including classification, authority control, descriptive cataloging, subject cataloging, and in the… Show more • Created complex, original bibliographic description of rare books, serials, and ephemera, largely from the hand-press era, and primarily focused on the strongest subject areas of the Burns Library collection, including Irish history, Jesuitica, and fine print publications, among others• Hired, trained, and supervised staff of five employees in all areas of bibliographic control, including classification, authority control, descriptive cataloging, subject cataloging, and in the application of various local standards and practices• Coordinated the maintenance of Burns Library stacks, including de-duplication and relocation of collections to both on-site and off-site locations• Researched, planned, and executed exhibitions of historic library materials Show less

Countway Library, Center For The History Of Medicine

• Created and updated MARC bibliographic and holdings records for approximately 10,000 16th-20th century medical volumes, including foreign language materials, generating copy-specific rare books cataloging as necessary• Managed daily project workflow, assuring that production benchmarks were met, materials transported to and from digitization facility safely, invoices paid, budgets adhered to, and problems with digital objects successfully resolved• Worked with technologists at… Show more • Created and updated MARC bibliographic and holdings records for approximately 10,000 16th-20th century medical volumes, including foreign language materials, generating copy-specific rare books cataloging as necessary• Managed daily project workflow, assuring that production benchmarks were met, materials transported to and from digitization facility safely, invoices paid, budgets adhered to, and problems with digital objects successfully resolved• Worked with technologists at Harvard and through vendors to create or improve project discovery tools, batch loaded metadata, and established best practices for linking to externally-hosted digital objects• Participated in major public outreach efforts, including the delivery of presentations and the preparation of exhibits; maintained statistics regarding production benchmarks and patron usage of digitized collections in accordance with departmental funding initiatives • Hired, trained, and supervised dedicated project staff Show less

Open Collections Program

• Replaced and assumed all duties of two full-time Processing Librarians; gained an understanding of workflows and procedures quickly enough to guide the program to a successful completion without interrupting service or sacrificing quality of products, a task that included facilitating the unexpected digitization of over 60 volumes of critical, but jeopardized 18th century institutional manuscript records• Coordinated and tracked the movement of over 2,000 unique items through the… Show more • Replaced and assumed all duties of two full-time Processing Librarians; gained an understanding of workflows and procedures quickly enough to guide the program to a successful completion without interrupting service or sacrificing quality of products, a task that included facilitating the unexpected digitization of over 60 volumes of critical, but jeopardized 18th century institutional manuscript records• Coordinated and tracked the movement of over 2,000 unique items through the complex workflows of a multi-repository digital library initiative, which involved liaising with archivists, librarians, conservators, and digitization service providers in order to facilitate transfer and treatment of rare and historic materials • Performed item-level assessment of conservation and imaging needs for manuscripts and published works; prepared all items for digitization, generating detailed instructions to imaging technicians • Was responsible for post-digitization quality control; performed structural editing of METS-encoded digital objects; initiated and followed through on rework requests with service providers Show less

• Created item-level catalog records for extensive privately-held collection of decorated and hand-made papers, paper-related ephemera, and books following standards set forth in the working draft of Decorated and Decorative Paper Terms: A Thesaurus for Cataloging and Processing Collections• Participated in pre-project strategic planning and implementation of established standards; constructed collections database for the use of all three project catalogers based on surveys… Show more • Created item-level catalog records for extensive privately-held collection of decorated and hand-made papers, paper-related ephemera, and books following standards set forth in the working draft of Decorated and Decorative Paper Terms: A Thesaurus for Cataloging and Processing Collections• Participated in pre-project strategic planning and implementation of established standards; constructed collections database for the use of all three project catalogers based on surveys, consultations, and needs-assessment of owners Show less

Fine Arts Library

• Facilitated the cataloging, inventorying, and preservation of collections in preparation for the successful July, 2009 relocation of the Fine Arts Library to multiple off-site buildings • Re-housed several hundred thousand historical photographs, prints, works of art, and miscellaneous items, including albumen and salt prints; glass, acetate and nitrate negatives; collections of papers and correspondence, field notes, realia, slides, ephemera, and various other formats and… Show more • Facilitated the cataloging, inventorying, and preservation of collections in preparation for the successful July, 2009 relocation of the Fine Arts Library to multiple off-site buildings • Re-housed several hundred thousand historical photographs, prints, works of art, and miscellaneous items, including albumen and salt prints; glass, acetate and nitrate negatives; collections of papers and correspondence, field notes, realia, slides, ephemera, and various other formats and materials• Created extensive spreadsheets, finding aids, and catalog records for previously neglected and unprocessed items that resulted in many valuable and historically-significant collections being made accessible Show less

Widener Library

• Prepared materials for microfilming and digital scanning; designed and constructed protective enclosures for aging and/or damaged books • Performed minor and intermediate collections maintenance treatments

Master Of Science, Library And Information Science

Bachelor Of Arts, History