South Asia Digital Librarian

Description

The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) seeks a South Asia Digital Librarian responsible for the management, coordination, development, and administration of the South Asia Open Archives (SAOA) project. Working collaboratively with SAOA members, vendors, partners, CRL staff, and other stakeholders, the South Asia Digital Librarian will build, enhance, preserve, and publicize SAOA’s openly accessible collection of research material from and about South Asia. 

Administratively hosted by CRL, and situated as a subset of the South Asia Materials Project, SAOA is a member- and grant-supported, open-access resource for research and teaching, and contains hundreds of thousands of pages of books, journals, newspapers, census data, magazines, and documents. In its current iteration, SAOA contains over 25,000 digital items — comprising over 800,000 pages of historical content — that span twenty-seven languages from across South Asia. Learn more about SAOA here: https://www.crl.edu/programs/samp/saoa.  

CRL commits to the cultivation of open and equitable access to knowledge on a global level, and works against historic, systemic inequities by: advancing open knowledge and equitable access to knowledge through partnerships that span open knowledge policy, infrastructure, and analytics; engaging in collections work grounded in anti-racist and post-custodial frameworks that support communities historically under-engaged by the organization; supporting collections as data development than enables expanded form of scholarly and professional engagement with the scholarly record; and by committing to the responsible operationalization of technology. Learn more about us, and our work, here: https://www.crl.edu/about.  

Responsibilities: 
Reporting to the Head of Collections, and with direction and oversight from the Executive Board of the South Asia Open Archives Program, the South Asia Digital Librarian will: 

• Approach internal and external work with a commitment to CRL’s First Principles: diversity, equity, and inclusion; intellectual freedom; public good; and responsible stewardship 
• Build and sustain internal and external partnerships with the SAOA Executive Board and working groups for funding, infrastructure, outreach and content curation 
• Foster partnerships with institutions in North America, Europe, and South Asia 
• Coordinate the digitization, description, and delivery of materials contributed by program members, contracted third party services, and other participating institutions 
• Execute and / or oversee the uploading and publishing of images and their associated metadata to SAOA’s JSTOR Forum open access hosting platform 
• Facilitate upload of digitized materials to AWS for long-term preservation of SAOA materials 
• Work with the Funding Working Group, and Center for Research Libraries staff, to prepare and submit funding proposals 
• Provide support for the efficient and timely completion of project objectives and initiatives 
• Present, write, and share about their work with the larger South Asia academic and cultural heritage communities 

Requirements: 
A Master’s Degree in Library Science and / or an advanced degree in South Asian Studies or related discipline is encouraged for this role, but not required. Knowledge of South Asia, South Asian Languages, culture, history, and geography is required. Applicants who have experience working in the academic or cultural heritage sector — galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and related non-profits — are also encouraged to apply. Strong candidates will also: 

• Demonstrate project management skills, including the ability to communicate verbally and in writing with internal and external stakeholders, and articulate their ability to explain complex concepts to a range of audiences 
• Have no less than two years of experience working with digital library materials 
• Have a knowledge of, and interest in further exploring, efforts that encourage responsible computational engagement with scholarly and cultural heritage collections 
• Demonstrate their ability to work collaboratively with colleagues within and across institutions 
• Evidence excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills 
• Be able to demonstrate their aptitude for learning new skills and tools on the job, including Amazon S3, JSTOR Forum, BitCurator, DuraCloud, and others 
• Participate in the larger academic & cultural heritage community through presentations, publications, training, grants, and / or committee work 

Compensation and benefits: 
This is a full-time, permanent position with an expected starting salary of $60,000. The South Asia Digital Librarian, South Asia Open Archives may work remotely, or on site at our facility in Chicago, Illinois (Hyde Park). CRL offers competitive benefits including health, dental, disability insurance, sick leave, retirement plans, and vacation time. Employees will receive funding for professional development activities. 

Application process: 
Expertise in each requirement listed above is not expected — instead, we encourage applications from those who demonstrate a mix of expertise in some areas, and a commitment to learning and experimentation in others. Skills and relevant experience outlined in your application may be paid or unpaid, and can include internships, volunteer work, and practicums. We understand that experience, education and learning, and creativity may take many forms, and expect that qualified applicants may bring additional skills to this position that we’ve not considered or listed here. If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply! 

To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter and resume to resumes@crl.edu no later than Wednesday, December 1, 2021. Please include ‘South Asia Digital Librarian, South Asia Open Archives’ in the subject line. Applicants selected for an interview will be contacted the week of December 6, 2021. Anticipated start date for this position will January 3, 2021 (or earlier). Questions about the role should be sent to Samantha Abrams, CRL’s Head of Collections, at sabrams@crl.edu.  

Diversity, equity, and inclusion: 
CRL enthusiastically embraces the empathy, courage, self-reflection and respect of a multi-cultural, diverse and inclusive workplace, and those who strive to incorporate those values in their work and interactions. CRL is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. CRL is committed to actively promoting the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion as key components for serving our members and advancing our global mission. As such, CRL complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws regarding recruitment, hiring and employment and provides employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment decisions at CRL are based on organization needs, job requirements and individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. CRL will not tolerate discrimination or harassment based on any of these characteristics.