Job Posting: MIT Libraries

Thomas F. Peterson (1957) Conservator (Librarian II)
Curation and Preservation Services (CPS), MIT Libraries

MIT Libraries seek an experienced and forward-thinking professional to manage MIT’s special collections conservation program and to contribute knowledge and expertise to the Libraries’ overall preservation strategy. Working in a state-of-the-art conservation lab, this is an exciting opportunity to work with the rich collections of a world renowned institution ensuring long-term access for current and future scholars.

Reporting to the Head, Curation and Preservation Services, the Conservator develops and manages MIT’s special collections conservation program, planning and executing conservation treatments for the physical maintenance of rare books, archives, and manuscripts. S/he conducts condition assessments and utilizes data to inform planning and evaluate outcomes of services and projects. S/he provides expertise and guidance to collections curators and other library and facilities staff regarding collections care, treatment, and storage. S/he also keeps current on standards and best practice, documents procedures and workflows, and develops outreach and training programs.

The Conservator collaborates with the Department Head and Preservation Librarian to provide a comprehensive preservation program that leverages emerging and evolving technology and tools. S/he manages projects to maintain or expand access to paper-based materials and media through various reformatting methods, primarily digitization and, s/he develops preservation plans and priorities in consultation with managers of collections, user services, and digital repositories. S/he shares management responsibility of lab operations with the Preservation Librarian which includes budget development and administration, oversight of compliance issues, vendor relationship management, and supervision of one support staff and occasional interns.

Additional responsibilities of the Conservator include exhibition support for the Maihaugen Gallery, environmental monitoring and disaster preparedness and response, participation in stewardship of donors and fundraising, developing projects and funding proposals, and serving as the Libraries’ representative to MIT Environmental Health and Safety.

QUALIFICATIONS:
• Graduate degree in conservation or comparable education and training
• Minimum of 3-5 years of professional conservation experience with demonstrated ability to perform complex treatments for rare books and paper-based materials
• Working knowledge of chemistry and materials science as applied in the field of conservation; demonstrated knowledge of current conservation theory and practice
• Ability to identify, adapt, and utilize relevant technologies and emerging techniques
• Ability to plan, organize, and set priorities
• Strong training skills; excellent oral and written communication skills
• Experience supervising staff and managing a laboratory that meets OSHA requirements for health and safety

Preferred 
• Masters in Library Science or substantial experience working collaboratively in a research library setting
• Familiarity with relevant technology and tools
• Experience with exhibition production and support

SALARY AND BENEFITS: $58,500 minimum salary. Actual salary based on qualification and experience. MIT offers excellent benefits including a choice of health and retirement plans, a dental plan, tuition assistance and a relocation allowance. The MIT Libraries afford a flexible and collegial working environment and foster professional growth of staff with management training and travel funding for professional meetings.

APPLICATION PROCESS : Apply online at: http://hrweb.mit.edu/staffing/. Please include cover letter, resume, and contact information for three references. Review of applications will begin March 4, 2013 and will continue until position is filled.MIT is strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community and particularly encourages applications from qualified women and minority candidates.

Job Posting: Indiana University Bloomington

Head, General Preservation and Conservation Services
E. Lingle Craig Preservation Lab, Indiana University Bloomington Libraries

The majority of the work of the General Preservation and Conservation Services unit is high production focusing on treating materials from the circulating collections held in the Wells Library and the thirteen branch libraries of the Bloomington campus.  The staff work on a wide range of materials, including items published from the seventeenth century to the present.  The individual will be expected to lend his/her skills, knowledge, and abilities in the preservation of library materials to items that are rare and valuable when requested or as such items are identified through condition surveys from the various libraries of Indiana University Bloomington.

Job Summary: Manages the day-to-day activities of the preservation services related to the bound volumes received by the E. Lingle Craig Preservation Lab.  Hires, trains, supervises, evaluates, and provides leadership to two full-time conservation technicians, one full-time Kasemake enclosures operator, and hourly employees.  Analyzes workflow and establishes procedures to maximize efficiency and cost effectiveness of the lab; develops and expands the preservation and conservation program as necessary; and performs a broad range of preservation and conservation treatments, including constructing enclosures, developing and introducing new treatments to address specific needs, and teaching staff how to perform various treatments. Responsible for the department’s disaster response, determining the best treatment for materials exposed to environmental or biological hazards, and treating materials that may be housing insects.

Qualifications: Master’s degree in Library Science, Archives, Preservation/Conservation, or related field; two years professional experience in evaluating materials for preservation/conservation treatments and performing a wide variety of such treatments, including bindings, construction of enclosures, book repair and treatment of items that have water, mold, or other disaster-related damage; and two years of supervisory experience required.

Knowledge of current preservation principles, practices, and procedures is essential.  Excellent interpersonal, collaborative, and consultative skills; and ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing.  Must have knowledge of computers and software applications, including Microsoft Word and Excel, and the ability to generate statistical and general reports as necessary.

Ability to lift and carry 30-40 pounds; capable of effectively use a fork-lift and dolly; skilled at using a variety of hand-tools; and able to use these tools on a regular basis. A current, valid driver’s license is required.

To Apply:  To apply for this position please go to Indiana University’s Human Resources website (https://jobs.iu.edu – Job # 7755) to submit an online application.  A cover letter and resume with the contact information for three professional references is required.

Applications will be accepted until February 7, 2013 or until the position is filled.

Call for Proposals: Preservation Administration Interest Group

The Preservation Administration Interest Group (PAIG) is seeking proposals for presentations at ALA Midwinter 2013, in Seattle, WA. PAIG will meet from 8:30-11:30 Saturday, January 26^th.

All topics related to Preservation Administration are welcome, and presenters will be allotted 20-30 minutes.

If you are interested in presenting, please contact Annie Peterson or Roger Smith (epeters5@tulane.eduor ros001@ucsd.edu) by December 1, 2012, with a topic and brief description of your presentation.  

Cornell University Library: From Beijing to Ithaca, Extending the Lives of Vulnerable Books

Thanks to a $180,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Cornell University Library is beginning an internship program that will allow representatives from four libraries in China come to Ithaca to study with experts in our Department of Preservation and Conservation.

For more information, see the press release.

 

Job Posting: University of Washington Libraries

The University of Washington Libraries has a new Senior Conservator position supported through a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation:

Reporting to the Head of Preservation Services, the Senior Conservator will plan, document and perform complex item-level conservation treatments on both bound and unbound special collection materials, including rare books, manuscripts, prints, maps and drawings on paper or parchment.  In consultation with collection managers and preservation staff, establish priorities for treatment and coordinate the workflow of treatments through the conservation unit. The Senior Conservator will work on unique and diverse collections from special collections and international studies and will provide professional advice and education to staff, interns, and other libraries and cultural heritage institutions in the region, as needed.

For additional information, or to apply, see: http://goo.gl/awWCF
Application deadline for priority consideration is Sunday, 4 November, 2012.

Job Posting: Tulane University

PRESERVATION LIBRARIAN
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University

Howard-Tilton Memorial Library invites applications for the position of Preservation Librarian. The library seeks to build its professional staff by recruiting talented, energetic librarians interested in shaping the future of Tulane University and New Orleans  

POSITION SUMMARY
The Preservation Librarian is a detailed- and team-oriented librarian who works closely with Tulane’s main library collection, offsite storage collection, and special collections including the Louisiana Research Collection, Hogan Jazz Archive, Latin American Library and Southeastern Architectural Archives.  Reporting to the Director of Technical Services, the librarian will organize and maintain a comprehensive preservation assessment program for a broad range of physical collections, seek outside funding including grants, establish goals and objectives to develop a conservation lab and for the conservation of aged and damaged materials, advise on climate control as needed, advise on preservation issues including disaster preparedness, and conduct awareness programs for staff and users. S/he will contribute service to library committees and task forces as well as to professional associations.

QUALIFICATIONS
Required:  ALA-accredited MLS with a focus in preservation; understanding of library preservation and conservation issues, standards, trends, and best practices; ability to see the library as a whole and understand how preservation activities relate to its core mission; demonstrated concern for and expertise in handling physical collections; ability to work as part of a team as well as independently; excellent problem solving skills and attention to details; ability to be flexible and adapt to rapid change; excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills; and a valid driver’s license.

Preferred:  The candidate should have two years of work experience in preservation or conservation, or equivalent hands-on training; experience with grant writing and funding; experience with climate monitoring and control; experience supervising staff; experience with disaster preparedness documentation.

Salary/Benefits: Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Librarians are academic appointees; librarians do not have tenure or faculty rank, but in other respects receive the benefits of faculty members; generous benefits including a choice of health plans, tuition waiver for self, and undergraduate tuition waiver for dependents.

Environment Tulane University is an AAU/Carnegie Research Institution and ranked by U.S. News and World Report among the top fifty national universities in the United States. The university is located in beautiful uptown New Orleans where it borders the St. Charles Avenue streetcar line and Audubon Park. Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is the University’s main library with an ARL research collection of more than four million titles.

To Apply Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled with an expected start date of April 1, 2012, or earlier. To ensure full consideration, applicants must submit a letter of application, résumé, and names with full contact information of at least three professional references via email to Andrea Bacino (abacino@tulane.edu) or mail to:

Tulane University
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
Attn: Andrea Bacino
7001 Freret St. 2nd floor
New Orleans LA 70118

Tulane University is an AA/EO Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

LRTS Request for Grant Proposals

Library Resources & Technical Services (LRTS) announces the availability of grants of up to $1,000 (funded by an Association for Library Collections and Technical Services grant) to assist authors with preparing literature reviews. The purpose of the grants is to provide funds that will be used for clerical and research support, thereby allowing the author/s to concentrate on analyzing the resources and writing the literature review.  Possible support tasks might be collecting citations, sorting and organizing citations by themes and categories, locating and gathering resources to be reviewed, verifying citations, funding purchases of articles not owned by the home institution of the author, and so forth.  Funding also could provide a mentoring opportunity by funding assistance by a library school or information science student.

Highly cited, literature reviews provide an essential professional service to practitioners, scholars, and students by identifying the key themes and the most important publications appearing in successive two year periods.  Books and articles by accredited scholars and researchers, i.e., primarily peer-reviewed publications provide the basis for a literature review.  A good literature review is evaluative, selective, and critical, and goes beyond summarizing and quoting from the selected sources.   Literature reviews explain why the sources cited are important and valuable, may compare them to prior works, and create a structure that organizes the two-year body of content to make it comprehensible and to identify themes, not only for those who have followed the developments it describes, but to future researchers.  All sources referenced appear in the endnotes; a separate bibliography is not published.  Although commissioned, LRTS literature reviews go through the same double-blind peer review process as unsolicited manuscripts.

LRTS seeks authors for the following topical areas and coverage periods:

• Collection Development and Management literature published 2011-2012
• Cataloging/Classification/Metadata Management literature published 2011-2012
• Preservation and Reformatting literature published 2011-2012

Papers should be submitted not later than June 30, 2013. Grant recipients will be required to submit progress reports to the LRTS Editor in June and December each year.

The grant proposal must include:

1. Requester name, title, and contact information
2. The literature to be reviewed (see list above)
3. The requester’s credentials to write the literature review
4. Amount requested
5. Budget plan and rationale for how the funds will be expended

Proposals are due by January 31, 2012.

Applications and inquiries should be submitted to Peggy Johnson, LRTS Editor, lrtseditor@ala.org.

Video: The Blank History of the Blank Book

Very cool, Chela!
From: CGPublishing  | Oct 14, 2011

For Florence: Film screening at the National Gallery of Art

A rare screening of Franco Zeffirelli’s For Florence (Per Firenze), the famed Italian director’s sole documentary containing the only known film footage of the catastrophe (with Richard Burton’s voiceover commentary), remembers the forty-fifth anniversary of the Florence flood of November 1966.  Presented in association with the University of Maryland.  Sheila Waters and Don Etherington, University of Maryland, discuss the film. (Franco Zeffirelli, 1966, 16 mm, 55 minutes).

Sat Nov 5 (3:30 pm)
National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC
East Building Auditorium, 4th Street at Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Programs are free of charge but seating is on a first-come, first-seated basis.

Job Vacancy: Head of Preservation, Ohio University

Announcement has been truncated; for full description follow the links to the job notice at the Ohio University job search site. –PCAN Editors

Position Description:
The Ohio University Libraries seeks applications and nominations for an innovative and collaborative professional to provide leadership and direction for preservation and conservation efforts throughout the University Libraries. The successful candidate will be joining the Libraries at an exciting time; development of a new strategic plan is currently underway, with a vision of the Libraries as a “dynamic gateway for the discovery, creation and exchange of knowledge, enabling students, faculty and staff to realize their promise and achieve excellence.”

Reporting to the Assistant Dean for Collections and Access, this position manages the activities of the Preservation Department (1.5 FTE non-exempt staff), and oversees the high-density collection storage facility (1FTE administrative staff and 1 FTE non-exempt staff). The department head must also work closely and collaboratively with most library departments, particularly with the staff of Stacks and Media Management, the Mahn Center for Archives and Special Collections, the Fine Arts Library, Digital Initiatives, the Center for International Collections, and the Music Library. Specifically, the head of the Preservation Department:

• Establishes guidelines for appropriate physical storage and maintenance of the Libraries’ collections in all locations.
• Evaluates conservation needs of items from the Libraries’ general and special collections, and determines optimal treatment.
• Treats rare and special collections materials, including books and non-print materials
• Hires, trains, and manages performance of Preservation Unit employees, and oversees operation of Southeast Ohio Regional Library Depository.
• Educates library staff on preservation issues; leads disaster preparedness & response planning efforts related to library collections.
• Responds to disasters which threaten and/or damage library collections; coordinates the salvage and treatment of damaged materials.
• Advises on digital preservation initiatives in the University Libraries.
• Pursues and administers grant proposals for preservation projects.
• Assists with special projects related to management of campus and depository collections.
• Engages in regular professional development activities as part of continuing commitment to increasing effectiveness.

Minimum Qualifications: 
• A master’s degree in library/information science from an ALA-accredited institution, or a master’s degree in another relevant subject such as public history
• Formal training and experience in conservation techniques on a wide range of library materials (demonstrated through a portfolio of the applicant’s work)
• Minimum 3 years progressive responsibility in conservation work in a library, museum, or archival setting
• Demonstrated commitment to data-informed decision making processes
• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Preferred Qualifications: 
• Demonstrated knowledge of current and emerging trends in academic libraries as well as in digital and print preservation
• Successful supervisory experience
• Experience in leading teams and fostering collaborative relationships
• Experience writing and administering grants

Salary is commensurate with experience and education. Ohio University employees enjoy a liberal benefits package, including 22 days annual vacation, generous insurance, and Ohio state employee or alternative retirement.

Application Procedure: To apply for this position, please visit the Ohio University Job Site: website https://www.ohiouniversityjobs.com/postings/556. (posting number 2011105).

Applications must be received by October 9, 2011.