Miskatonic University PressWe’re hiring four new people this spring at York University Libraries, where I work, and the first posting is up: media archivist.
York University Libraries (YUL) seeks a dynamic and innovative individual with strong leadership potential to advance York University Libraries’ archival and special collections portfolio in support of the research community across campus and beyond in the area of media (film, sound recordings, audiovisual recordings and photography; in both digital and analogue form). This position is for an early or mid-career professional with some applied experience and/or expertise in the area of film and AV preservation.
Everything I know about interviewing at York University Libraries I put on a web page: the informatively titled Interviewing at York University Libraries. Any archivists who might apply for the job should read that, and if they have any questions after, I’m glad to chat or to put them on to someone else.
A few things to note about the job ad.
This position is for an early or mid-career professional …
We used to advertise for people with “up to four years post-MLIS experience” or some such. Many people found this confusing and even thought it was age discrimination (which it isn’t). It was done because librarian and archivist salaries are calculated based on years-since-MLIS, and the most recent the graduate, the lower the salary (see my interviewing page for more). Budgets are always tight. Nevertheless, lately we’ve stopped being so restrictive and now specify a general level of experience. We hope this will mean a better pool of applicants.
York University is an Affirmative Action (AA) employer and strongly values diversity, including gender and sexual diversity, within its community.
We take this seriously. Our newly revised AA plan says, “The affirmative action target groups for the Libraries for the year and for the near future are: visible minorities, members of Aboriginal or Indigenous persons; and persons with disabilities. The Libraries actively seek to recruit and hire members of these groups to enrich the full-time staffing complement.” We mean it. If you’re an archivist who falls into one of those groups and think you might want to work at York, please apply and self-identify. If you know such a person, please tell them about this.
Consideration will be given to those who have followed non-traditional career paths or had career interruptions.
This was introduced into our ads a couple of years ago, and I’m happy to say I helped. If someone applying took some time out of their career to raise a child, look after someone, deal with an illness, or anything else causing a gap in their resume, they should mention it briefly, alluding to the line in the ad.
Interviews will take place between 10-16 April 2019.
This is good to know not only for anyone applying but also for us already working at YUL. Now I know when the job talks will be, so I marked that in my calendar so I can keep my mornings clear.