Open only to Black and/ or Indigenous recent graduates (graduated no earlier than Spring 2021)
Librarianship is a predominately white profession. We know that intentional work is needed to diversify it and so the University of Toronto Libraries is dedicated to developing a cohesive approach and plan to do this. To date, we have piloted a series of programs at a variety of career stages, including opportunities for high school students and internships for Faculty of Information MI students; we anticipate that these initiatives will continue. The development of two early-career librarian opportunities is our next step forward.University of Toronto equity/demographic data has shown us that we particularly lack representation from Black and/or Indigenous colleagues. These positions are therefore open only to Black and/ or Indigenous recent graduates (graduated no earlier than Spring 2021) in an intentional effort to diversify our librarian complement. These positions will provide exposure to a wide range set of opportunities, as well as targeted mentoring and coaching.
The Resident for Preservation will engage in a variety of preservation initiatives for both print and digital collections. Reporting to the Digital Assets Librarian in the Digital Preservation Unit, they will support preservation in three different departments: the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, Scholars Portal, and the Collection Development Department. The experience will include preservation assessment of fragile digital content, reconciling and reporting on national digitization work, and an introduction to the steadily growing field of research data management. As part of a team, the Resident will execute preservation-related projects depending on their interests and the emerging priorities of the libraries.
Possible Residency projects include:
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Conduct preservation assessments and produce condition reports of born-digital materials in specific manuscript collections held in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library (e.g. Shyam Selvadurai’s recently acquired digital papers).
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Coordinate an Association of Canadian University Presses overlap study in support of the Libraries, Keep@Downsview, the North/Nord Shared Print Network, and Scholars Portal.
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Research data management projects at Scholars Portal, including platform migrations and scoping projects.
In addition to project-based work, the Resident will engage in the daily work and decision-making of the libraries through committee participation and involvement with library staff throughout the UTL system, based on the Resident’s interests, skills, and relevance to their own work and scholarly interests.