Blinken OSA Invites Applications for Chief Archivist Position

Chief Archivist Position

Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives

Starting date: As soon as possible
Application deadline: Open until filled
Full or Part Time: Full -time

 


The Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at Central European University is inviting applicants to the position of Chief Archivist. OSA (https://www.ceu.edu/unit/osa ) is one of the most important Cold War and human rights archives in the world. OSA, one of the initiators of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, is fully committed to free and open access. OSA is looking for a highly talented, innovative, socially committed and technologically skilled person with foresight and impeccable integrity.

OSA invites professionals, who are passionate about new archival and library theories, technologies, new trends in digital media, digital humanities, open access, and who are highly knowledgeable about emerging IT solutions. We are looking for a good, dedicated person, who is a partner in turning archives inside out, to make sources of the past available to the wider public, who is open to intellectual, social and professional challenges and adventures.

The Chief Archivist supervises the professional staff, works closely together with and reports to the Director of OSA, and represents the Archives at professional bodies and fora (ICA, IFLA, etc.). This is an unusual opportunity for individuals interested in leading a highly dynamic, unorthodox and international professional activist community, with a special focus on working together with non-profit and intra-governmental organizations actively engaged in building open societies, protecting human rights. The Archives is working on new technologies and methodologies in authenticating documents, historical and forensic evidence. The Chief Archivist guides and advocates for the ongoing development of physical and digital collections, services, and programs to the Central European University community and the Open Society Foundations (OSF) Network globally. 

Core Responsibilities

• Provide intellectual and technological vision; Supervise and lead technological innovation and digital preservation projects to continue the implementation of the trusted repository model for long-term open access to OSA collections;
• Provide senior leadership in advancing progress of CEU's and OSF’s substantive and technological strategic goals
• Supervise the metadata & digital curation initiatives to carry out a comprehensive program for access to OSA collections
• Oversees and updates policies, procedures, and priorities for collection development, processing projects, access provisions for digital and physical special collections, creating a body of resources that supports OSA’s professional strategy
• Promote awareness of the latest professional trends– and staff expertise into university teaching, research and learning activities
• Develop partnerships to address issues and challenges facing archival and library collections, records management, and data curation in an uncertain digital environment
• Participates actively in outreach activities

Required Qualifications

• Graduate degree (preferably Ph.D.) in either information technology, or archival/library science, with demonstrated deep knowledge and interest in social sciences and humanities;
• Experience in working in challenging position at an archival or memory institution;
• Demonstrated skills to effectively supervise and lead the work of an international team of professionals;
• Proof of innovative leadership in an academic-archival setting;
• A persuasive and evolving record of intellectual accomplishments;
• Good interpersonal and management skills;
• User-oriented  approach as demonstrated by public programming, user education, and other community outreach activities
• Proficiency in English, knowledge of another language of OSA’s main collections is an advantage: Russian, Polish, Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, Romanian or Bulgarian

Compensation:

Commensurate with experience. However, we offer a competitive salary, as well as a dynamic and international academic environment.

How to apply?

To apply applicants are asked to submit a short CV, naming two referees, together with a motivation letter Please send your complete application package to: applications@ceu.edu. Please include the following job code in the subject line: 2016/023.

CEU is an equal opportunity employer.

About CEU

Central European University (CEU) is a graduate research-intensive university specializing in the social sciences and humanities, public policy and management. It is located in Budapest, and accredited in the United States and Hungary. CEU’s mission is to promote academic excellence, state-of-the-art research, and civic engagement, in order to contribute to the development of open societies in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, and other emerging democracies throughout the world. CEU offers both Master’s and doctoral programs, and enrolls more than 1400 students from 100 countries. The teaching staff consists of more than 180 resident faculty, from over 40 countries, and a large number of prominent visiting scholars from around the world.

The language of instruction is English.

About OSA

OSA is part of Central European University (CEU) in Budapest (www.ceu.edu), probably the most multinational graduate institution in Europe, engaged primarily in the humanities and social sciences. OSA is a complex institution of memory that supports scholarship, is engaged in research, is the initiator of high visibility public programs, and is in charge of the Evidentiary and Documentary Practices specialization at the History and Legal Studies Departments at CEU. Some members of the Archives staff are on the faculty of CEU, are engaged both in research and teaching, and advise the University in matters related to information technology and digital humanities.