CERL is seeking to appoint a PROJECT OFFICER, Europeana Libraries
About the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL)
The Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL) is an active
community of more than 190 libraries with notable holdings of early
printed material. In close relationship with the community of scholars
and researchers in the field of the European printed and written
heritage, CERL has, since its foundation in 1994, provided services for
both its member libraries and the scholarly community. The Consortium
was established to bring together all information on books printed in
Europe during the hand-press period (c. 1450 - c. 1830) in the Heritage
of the Printed Book Database (formerly the Hand Press Book Database
(HPB)). More recently CERL developed the CERL Thesaurus, the CERL Portal
and the Material Evidences in Incunabula (MEI) database. The mission of
CERL for 2010-2015 has been summarized as:
- supporting the study of the book heritage of Europe
by developing services that support integrated access to high-quality
data;
- developing and maintaining a suite of sophisticated
tools appropriate for the study of printed and written heritage
materials of Europe by pooling resources and expertise;
- contributing to joint initiatives for the
development of the digital infrastructure for the humanities, including
the development and implementation of standards, especially those that
facilitate interoperability.
The Project
CERL is a partner in the Europeana Libraries project, which during its
2-year life-span (until 31 December 2012) will bring the digital
collections of some of Europe's leading research libraries to Europeana.
Funded by the European Commission's IST-PSP programme, Europeana
Libraries will be the first cultural digitisation project to investigate
full-text searching of the 5 million objects it adds to Europeana.
Europeana Libraries is notable not only for the content it will make
available online but also because this project brings together national,
research and university libraries under the umbrella of The European
Library, which in this project is moving closer to establishing itself
as Europeana's Library domain aggregator. A Project Officer is sought to
work with the project partners to present an overview of the current
library and aggregation landscape in Europe, and to formulate models to
support the development of a robust, automated delivery system which any
library can use to aggregate its content into The European Library,
Europeana and other services for researchers.
The Position
Supported by staff at CERL, and under the supervision of the Work
Package leader, University College London, you will undertake desk
research to model the library-domain landscape in Europe, building on
previous aggregator surveys (e.g. Europeana Travel, Europeana/Athena,
etc.). To support this desk research you will conduct interviews with
key stakeholders from the national, research, university and public
libraries in Europe, and report your results. Using the knowledge gained
in this research, you will develop a range of models for the aggregation
of digital content into Europeana.
This process will be followed up by examining financial issues. You will
identify the costs of supporting the library-domain aggregation
scenarios, including investigation of outsourcing of content ingestion.
You will participate in the research into Value Propositions for each of
the stake holders as envisaged in the Work Package. Ultimately, all
results will feed into the development of a business, financing and
governance model for The European Library.
Your tasks relate to those in other work packages, and in this context
you will liaise with other project officers, assist in the creation and
validation of business and functional requirements for an ingestion
infrastructure that will scale, and in the communication of the
activities of the Europeana Libraries project.
For the Consortium of European Research Libraries, you will work with
the Executive Manager towards the implementation of the CERL Strategic
Plan 201-2015, and in the communication of CERL activities to its
members and the community at large.
Your knowledge and experience
The key aspects of the role are analysis and communication, liaison and
networking.
Essential
* Experience of data collection, analysis and reporting - including
tailoring reports for different audiences
* Sensitivity to the needs and wishes of libraries across Europe
that vary in size, wealth, technical know-how, target audiences, etc.
* Numerate and an understanding of business costings as they apply
in the library sector
* Understanding of the aims of Europeana and The European Library
* Ability to liaise effectively with colleagues in professional
networks, such as CERL, LIBER and CENL
* Ability to liaise effectively with technical staff
* Excellent spoken and written English
* Good interpersonal skills
* Good presentation skills, including tailoring presentations for
different audiences
* Ability to work independently
* Ability to prioritise, organise and balance a complex workload
* Ability to meet deadlines
* Willingness to travel
Desirable
* Experience of project work
* Experience of writing documentation for the Web and promotional
materials
* Awareness and understanding of issues and initiatives in the
aggregation of scholarly materials
* Affinity with written and printed heritage collections
Further information
Full details on this position can be requested from Drs Marian Lefferts,
Executive Manager of the Consortium of European Research Libraries.
Consortium of European Research Libraries
Drs Marian Lefferts, Executive Manager
Tel: + 31 70 314 0135
Fax: + 31 70 314 0633
E-mail: marian.lefferts@cerl.org
Mail: Postbus 90407, 2509 LK Den Haag, The Netherlands
Visit: Prins Willem Alexanderhof 5, 2595 BE Den Haag, The
Netherlands
URL: www.cerl.org
The Consortium of European Research Libraries is a company registered in
England, no. 0294 2632, whose registered office is 40 Bowling Green
Lane, EC1R 0NE, London
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