Vacancy for Project Archivist at Council for British Research in the Levant

Vacancy for Project Archivist at Council for British Research in the Levant

6 May 2022

London

£30,000 per annum

Fixed Term

The Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL) advances public education on the Levant, promoting and disseminating research in the humanities, social sciences, and related subjects, working on and in Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Cyprus. Our mission is to advance knowledge and understanding of the peoples and cultures of the Levant. We have two institutes in the Levant: the Amman Institute in Jordan and the Kenyon Institute in East Jerusalem, where our libraries are located.

CBRL seeks a Project Archivist to make a significant contribution to the establishing of CBRL’s digital and physical archival infrastructure, enabling greater access to our archival collections. CBRL is the inheritor of the uniquely rich archive of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem (BSAJ). The centenary of the British Mandate in Palestine, and the decolonisation of knowledge production associated with it, provide the ideal context to establish the physical and digital infrastructure of CBRL’s archives. This archival infrastructure will provide a critical plank to underpin CBRL’s research strategy in the coming years, providing an essential scholarly resource on Mandate archaeology for UK and international researchers. Up-to-date archival knowledge and effective communication skills are required, and familiarity with the Levant is desirable, although not essential for someone who is eager to learn about the region.

The role is London based and a competitive salary of £30K pro rata, inclusive of London weighting, is offered, with USS pension.

Job Purpose and Summary

The CBRL Project Archivist will work closely with the Strategic Projects Director to set up physical and digital archival infrastructure, including commissioning an open-source digital repository to house and organise collections. The Project Archivist will be part of the CBRL UK team of four (part- and full-time), as well as participate in a BIRI-wide archive and digitisation knowledge-sharing project.

The role is London-based, and the successful candidate will be on a hybrid working policy, expected to work in the office at least two days per week, excluding periods of work travel. The role is fixed term, spanning 7 months from June-December inclusive, 4 days per week, Monday to Thursday.

Travel to the Levant region will be required for short periods, and travel to a related archival collection in East London may be needed on a semi-regular basis.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Archival development, discoverability and accessibility
   • Work collaboratively to develop/adopt appropriate metadata schemas for cultural heritage-, environmental- and social science-related collections, which will then be presented bilingually (English and Arabic) via an open-access digital archive website.
   • Work with Strategic Projects Director (Line Manager) and external consultant on an archival records management policy and a digital and physical records preservation policy prior to beginning digitisation.
   • Contribute to setting multi-year digital humanities strategy for increasing the discoverability and accessibility of CBRL archival collections.
2. Archive appraisal, arranging, cataloguing and digitisation
   • Producing accurate data according to internal, national, and international standards.
   • Identifying sensitive data in need of further review accurately and contributing to the development of policies to guide identification and decision making.
   • Rehousing materials in preservation quality materials as appropriate.
3. Promotion of CBRL archival collections
   • Contributing social media content highlights from work on CBRL archival collections.
   • Writing a blog post about the collections, to be shared on CBRL’s website and social media platforms.