The Center for Research Libraries (CRL) seeks a South Asia Digital Librarian 
responsible for the management, coordination, development, and administration 
of the South Asia Open Archives (SAOA) project. Working collaboratively with 
SAOA members, vendors, partners, CRL staff, and other stakeholders, the South 
Asia Digital Librarian will build, enhance, preserve, and publicize SAOA’s 
openly accessible collection of research material from and about South Asia. 

Administratively hosted by CRL, and situated as a subset of the South Asia 
Materials Project, SAOA is a member- and grant-supported, open-access resource 
for research and teaching, and contains hundreds of thousands of pages of 
books, journals, newspapers, census data, magazines, and documents. In its 
current iteration, SAOA contains over 25,000 digital items — comprising over 
800,000 pages of historical content — that span twenty-seven languages from 
across South Asia. Learn more about SAOA here: 
https://www.crl.edu/programs/samp/saoa.  

CRL commits to the cultivation of open and equitable access to knowledge on a 
global level, and works against historic, systemic inequities by: advancing 
open knowledge and equitable access to knowledge through partnerships that span 
open knowledge policy, infrastructure, and analytics; engaging in collections 
work grounded in anti-racist and post-custodial frameworks that support 
communities historically under-engaged by the organization; supporting 
collections as data development than enables expanded form of scholarly and 
professional engagement with the scholarly record; and by committing to the 
responsible operationalization of technology. Learn more about us, and our 
work, here: https://www.crl.edu/about.  

Responsibilities: 
Reporting to the Head of Collections, and with direction and oversight from the 
Executive Board of the South Asia Open Archives Program, the South Asia Digital 
Librarian will: 

Approach internal and external work with a commitment to CRL’s First 
Principles: diversity, equity, and inclusion; intellectual freedom; public 
good; and responsible stewardship 
Build and sustain internal and external partnerships with the SAOA Executive 
Board and working groups for funding, infrastructure, outreach and content 
curation 
Foster partnerships with institutions in North America, Europe, and South Asia 
Coordinate the digitization, description, and delivery of materials contributed 
by program members, contracted third party services, and other participating 
institutions 
Execute and / or oversee the uploading and publishing of images and their 
associated metadata to SAOA’s JSTOR Forum open access hosting platform 
Facilitate upload of digitized materials to AWS for long-term preservation of 
SAOA materials 
Work with the Funding Working Group, and Center for Research Libraries staff, 
to prepare and submit funding proposals 
Provide support for the efficient and timely completion of project objectives 
and initiatives 
Present, write, and share about their work with the larger South Asia academic 
and cultural heritage communities 

Requirements: 
A Master’s Degree in Library Science and / or an advanced degree in South Asian 
Studies or related discipline is encouraged for this role, but not required. 
Knowledge of South Asia, South Asian Languages, culture, history, and geography 
is required. Applicants who have experience working in the academic or cultural 
heritage sector — galleries, libraries, archives, museums, and related 
non-profits — are also encouraged to apply. Strong candidates will also: 

Demonstrate project management skills, including the ability to communicate 
verbally and in writing with internal and external stakeholders, and articulate 
their ability to explain complex concepts to a range of audiences 
Have no less than two years of experience working with digital library 
materials 
Have a knowledge of, and interest in further exploring, efforts that encourage 
responsible computational engagement with scholarly and cultural heritage 
collections 
Demonstrate their ability to work collaboratively with colleagues within and 
across institutions 
Evidence excellent communication, presentation, and interpersonal skills 
Be able to demonstrate their aptitude for learning new skills and tools on the 
job, including Amazon S3, JSTOR Forum, BitCurator, DuraCloud, and others 
Participate in the larger academic & cultural heritage community through 
presentations, publications, training, grants, and / or committee work 

Compensation and benefits: 
This is a full-time, permanent position with an expected starting salary of 
$60,000. The South Asia Digital Librarian, South Asia Open Archives may work 
remotely, or on site at our facility in Chicago, Illinois (Hyde Park). CRL 
offers competitive benefits including health, dental, disability insurance, 
sick leave, retirement plans, and vacation time. Employees will receive funding 
for professional development activities. 

Application process: 
Expertise in each requirement listed above is not expected — instead, we 
encourage applications from those who demonstrate a mix of expertise in some 
areas, and a commitment to learning and experimentation in others. Skills and 
relevant experience outlined in your application may be paid or unpaid, and can 
include internships, volunteer work, and practicums. We understand that 
experience, education and learning, and creativity may take many forms, and 
expect that qualified applicants may bring additional skills to this position 
that we’ve not considered or listed here. If this role interests you, we 
encourage you to apply! 

To be considered for this position, please submit a cover letter and resume to 
resu...@crl.edu no later than Wednesday, December 1, 2021. Please include 
‘South Asia Digital Librarian, South Asia Open Archives’ in the subject line. 
Applicants selected for an interview will be contacted the week of December 6, 
2021. Anticipated start date for this position will January 3, 2021 (or 
earlier). Questions about the role should be sent to Samantha Abrams, CRL’s 
Head of Collections, at sabr...@crl.edu.  

Diversity, equity, and inclusion: 
CRL enthusiastically embraces the empathy, courage, self-reflection and respect 
of a multi-cultural, diverse and inclusive workplace, and those who strive to 
incorporate those values in their work and interactions. CRL is an Equal 
Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any kind. 
CRL is committed to actively promoting the values of diversity, equity, and 
inclusion as key components for serving our members and advancing our global 
mission. As such, CRL complies with all applicable federal, state and local 
laws regarding recruitment, hiring and employment and provides employees with a 
work environment free of discrimination and harassment. All employment 
decisions at CRL are based on organization needs, job requirements and 
individual qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion or belief, 
national, social or ethnic origin, sex (including pregnancy), age, physical, 
mental or sensory disability, HIV Status, sexual orientation, gender identity 
and/or expression, marital, civil union or domestic partnership status, past or 
present military service, family medical history or genetic information, family 
or parental status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in 
the locations where we operate. CRL will not tolerate discrimination or 
harassment based on any of these characteristics. 


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