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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (HathiTrust Research Center)

NOTE: All postdoctoral fellowship positions are contingent upon funding. Applications are accepted via CLIR's online application system. Review of applications is already underway, but applications will be accepted until all positions are filled.

Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) and The University Library
Postdoctoral Research Associate

The HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) is funding a postdoctoral position for up to three years at the University of Illinois. This position will be located at both at the Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS) at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) and the University Library’s Scholarly Commons. The successful candidate will join a multidisciplinary group of faculty and doctoral students formulating the research agenda and the future of the HTRC and will design services within the Scholarly Commons for scholars using the HTRC. Possible areas for postdoctoral research include but are not limited to: digital humanities, data curation, data modeling, metadata, machine learning, data mining, and text analysis.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Conduct research related to metadata and data integrity to enhance search and discovery across a massive corpus of heterogeneous data.
  • Engage with local, national, and international faculty and scholars to analyze and integrate their research and teaching needs into the HTRC research agenda.
  • Collaborate with library staff and campus partners across a wide range of subject domains to develop and test services around the use of HTRC content by scholars through programs in the Library’s Scholarly Commons.
  • Contribute to services connecting the scholarly community with HTRC tools and resources.
  • Mentor master’s and doctoral students conducting related research at GSLIS and the Illinois Informatics Institute.
  • Other related duties as assigned. Required Education and Experience:
  • PhD obtained within five years of the postdoctoral fellowship in library and information science, digital humanities, a social science, computer science, or other relevant disciplines.
  • Demonstrated engagement with issues related to information organization and access in the context of digital scholarship.
  • Ability to work independently and collaborate well with colleagues across departments and among institutions.
  • Interest in pursuing a career in a research center, digital scholarship center, or as a faculty member in an information school or library.

Required Education and Experience:

  • PhD obtained within five years of the postdoctoral fellowship in library and information science, digital humanities, a social science, computer science, or other relevant disciplines.
  • Demonstrated engagement with issues related to information organization and access in the context of digital scholarship.
  • Ability to work independently and collaborate well with colleagues across departments and among institutions.
  • Interest in pursuing a career in a research center, digital scholarship center, or as a faculty member in an information school or library.

Preferred Knowledge and Experience:

  • Knowledge of current data and metadata standards.
  • Knowledge of software development and applications regarding data indexing, sorting, and retrieval.
  • Knowledge of linked data and semantic web development and technologies.
  • Experience working with large digital collections and datasets.
  • Experience with digital scholarship projects and initiatives.
  • Experience offering digital scholarship services within an academic library setting.
  • Experience conducting requirements gathering and developing scholarly use cases.
  • Experience planning and managing projects.

Environment:

The University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign is one of the preeminent research libraries in the world. With more than 13 million volumes and significant digital resources, it ranks second in size among academic research libraries in the United States and first among public university libraries in the world. As the intellectual heart of the campus, the Library is committed to maintaining the strongest possible collections and services and engaging in research and development activities in pursuit of the University’s mission of teaching, scholarship, and public service. The Library currently employs approximately 90 faculty and 300 academic professionals, staff, and graduate assistants. For more detailed information, please visit http://www.library.illinois.edu. The Library consists of multiple departmental libraries located across campus, as well as an array of central public, technical, and administrative service units. The Library also encompasses a variety of virtual service points and “embedded librarian” programs.

Founded in 1893, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) is a world leader in library and information science education, research and practice. Consistently ranked as one of the very best in the field, GSLIS has earned its reputation by creating pioneering and innovative educational opportunities, by leading groundbreaking research to advance preservation of and access to information in both traditional and digital libraries, and through its services and strong commitment to outreach and community development. The School's academic programs include an undergraduate minor in information technology studies, an M.S. program in library and information science, a Certificate of Advanced Study program, and a Ph.D. program. Further information about GSLIS is available at http://www.lis.illinois.edu.

The HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC) is a collaborative research center launched jointly by Indiana University and the University of Illinois, along with the HathiTrust Digital Library, to help meet the technical challenges of dealing with massive amounts of digital text that researchers face by developing cutting-edge software tools and cyberinfrastructure to enable advanced computational access to the growing digital record of human knowledge. Further information about HTRC is available at http://www.hathitrust.org/htrc.

Salary: Salary commensurate with credentials and experience.

Illinois is an Affirmative Action /Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and ideas who embrace and value diversity and inclusivity.  (www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu).