Global Curatorial Project Intern, John Hay Library, Brown University, (Providence, RI)
Posted May 6, 2025
Description
The Global Curatorial Project Intern is a project-based position housed at the John Hay Library in partnership with the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (CSSJ). The Global Curatorial Project (GCP) was founded in 2014 to be a network of scholars, curators, and educators who are committed to creating innovative forms of public history about the historical social system of racial slavery and the ways in which it continues to shape our world. The Unfinished Conversations initiative within the GCP focuses on exploring the question “How Slavery Shaped this Place” through recording new collections of oral histories that will explore the lived experiences and historical memories of enslaved Africans and their descendants. The GCP is awaiting the final oral histories from partner organizations to arrive during Spring 2025.
Reporting to the Digital Archivist, the Global Curatorial Project Intern accessions, arranges, describes, and catalogs the remaining oral histories and related documentation, in all types of digital formats, created and collected by the Global Curatorial Project. The quantity of digital files remaining to catalog is approximately 1 TB. The Intern will follow established procedures to integrate the oral histories and descriptive metadata to the existing EAD archival finding aid, MARC catalog record, and MODS records. Those records exist in the Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online (RIAMCO) finding aid database, the Brown University Library Alma catalog, and the Brown Digital Repository.
Please be advised that the oral histories included in the Unfinished Conversations initiative may contain stories of trauma, both personal and community-wide related to the legacies of racial slavery and colonialism. It is preserved to document the emotions and experiences of the individual interviewed. Some language in the oral histories may be offensive. It is presented as it exists in the original audio recording. The views and opinions expressed by the speaker(s) do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the Global Curatorial Project, Brown University, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, or the project’s institutional partners.
Responsibilities
- Prepares the oral history digital files for researcher use and long-term preservation through arrangement, and the integration of the descriptive information into the existing archival finding aid, MARC catalog record, and MODS records. Contributes those access records to existing databases: Brown University Library catalog, the Rhode Island Archival and Manuscript Collections Online (RIAMCO) finding aid database, and the Brown Digital Repository.
Links digital objects in the Brown Digital Repository to finding aids, MARC records, or other websites as needed. - Ensures that description and access materials are culturally sensitive, trauma-informed, and contain nuanced and respectful descriptions of Blackness, Indigeneity, sexuality, gender identity, and other similar topics.
- Uses established locally-controlled descriptive vocabulary to accurately describe the materials created and collected by the Global Curatorial Project.
- Follows established access and use protocols, including restrictions, for the diverse cultural materials to maintain confidentiality, respect cultural privilege, and comply with donor agreements, University policies, or relevant laws.
Qualifications
Educations and Experience
● Current enrollment in, or recent completion of, a master’s degree in library or information science at an ALA-accredited institution.
● 1 year of experience in an academic library, public library, school library or other cultural heritage setting.
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities
- Familiarity with DACS and MARC library cataloging standards
- Familiarity with Excel or other spreadsheet applications
- Competency working with born-digital files, including audiovisual files
- Precise attention to detail
- Excellent written communication skills
- Ability to follow detailed step by step workflows
- Ability to treat valuable collections with care
- Respect for confidential material
- Excellent organizational, time, and project management skills.
- Familiarity with oral history collections is desirable but not required.
Hours and Compensation
This paid internship is grant funded with a commitment of 300 hours completed over 8-weeks during June 30 – August 22, 2025 and is designed to provide a recent MLIS graduate with hands-on experience in arrangement and description of digital assets. This internship can be completed remotely or on-site at the John Hay Library.
Start and end dates: June 30, 2025 – August 22, 2025 (8 weeks, 300 hours total)
Location: Remote or on-site at the John Hay Library
Pay rate: $22.86 / hour
Full-time: 37.5 hours / week
Hours: Monday-Friday 9:00A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
How to Apply
Interested candidates should submit a resume and thoughtful cover letter describing, through examples, their specific qualifications and interest in the position to:
Hilary Wang, Digital Archivist [email protected]
Interviews take place remotely.
Review of resumes will commence immediately. Deadline to apply is May 31, 2025.