The John Cotton Dana Library at Rutgers University-Newark is home to the Institute of Jazz Studies (“IJS”), the world’s largest and most comprehensive jazz library and archives. With significant collections of monographs, periodicals, sound recordings, manuscripts, artifacts, photographs, and oral history interviews, continues to expand access to its collections and outreach programs employing the latest technology.
In 2012, IJS established the Jazz Archives Fellowship Program to support archival career development. With three archivists and other faculty and staff, the Institute of Jazz Studies is in a unique position to provide practical training in archival organization and processing within the multifaceted collections, as well as a number of seminar-type learning opportunities. Fellows will work closely with IJS and Dana archivists, librarians, and staff to gain an overview of the role of an archive within an urban university library on a campus noted for its diversity, and to learn practical archival skills while working with the Institute’s world renowned collections.
The program consists of a two-week residency at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers-Newark from June 12th to June 23rd, 2017. Major components include a general orientation, a visit to several New York metropolitan area music archives, discussions and learning opportunities about archival and digital collection management issues, and meetings with Rutgers faculty, staff and administrators about diversity and how it can be served by a specialized archive like IJS. In addition, Fellows will have the opportunity to explore the Institute’s unique holdings and to arrange and describe a representative collection under the supervision of IJS’s archivists. Fellows will develop a digital project stemming from their arrangement and description work.
FUNDING: Three fellowships are available, each supported by a $1400 stipend which is intended to cover travel, meals and incidentals. Lodging will be covered directly by the Institute of Jazz Studies. Funding is generously provided by longtime IJS supporter John Van Rens.
ELIGIBILITY: Candidates should be currently enrolled in or have recently graduated from an ALA-accredited master’s program in library and information science or an accredited master’s program in archival studies. Candidates should demonstrate an interest in jazz and/or African American history and a commitment to a career as an archivist. Candidates should be committed to contributing to the university’s goals of diversity and inclusion. Please see: http://diversityweb.rutgers.edu/mission.php
Candidates from under-represented ethnic minorities are strongly encouraged to apply.