Recruitment of an Archivist at the IFP - Closed

The French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP), a research institution under the French Ministries of External affairs and of Research, carries out research in the fields of culture (notably Sanskrit and Tamil studies), environment and society. For details see: https://www.ifpindia.org/

Founded in 1955, the IFP has, over the years, gathered together a large amount of valuable resources and data, in the form of:

• physical collections: >8000 bundles of palm-leaf manuscripts listed in the UNESCO Memory of the World Register; >160000 photographs; a herbarium with >24000 specimens and a pollen collection of >22000 slides;
  
• digital data: the above collections, which are partially or wholly digitized; digitization projects undertaken by researchers, several under the British Library’s Endangered Archives Programme; databases; surveys; apps; maps; CDs; books; reports, etc.
  
• administrative documents: archives of the administration (both physical and digital).
  

Though these resources represent a rich and valuable asset for the institution, they have not been optimally organised and leveraged. The collections are not stored in ideal conditions raising concerns about their durability. The digital data is dispersed within the various teams and depts. The research data is insufficiently archived due, among other reasons, to the high turnover of researchers. The cataloguing of the collections is often done using in-house standards. There is no real data management policy, no licencing policy and most importantly no archivist to guide and help with organising all of this.

In view of the above, the IFP has decided to recruit an archivist (initially for a period of 18 months, but which might be extended). These will be his/her tasks and responsibilities:

• Take stock of all the archives at the IFP (both physical and digital) and define policies and strategies for their management, archiving and promotion. A physical/digital exhibition will have to be organised as part of the opening of the archives;
  
• Guide the administration and architect in reorganising the physical collections and archives so that they are preserved in optimal conditions;
  
• Coordinate with INIST (a lab in France) to create a digital archive of some of the institution’s collections. A demo has been prepared by them, but the project is still to take off. A team-leader is needed to coordinate with the collection heads, correspond with INIST, provide regular feedback as the work progresses and help with curating the data when required with the assistance of an IFP technician.
  
• Network with other archives to help raise awareness about the IFP’s collections and help raise funds for their preservation and maintenance.
  
• Also for the digital collections:
  

- Develop institution-wide strategies, systems, policies, and practices;

- Understand digital collections management including workflows, FAIR databases, standards and metadata for managing, preserving and valorising various collections;

- Understand copyrights management in digital artefacts;

- Prepare Data Management Plans (DMPs) for research projects when required.

In short, we need an archivist who has knowledge of and competence in both physical preservation and digital archiving and is passionate about his/her job!

The archivist will work under the Director’s supervision and report to him/her.

Other qualifications: Should be proficient in English (knowledge of Tamil and French will be additional assets).

How to apply: Send a resume and letter of intent to: ifpcom@ifpindia.org mentioning in the subject line: Application for post of Archivist

Deadline: Closed

Selection process: The candidates will be auditioned by a jury at the IFP. The audition can be conducted online if required.

Salary: In the range of 50000 Rs per month (negotiable depending on the experience of the candidate).