Careers & Volunteering

Internship Opportunities | Volunteer Opportunities | Remote Volunteer Opportunities

• Digital Projects Specialist
• Assistant, YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture

YIVO is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer.

Digital Projects Specialist

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research seeks a full-time digital projects specialist to join its Digital Lab. The Digital Lab ensures the long-term accessibility and preservation of YIVO library and archive materials. The Lab primarily works on digitization and post-digitization phases of archival projects, ingesting upwards of half a million digital objects into their DAMS each year. The Lab also supports digital projects across the entire organization.

Reporting to the Digital Lab Manager, the Digital Projects Specialist works on all digitization and ingest phases of projects. This is an on-site position.  

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

• Digital capture of library and archival materials according to current digital preservation standards.
• Perform postproduction on digital objects, including adding metadata and filenames
• Perform quality assurance on digitized materials
• Ingest digitized materials into DAMS system
• Track and report digitization progress on shared Google spreadsheets
• Keep current with trends and developments in the field of digital preservation.
• Basic equipment maintenance and troubleshooting

Qualifications & Experience:

• MLIS or equivalent
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience digitizing paper materials for preservation
• Proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite, including Lightroom and Photoshop.
• Knowledge and understanding of digital image file parameters, including bit depth, color profiles, resolution, compression, image size, and formats
• Ability to learn new technical skills in the context of digital preservation
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Demonstrated ability to work independently as well as part of a team
• Demonstrated ability to meet project deadlines
• Excellent oral and written communication skills

Preferred Qualifications:

— Interest in the history and culture of East European Jewry
— Language proficiency in Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, and/or Polish
— Previous experience working in library or archives settings
— Previous experience with photography and camera equipment
— Familiarity working with archival collections as a curator or researcher

Additional Information:

Salary: $54,000 to $59,500, commensurate with experience
Benefits Package: Medical, Dental, Life, LTD, Pension, Paid time off, Sick leave
Position Type: Full-Time

To Apply:

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to Devora Geller, Digital Preservation Manager, at dgeller@yivo.org.

Please include “Digital Projects Specialist” in the subject heading of the email.

Assistant, YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture

The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research seeks an assistant to provide administrative and logistical support for the YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Summer Program in Yiddish Language, Literature, and Culture. This year, the Summer Program will be held both in person and online. This assistant will support both the in-person and online classes (including Yiddish grammar, Yiddish literature, Yiddish conversation, seminars, electives, lectures, and special events). The 2024 Summer Program runs June 24 – August 2, 2024.

The position begins mid-June, 2024 and ends August 2, 2024. Following a week of training in mid-June, the assistant will be expected to work about 30 to 35 hours per week, Monday through Friday. Hours may vary, but a typical day’s schedule may be 9:00am ET – 12:00pm ET and 2:00pm – 4:30pm, or 9:00am ET – 12:00pm ET and 2:00pm – 6:00pm ET.

This is an in-person position based at YIVO's headquarters in New York City.

Specific Duties & Responsibilities:

• Provide administrative and logistical support as needed to the Summer Program faculty and staff
• Serve as point person to answer technical questions from students and instructors, especially regarding Zoom and Canvas
• Ensure live Zoom classes run smoothly
• Facilitate communication and foster community among instructors and students
• Collect and analyze feedback from students

Qualifications & Experience:

• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Excellent communication skills
• Ability to multitask
• Flexible and willing to tackle problems as they arise
• Familiarity with Zoom
• Familiarity with Canvas (or similar online learning management system)
• Familiarity with the Yiddish language
• Interest in the history and culture of East European Jewry

Additional Information:
Compensation: $4,000-$4,500
Position Type: Part-Time, Seasonal

To Apply:

To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to Ben Kaplan, Director of Education, at bkaplan@yivo.org. Applications will be considered as soon as they are received, so please submit your application as soon as possible.

Please include “Assistant, YIVO-Bard Uriel Weinreich Summer Program” in the subject heading of the email.