Founded
in 1985, the ARChive of Contemporary Music is a not-for-profit archive,
music library and research center located in New York City. The ARChive
collects, preserves and provides information on the popular music of
all cultures and
races throughout the world from 1950 to the present. Since the ARChives
founding in 1985 our holdings have grown to over 2 million sound
recordings, making the ARChive the largest popular music collection in
the United States. In addition to sound recordings
and publications, the ARChive actively collects all books, magazines,
videos, films, photographs, press kits, newspapers clippings,
memorabilia and ephemera relating to the history of popular music.
Our
current, on-going projects are cataloging and book digitization.
Interns may focus on one or both projects and may have the opportunity
to work on other projects as they arise.
Cataloging:
Interns
will receive training that enables them to catalog CDs, vinyl LPs, or
books in our File Maker Pro Database using our in-house cataloging
rules.
We depend directly on our interns and allow them a great deal of hands-on experience and responsibility.
Interns may work on related projects (for example, in-filing, processing donations, etc.) as needed, if they are interested.
Qualifications:
Ideal for the position is a student or
recent graduate with a background or interest in music, musicology,
fine art, or library & information science.
Candidates must:
- Possess good interpersonal skills.
- Be responsible, reliable, and detail-oriented.
- Be able to handle delicate and valuable materials with care.
Undergraduate library experience and/or graduate-level library classes are preferred.
Digitization:
The
ARChive of Contemporary Music is the largest collection of popular
music in America, with more than two million recordings. Our music book
collection is also one of the best in the United States, numbering
20,000+ volumes. To scan this
resource the Internet Archive has installed one of their Scribe
machines in our Lower Manhattan facility. When completed, all of our
materials will be preserved electronically, OCR Readable, and available
in-house for reading and research.
Digitization
interns will be trained to scan initially, then will be introduced to
more complex tasks once they are familiar with the process. Tasks
include:
- Loading, Scanning, and Republishing books while ensuring high quality standards.
- Training and working as a team.
-
Trouble shooting the scribe machine, mitigating cataloging
inconsistencies, and navigating open source software at Internet
Archive.
- Keeping work areas and equipment clean, neat, and organized.
Qualifications:
- Strong technical (software/hardware) and troubleshooting skills
- Ability to sit for 6-7.5 hour periods, and comfort with repetitive motion
- Highly organized
- Excellent attention to detail
- Familiarity and enthusiasm for music, books, cultural heritage preservation and the arts!
- Previous library or archive experience or education is preferred, but not essential.
All internships are unpaid, but we are
certainly willing to help you meet any requirements to receive course
credit. Time requirements are flexible--we ask that you are available
for at least one full day (11:00-6:00) per work week, but
the more time you can commit to the more responsibility we can give
you.
If you are interested, please contact Alex Curtin at
alex@arcmusic.org with your resume and a few words about your
general interest in working at the archive and what project(s) you are
interested in contributing to.
--
Archive of Contemporary Music
54 White St.
New York, NY 10013
(212)-226-6967
http://arcmusic.org
