Purdue University Residency Program open

PURDUE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Diversity Residents

2 Positions Available

 

The Purdue University Libraries Diversity Residency Program is seeking two early career library and information science professionals who are committed to a career in academic librarianship. The Residency Program is designed to encourage and promote professional development and research contribution of entry-level librarians and to increase the diversity of professionals who will become partners in leading a transformation within the field.  The two-year residency provides a broad-based awareness of foundational principles and practices in academic research librarianship as well as specialization experiences.  For further information about the program, visit http://www.lib.purdue.edu/diversity/residency08.html

 

Year One, the Resident will:

• Participate in a rotation through several libraries/units, based on Resident’s interests;
• Assist in collaborative planning and assessment of libraries’ programs and services; and,
• Become familiar with research methods and analysis. 

Year Two, the Resident will:

• Focus on one or two areas of specialization, participating in the work of the corresponding library/unit; and,
• Develop and implement a capstone project.  A capstone advisor will work with the Resident to guide him/her through the project, the results of which will be shared with all Libraries faculty and staff toward the end of the program.

Throughout the Residency Program, the Resident:

• Develop a cumulative portfolio of all work;
• May serve on system-wide committees and working groups within the Libraries or the University; and,
• Is strongly encouraged to engage in professional committees and organizations, present results of research or other professional initiatives, and write for professional publications. 
• Is matched with a mentor who will help acclimate the Resident to the Libraries environment, the campus community, and the Greater Lafayette community, while providing general guidance and support.  

Requirements: Master’s degree in library / information science (ALA-accredited), received within the past three years and by August 31, 2008. Possess a strong interest in developing a career in academic librarianship; demonstrated commitment to and knowledge of diversity through study or life experience; strong service orientation and commitment to library user needs; excellent communication and presentation skills; strong analytical skills and organizational abilities. Interest in and desire to develop research skills and methodologies. Candidates must be motivated, flexible team players, self-directed, comfortable with change.

 

Salary: $43,000 annually.

 

Application process: Letter stating interest and briefly discussing your ability to meet the requirements of the position, résumé, and list of references should be sent by e-mail or surface mail to: Thomas L. Haworth, Human Resources Administrator, Purdue University Libraries, 504 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2058, Phone: (765) 494-2899; email: thaworth@purdue.edu  Review of applications begins February 15, 2008; start date August 11, 2008.

 

For the full position description, please view the following: http://www.lib.purdue.edu/career_opportunities/Diversity_Residents.pdf

In Honor of Black History Month

I offer you a note from the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas on Dr. King, Geshe la (a resident monk who teaches at the U of A), and the practice of non-violence:

“TIBET, INDIA, DR. KING, AND NON-VIOLENCE

I recently had the privilege of delivering a few opening remarks at one of the commemorations held at the University of Arkansas for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It was a privilege for several reasons. I was able to praise Dr. King, which is a timeless pleasure, but I was also responsible for introducing Geshe Thupten Dorjee, a Tibetan monk who has been teaching classes at Arkansas since August, 2006. Geshe had been invited to speak by one of his former students who’d been moved by his class lectures on the philosophy of non-violence and, as it turned out, Geshe had always been an admirer of Dr. King. He also reminded us of what Dr. King continually reminded the nation, even when it seemed the reminder was falling on deaf ears in the American South: non-violence is the only method for effecting lasting change in a society.Our students have proven surprisingly receptive to the philosophy of non-violence. But perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised. While the attack on the Twin Towers seems to me to have occurrred last month, our sophomores, for example, were twelve years old when they heard that their country was under attack. They were eight when they got word that twelve students and a teacher had been slaughtered at Columbine High School in Colorado. They were just getting their drivers’ licenses when they saw the attrocious images coming out of Abu Ghraib. And since most og our students had just entered their teens when we entered Iraq, their most impressionable years have passed with their country mired in another foreign war. So perhaps it’s not surprising that Geshe’s students have responded so whole-heartedly to a reasoned and logical presentation of the necessity of practicing non-violence, both at the personal and the national level.As I was doing the background reading for my own remarks, I discovered a few things that have grown in significance over the intervening weeks as I’ve pondered them. First, two facts, two well known facts. Dr. King went to India to meet several of Gandhi’s students, so convinced was he of non-violence’s overall necessity in any campaign of social reform. And the Dalai Lama was forced to leave Tibet and seek asylum in India. We know these two things, clearly, and we talk about them frequently.What had not occurred to me was that as King was leaving Delhi in March of 1959, a journey he had undertaken because of the persecution of his people, the Dalai Lama was arriving in India, a journey that he had undertaken . . . because of the persecution of his people. Same month, same year, two extraordinary figures, having come to rest in India. The Dalai Lama is still there, of course; Dr. King is not. We can only imagine, however, the dynamic conversations that would have occurred between Dr. King and His Holiness.What had essentially drawn both men to India was the ancient practice of non-violence, a social code of behavior that is as innately a part of the Indian spiritual tradition as violence is a part of ours. Jawarlahal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, had welcomed the Dalai Lama to India just as he had accompanied Mahatma Gandhi in many of his own campaigns. Clearly, Nehru was a statesman of extraordinary capability whose life overlapped two of the most influential men of the twentieth century. For a wonderful 60-second video of a meeting between His Holiness and Nehru from 1959, the year the Dalai Lama fled Tibet, and the year that Dr. King came to India–and with a very telling commentary–have a look at the following clip:

Dalai Lama Greets Nehru, 30th April 1959 We learn here several things. The presence of China in Asian politics is long and oppressive. But we also learn that India, for all of its current faults and flaws, for its occasionally saddening attempts to become Westernized, rests on a bedrock sensibility that has deep roots in the practice of non-violence. It is a common-sense way of proceeding for many of the Indian people; it is their unspoken code of ethics.We know this because of the kinds of people India has attracted and produced over the years. And we know this because it provided a safe haven for the Tibetan people in a time of atrocity, bloodshed, and genocide. And I know this now because one of our students–and she speaks for many of them–immediately saw that Geshe Dorjee, born in Tibet, late of India, and most recently from Alabama, home of the American Civil Rights Movement, should have a prominent place in any celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That it occurred to her at all is evidence of the impact that Geshe’s work on non-violence is having on our students. And for its generosity in giving the Tibetan people a home, and for nourishing the non-violent model, we have, of course, India to thank.”