Apologies for cross-posting.

Dear colleagues,

Please see the following announcement for a postdoctoral fellow to work with the University of Maryland's iSchool and the USDA's National Agricultural Library.

Feel free to forward to promising candidates or networks.

Cynthia Sims Parr, Ph.D. Knowledge Services Division National Agricultural Library, ARS, USDA 301-504-9801 Cynthia.Parr@ars.usda.gov

Postdoctoral Opportunity in Agricultural Data Curation at the College of Information Studies (iSchool), University of Maryland, College Park

Maryland's iSchool seeks a postdoctoral fellow to work on the project "Establishing a Data Curation Program for Agricultural Information" at the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Agricultural Library (NAL). Depending on the candidate's background, expertise, and interests, several exciting research projects could be complementary to the role envisioned for this postdoctoral position. Potential research areas include (but are not limited to) metadata standards, data preservation and re-use, data curation, and digitization management. The postdoctoral fellow will also have access to the iSchool's recently established digital curation lab. College Park's close proximity to NAL and other large Federal institutions in the Washington, D.C. area offers easy access to many related data repositories.

The postdoctoral fellow will receive a competitive salary, including benefits and support for conference and research travel. The duration of the postdoc is 2 years, with opportunity for renewal. Start date for the position can be as early as January 2015.

Roles and Responsibilities: This postdoctoral fellowship is a research position, with an expectation of productive research activity that will result in journal publications or conference presentations. The primary responsibilities of the fellow will include participation in a research project that aims to understand the data curation needs and requirements of NAL and to develop strategies that guarantee the management and preservation of NAL's expansive collection of agricultural data for long-term use.

NAL has recently established a Knowledge Services Division (KSD) to lead efforts in digital curation. The postdoctoral fellow shall work with an interdisciplinary team of faculty and graduate students at the iSchool to conduct research and implement policies that will help KSD further understand NAL's capacity for data curation and preservation. KSD staff is a mix of highly qualified and enthusiastic information professionals, researchers, and scientists. The postdoctoral fellow will have ample opportunity to interact with archives, digital preservation and digital curation researchers from the iSchool and its digital curation lab, and KSD personnel, as well as to collaborate actively as suits research interests.

Qualifications: Candidates should have (or soon have) a Ph.D. in Information or Library Science, or another relevant field. He or she must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. The successful candidate will have strong research background, proven information and project management skills, demonstrated excellent communication skills through a record of publication and public presentation, and a strong interest in advancing digital preservation and data curation through education, engagement and collaboration. The successful candidate will have an understanding and demonstrated competency in the following areas: science data management, qualitative and quantitative research methods, digital preservation, trusted digital repository workflows, science metadata standards and inter-operability, and open science. Demonstrated record of the ability and desire to work in a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment is also desirable.

To Apply: Interested candidates should send a CV, a brief statement (2 pages maximum) of interest in this position and how it relates to your personal goals, and a list of 3 references and their contact information to the project PI, Dr. Ricardo L. Punzalan at punzalan@umd.edu. Review of applications will begin November 15th, 2014. Selected applicant will be notified no later than mid-December 2014.