Asian Digital Library (ADL) is currently indexing more than four thousand open access and subscription-based journals covering all areas of science, technology, medicine, social science and humanities.
As the network of our library continues to grow, there remains a need for dedicated staff who serve the scientific community by utilizing their expertise. We are currently looking for volunteers who may act as Ambassadors (1-2 from each Asian country) as a part-time job. The candidates would be required to promote the vision and mission of the Asian Digital Library in their respective countries.
Role and Responsibilities of an Ambassador
Before applying for the post of Ambassador, one must fully understand the roles and responsibilities being sought from an ambassador. The main role of the ambassador is to promote good publishing practices with regional publishers, to identify questionable publishing practices, and to advocate the use of the Asian Digital Library infrastructure with the publishers and academic community in their region. The ambassadors will also assess new journal applications and reapplications to the ADL from publishers in their region and advise on approval or rejection of these applications.
The candidates applying for the post of ambassador must be able to fulfill the different nature of tasks and must be able to respond to:
- The candidates would be required to promote the Asian Digital Library in their professional capacity throughout their country.
- The candidates would be tasked with the assistance of publishers. This would be in terms of following good publishing practices. The candidates would thus be required to provide related information as per their region.
- The candidates would be asked to look out for the questionable practices in publishing. Moreover, they would also be required to provide information regarding doubtful publishers.
- The candidates would be tasked to review the submitted information. They must play an active role to review the new applications. They must be able to ask for re-applications from various regional journals which are to be listed in the Asian Digital Library.
Key Accountabilities
An Ambassador should be skilled enough to be subjected to the following accountability areas:
- He/She should actively pursue tasks to increase awareness about the ADL, its resources, and services to multiple publishers. The awareness campaign must include the academic publishing community in their region.
- He/She would be tasked with reviewing of submitted applications from their native region. They must follow the ADL criteria for acceptance of journals in this regard.
- He/She would have to manage the communication with publishers. The publishers and academics would have to be communicated with from time to time and must be responded briefly for their queries.
- He/She should be monitoring the publishing practices in their respective regions. Moreover, they must also look out for doubtful publishers. An Ambassador is also required to offer support to open access publishers who wish to be indexed in the ADL.
- He/She would have to collaborate with an online team and participate in editorial Hangouts every week.
- He/She must be an active coordinate associated with the ADL team as per need.
Eligibility Criteria for the post of Ambassadors
The role requires knowledge of academic publishing, editorial processes, best practices and publishing technology standards.
Note: The Asian Digital Library is a virtual organization so the job nature would be of a non-office based. The candidates would have the liberty to work without having to arrive at an office. However, the mentioned roles and responsibilities would be expected to be fulfilled. The chosen candidates would be expected to provide for their workspace and equipment. Most meetings are conducted virtually but expenses will be paid if you attend any meetings in-person.
Commencement of job: Immediately after selection.
Hours of work: 10 hours per week. You will be expected to manage time on your own. However, you would be required to attend team meetings as needed (maybe other than your usual working hours owing to time differences).
Language: fluent in English and native speaker.
Minimum Eligibility Criteria
- The minimum education criteria for a candidate seeking the post of Ambassador must possess a higher education or a graduate. Note: a qualification in library science is an added advantage and would be preferred.
- The candidates applying for the post of ambassador must have experience of at least two years of academic journal publishing.
- The candidates applying for the post of ambassador would be preferred upon the basis of their previous experience of manuscript submission systems or working experience in large databases.
- The candidates applying for the post of ambassador must possess the latest as well as background knowledge of academic publishing.
- The candidates applying for the post of ambassador must have a sound understanding of scholarly publishing standards and best practices both in their respective regions and throughout the world.
- The candidates applying for the post of ambassador must be at least proficient in terms of Information Technology (IT) skills.
- Those candidates who are applying for the post of ambassador and have prior experience of publisher relations would be dealt on a preferential basis.
Required Personal Traits
- The candidate must be a national of the region where he/she wants to work.
- The candidate must speak a minimum of two languages fluently: English and the local language of the respective regions of each candidate.
- The candidate must have good communication skills.
- The candidate must have thought about handling confidential and sensitive information.
- The candidate must have good organizational skills.
- The candidate must have the competence to offer accuracy in work procedures.
- The candidates must also be able to pay full concentration upon the provided tasks.
- The candidates must be able to meet deadlines.
- The candidate must be a strong team player.
- The candidate must be able to work on own initiative.
- The candidate must be self-driven, resourceful, compliant, and flexible.
- The candidates must have experience in building effective working relationships.
To Apply
Please send a CV and a short cover letter including three references to the Librarian at librarian@theadl.com before 23rd September 2020.