Jewish Public Library Archives, Montreal (Position 1)
Site Description
The mandate of the Jewish Public Library Archives is to collect, preserve and make
available the social and cultural accomplishments of Quebec’s Jewish community. As a
cultural archive, our services and programmes are based on close ties with the
community.
The JPL Archives contains more than 800 linear metres of textual material, artefacts,
textiles, poster, audio-visual material as well as an extremely rich Photograph Collection
of over 17,000 images. The archival material preserves the work and memory of
Montreal Jewish families, poets, authors, schools, journalists, entertainment
personalities, businesses and other social and cultural organizations. Notable
collections and fonds include the records of labour activist Léa Roback, impresario
Samuel Gesser, Yiddish poets Rochl Korn and Ida Maze and Jewish Public Library
founder Reuben Brainin.
The Archives enjoy an international clientele made up of genealogists, academics,
students and film producers, both Jewish and non-Jewish. Part of its new mandate is to
increase educational tours and exhibits in order to engage the public at large. The
Archives have undertaken massive projects in the last two years to properly arrange,
describe, preserve and digitize its substantial Photograph Collection, eventually making
it fully accessible via the Library portal. Other related collections such as the Montreal
Yiddish-daily newspaper, the Keneder Adler, the Sam Gesser Fonds and the Poster
Collection are also projects slated for eventual digitization.
The Archives are located in the 93-year old Jewish Public Library. The JPL has the
largest collection of circulating Judaica in North America. The collections are multilingual
(predominantly English, French, Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian), and span the history,
religion, and culture of Jews and Judaism from antiquity to the present day. 25% of the
collection comprises popular fiction, general interest, audiobooks, DVDs, audio CDs
(mostly Jewish music) and other multimedia. In addition to the Archives, the JPL has
additional Special Collections such as Irving Layton’s personal library, approximately
1200 rare books dating from the late 15th century onwards and the William Ostreger
Audio Collection.
More information on the Archives and the Jewish Public Library can be found at
www.jewishpubliclibrary.org.
Practicum Position 1 – Digital Preservation Centre
Description and Duties
 Inventory, classification, organization, and digitization of the Jewish Public
Library’s archival audio collection in the Archives brand new Digitization
Centre.
 The William Ostreger Audio collection consists of the recorded events
held under the auspices of the library since 1950 when the library was on
Esplanade and Mt. Royal Avenues. Famous writers, scholars, musicians,
and other notable figures had been recorded on reel-to-reel tape, and
subsequently on quarter-track audio-tape.
 Daily duties as assigned such as researcher reference assistance,
scanning of photographs and posters, shelving of material and
arrangement and description assistance of certain Special Collections.
Requirements/Qualifications
 Knowledge of Hebrew and/or Yiddish (German recommended)
 Strong interpersonal skills
 Experience with scanning technologies and audio-visual equipment
Supervisor and Contact Information
Mr. Eddie Paul, Head of Bibliographic and Reference Services/
Ms. Shannon Hodge, Archivist
Jewish Public Library Archives, Montreal
1, carré Cummings Square (5151 Côte Ste-Catherine)
Montreal, Quebec H3W 1M6
514-345-2627, ext. 3015
archives@jplmontreal.org