Project Cataloguer (Fixed Term)

Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries is a two-year project funded by the Wellcome Trust that will make approximately 8,000 unedited medical recipes in over 180 medieval manuscripts discoverable to researchers worldwide. We are looking for a Project Cataloguer to join the team in producing a ground-breaking resource that will transform the ability of health researchers and historians to access and analyse a corpus of texts that document and reveal the daily practice of medicine in the medieval period.

The project is led by and based at Cambridge University Library, capitalising on the Library's world-class infrastructure and expertise, and building on the success of recent large-scale cross-collection digitisation projects. It encompasses all receptaria manuscripts, highly variable or unique combinations of recipe texts, as well as others that contain recipes as peripheral additions, in Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and twelve college libraries. These manuscripts will be conserved and digitised in full, in order to guarantee continued physical access as well as to make them accessible around the world.

The post is full-time for one year. The Project Cataloguer will be responsible for the transcription of medieval medical recipe texts, working in collaboration with two other Project Cataloguers. She/he will be experienced in the use of the Transkribus platform (https://readcoop.eu/transkribus/), exploiting its Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) capabilities and using existing or developing new models to speed the transcription process. The post holder will need excellent palaeographical skills, in order to prepare the transcriptions and to check the output of any HTR model, producing fully searchable, hyper diplomatic transcriptions of the recipe texts in TEI/XML.

She/he will work in close collaboration with existing members of the cataloguing team and contribute to their work to situate the manuscripts in their intellectual, cultural and material contexts through the preparation of detailed catalogue descriptions. These descriptions will be encoded in TEI format using the XML editor Oxygen and following in-house guidelines drawn up in collaboration with the Bodleian Library (https://msdesc.github.io/consolidated-tei-schema/msdesc.html) and prepared for publication alongside cover-to-cover digitisation on the Cambridge Digital Library (https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/).

In addition, the Research Associate will play a role in disseminating results via the project website, giving presentations to relevant scholarly networks, writing blog posts and undertaking other outreach initiatives. She / he will also participate in online and in-person project workshops, a hackathon for postgraduate students, and a concluding symposium.

Applicants should hold a post-graduate qualification in a relevant field, preferably a doctorate, and have a proven ability to read and catalogue manuscripts in Latin and Middle English.

Experience in using Transkribus, and high-level skills in medieval palaeography, are both essential. Knowledge of TEI to create catalogue records is desirable, though training in TEI and XML will be provided. Research skills in the History of Science or Medicine and familiarity with medieval recipes and medical culture would be an advantage. Applicants must possess excellent written and verbal communication skills, IT skills, and be able to work both on their own and as part of a team.

We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

We particularly welcome applications from candidates from a BME background for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level in our institution.

Click the 'Apply' button below to register an account with our recruitment system (if you have not already) and apply online.

Informal enquiries are welcomed by Dr James Freeman, Principal Investigator and Medieval Manuscripts Specialist, 01223 333140, e-mail: jaf50@cam.ac.uk.

The post is available from Monday 3rd July 2023 for one year, from the date of appointment. Working patterns can be discussed at the interview stage.

The closing date for applications is Friday 14th April. Interviews are scheduled for Wednesday 26th/27th April.

Please quote reference VE35849 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.