Yelena Luckert Librarian for History, Jewish, Slavic and Women's Studies University of Maryland Libraries College Park, MD 20742
Dear Yelena, In reply to your message in Hasafran of February 8, and after consulting with Dr. Carl Rheins, Executive Director of YIVO, here is our reply to your memo. The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is an independent research institute with very a strong Library and Archives. In collaboration with New York University, YIVO offers a six weeks long summer program in Yiddish language and Culture, thus fulfilling the language requirements for many graduate students. YIVO applauds the initiative of the University of Maryland to establish a certificate and/or Master> '> s degree in Judaica Librarianship. The need for this program is evident to anyone who attends the AJL annual conventions, where the majority of participants are very close to retirement age, and there are very few young professionals who are ready to replace them. In our view there is a national need for both a Certificate and a Master> '> s degree, depending on the candidates' chosen career track. To limit the program to part time graduate students living in the Greater Washington area would be short sighted and would ignore the needs of the field, which are national in scope. Both programs should combine online courses with some on-site lectures, perhaps in the summer time. For MA candidates the University of Maryland needs to consider offering research assistantships, graduate student housing and possibly gradate student summer support. While we acknowledge the career driven focus of the program, including the use of Internet based courses, we also recommend to the University a small residential program with an initial cohort of 10 students the first year. In addition, the program should offer a practicum or internship in the Judaica Division of the Library of Congress, which is just a few miles away from the University of Maryland at College Park. The new program should strive to combine the practical aspects of librarianship -- perhaps one or two courses taken at the school of librarianship -- with the academic grounding in Jewish History as well as Jewish languages (reading knowledge of Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino) and Jewish literatures (at least a survey of Bible, Talmud, Midrash, and Responsa). Of course the Master> '> s degree courses would delve into these topics more deeply than the Certificate program. Finally, please note that YIVO, Stanford, and the NY Public (Dorot Jewish Division) are already on record in supporting the concept of paid internships for truly worthy MA candidates. We hope that this input would encourage your administration to embark on this worthy project, and wish you every success. Sincerely, Aviva E. Astrinsky Head Librarian Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: Hasafran @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
