Archives at NCBS: Call for Positions: Archivists

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The Archives at NCBS is a History of Science in Contemporary India (HOSCI) Archives. We are looking to have archivists join the team. More about the centre here: https://archives.ncbs.res.in/about. This form is for those interested in working at this centre as an archivist, at various levels - from interns to senior archivists. If you have any questions about the form, contact archives at ncbs dot res dot in. Thanks again for your interest and looking forward to hearing from you.

This form: https://bit.ly/ancbs-hosci-q26

More about the positions: https://archives.ncbs.res.in/positions

Deadline: Sep 15, 2026

Email *

Name *

Mobile phone contact (Format: 1234567890)
*

Please give us the names, affiliations and email addresses for two referees who can speak about you professionally. They will not be contacted without your informing you first.
*

Please share a resume. To do this, share a website link/URL to a website or cloud-based folder (e.g. Google Drive or Dropbox or OneDrive or your own website) where you have kept your resume. And please make sure it can be opened by anyone without needing a special account. This is the only mode for submitting resumes. Attachments sent to an NCBS email address will likely be rejected by the server. Thank you! *

What is your earliest possible (and realistic) availability date? *

YYYY

How long a stint are you open to exploring with us? Check all that apply.
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3-6 months

1 year

More than 1 year

Required

How did you find out about this?

NCBS Website

Email forward

On mailing list for Archives at NCBS

Social media (Twitter/FB/Instagram)

Internet search query (do share what you were looking for...?)

Other:

Section 2: Random Sampling Type 1

There are no 'correct' answers. Just think through and answer however you see best.

You are sorting material in the room of XYZ, a former scientist at NCBS. You come upon a bookshelf nobody has seen yet. You see that it contains copies of almost every issue of the Journal of Neurogenetics from 1987 to 2005. Do you include it in the Archive, as part of the Collections of XYZ, Archives, NCBS? *

Yes

Briefly explain your response above (couple of lines) *

You are sorting material in the room of ABC, a former scientist at NCBS. You come upon a filing cabinet nobody has seen yet. You see that it contains a folder with recommendation letters for his students, from 1975 to 1985. Do you include it in the Archive, as part of the Collections of ABC, Archives, NCBS? *

Yes

Briefly explain your response above (couple of lines) *

You are the archivist for a new collection, the Person X Papers. In this collection, you have a section for 'Correspondence' and sub-sections titled '1940-1950', '1951-1960', '1961-1970', and so on. Within that, each letter is arranged chronologically. One fine day, Person Y comes to your office with a file containing 10 letters. These were letters written by Person X to Person Y in 1968. You glance through the letters and appraise them to be of archival value. What would you do next?
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Keep the 10-letters-file in Person X Papers -- Correspondence -- 1961-1970. Arrange and split the 10 letters within that sub-section so that it is in alignment with the chronological arrangement of that section.

Keep the 10-letters-file in Person X Papers -- Correspondence -- 1961-1970. Keep the 10-letters-file as one folder in rough arrangement adjacent to the other letters from 1968. Add a note to finding aid explaining folder's arrangement and context..

Keep the 10-letters-file in Person X Papers. Create a new section for this and add a note to finding aid explaining folder's arrangement and context.

Create Person Y Papers, and keep the 10-letters-file in Correspondence -- 1961-1970. Arrange and split the 10 letters within that sub-section so that it is in alignment with the chronological arrangement of that section. Cross-reference to Person X Papers.

Other:

Explain your response above (couple of lines)
*

You are the archivist for a new collection, the Person ABC Papers. In this collection, you have developed a section for 'Correspondence' and another section for 'Research Paper Drafts'. One fine day, you come across a folder with a long 2-page letter written to Person ABC from Person DEF. DEF discusses diverse personal and professional matters. They also attach a draft of their 10-page research paper with annotations on it and comments from various peers. In the letter, right at the end in one line, DEF also asks the opinion of ABC about this research paper. You appraise both of these documents to be of archival value. What would you do next with the physical material?
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Keep the letter in 'Correspondence', and research paper draft in 'Research Paper Drafts'

Keep everything in 'Research Paper Drafts'

Keep everything in 'Correspondence'

Other:

Explain your answer above (in a couple of lines). Remember that we are only asking about physical arrangement above. Now here, you can also talk about what you might do with the finding aid description of these things, if you think it helps your response above.
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Case scenario!
There is a statue of a celebrated scientist in your city, and it's been around for decades. At the foot of the statue is an engraving with a quote from the scientist. This quote was originally pulled from a document kept at a city archive. Let's say the quote broadly celebrates science, and the scientist's role in scientific advances is largely unquestioned. You are currently the archivist at this city archive. It's been many years since this scientist passed away, and there are some other aspects of the scientist's behaviour that are now widely understood to be polarizing/offensive/problematic. Other documents in your city's archive also contain direct evidence of these problematic aspects of this scientist's persona. Now:
- Due to what is stated above, and the celebratory nature of the statue, some citizens of the city would like to take the statue down and push for a city-wide protest and get the attention of civic authorities.
- Some other citizens are aware of this scientist's offensive persona. While they feel they are not as affected by it, they are still okay with the statue being taken down. They are passive supporters of the protest.
- Some other citizens are aware of this offensive persona and not affected by it. They do not want the statue taken down because they feel the scientist's science is what is being celebrated with the statue. They are against the protest.
A vote is taken and it is split, with no conclusive decision. There is a public discussion around this issue held at the foot of the statue. As the archivist at the city archive, you are called into this public discussion to voice your opinion and what might be some next steps. What might you say or write? You can also take issue with this case scenario and critique it.
*

Section 3: Random Sampling Type 2

For the next four images, there are no 'correct' answers. Just think through and answer however you see best. The team decides the following records are going into various collections in the Archives. Take a shot at writing relevant descriptions using the following description fields. Feel free to add more fields or remove from the current set of fields as you see fit. Please don't worry about any particular style, but do pay attention to grammar.

Title
Creator(s)
Created Date(s)
Record format/type(s)
Description
Subject(s)
Collection(s)
Place(s)
Contributor(s)
Language(s)
Rights

Section 3: Image 1 of 2
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Section 3: Image 2 of 2
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Section 4: Random Sampling Type 3

There are no 'correct' answers. Just think through and answer however you see best. You come across the following archival objects, and they carry a description. Based on that, take a shot at defining subject field values for these two records. Please write freely and don't worry about any style, but pay attention to grammar. As an example, look at this archival record and its subject field values in the 'all metadata' section: https://www.europeana.eu/en/item/2021009/_bba31325_fdf5_4d6f_a1b7_eea74a856206

Section 4: Image 1 of 2: Context: Ajith Kumar's field notes from 1982-83, written on Braille paper (sourced from a church in the US, since resources were limited, and it was good non-blotting paper). The notes are for studies on how four species of tree living mammals (Bonnet monkey, lion-tailed monkey, Nilgiri langur and giant squirrel) co-exist and compete for same resources in the Anamalai Hills, Tamil Nadu. *

Section 4: Image 2 of 2: Context: Extracts from notes leading up to the University of Delhi Nizam Lecture in 1988 delivered by Obaid Siddiqi, co-founder and faculty member at NCBS, and founder of the TIFR Molecular Biology Unit. Lecture was given in Urdu. In these notes that he wrote for himself, Siddiqi is translating particular scientific terms into Urdu, and these eventually feed into the written text of his lecture in Urdu. *

Section 5: Intent

What interests you about this potential work at the History of Science in Contemporary India (HOSCI) Archives? Why do you want to do this, what ideas do you want to share to push the boundaries of what this place is about, and what expectations do you have from it? (maximum 2500 character count) *

Which position are you interested in applying for? (you can select one or both) *

Archivist position

Oral History Archivist position

Required

Optional question. Is there anything we forgot to ask? Or something you want to share, or learn about?

A copy of your responses will be emailed to the address you provided.

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