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Position Postings: bringing heart and mind together

Want to apply your skills to directly helping society? Do you fantasize about getting paid a reasonable wage to make the world a better place? Benetech is Silicon Valley's deliberately nonprofit tech company, and we apply technology to directly assist the causes of literacy, accessibility, human rights and the environment.

Benetech's Bookshare.org project has exciting new opportunities for you to use your technical skills for social good. We have just received a major five-year award from the Office of Special Education Programs of the U.S. federal Department of Education to fully support — for free — all schools and students with qualifying print disabilities in the United States, K-12 and post-secondary, with access to the entire Bookshare.org collection of accessible electronic books and to software for reading those books.

To support this award, we are hiring for the following Bookshare.org and Engineering positions:

Bookshare.org

Librarian (#LIB)

Engineering

Sr. Systems and Release Engineer (#SRSE)

Librarian (#LIB)

Benetech has a unique and exciting opportunity for a Librarian for Bookshare.org, the world's largest collection of digital electronic books for the blind and print disabled. Benetech was founded in 1989 with an explicit goal to create new technology solutions that serve humanity and empower people to improve their lives. Led by Jim Fruchterman, a leading social entrepreneur and MacArthur Fellow, Benetech’s mission is to lead the world in creative, effective applications of technology to unmet social needs. We focus on projects that offer the greatest social return on funds invested.

In 2007 Benetech was awarded $32 million by the Federal Government to expand Bookshare.org’s online collection to over 100,000 additional volumes in support of all print-disabled students nationwide. Currently, the Bookshare.org library contains over 39,000 volumes. The librarian for Bookshare.org will shepherd the collection through its growth as one of the nation's foremost educational resources for disabled students in this country. This is a technical position and ideal for someone interested in the challenge of devising and implementing a cutting edge on-line cataloging scheme that meets the needs of a specialized population while maintaining standard library interfaces.

This position is full time, onsite in Palo Alto, California and reports to the Director of Operations for Bookshare.org. Resumes from candidates requesting 30/hrs week will be considered.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Select an appropriate classification schema for the collection based on several key criteria including compatibility with other accessible collections
Reclassify the books in the collection according to the new schema
Enable and coordinate cross-referencing with other collections of accessible books
Create and implement a collection acquisition plan for growing the collection
Liaison with professional library associations such as the ALA, IFLA and DAISY
Work effectively with all departments within Bookshare.org (Collection Development, Publisher Liaison, Partner Programs, etc.) to maintain the quality and integrity of the collection.

Qualifications

A degree in library science is required and 5+ years in Library and Information Management with an emphasis on utilization of Information technologies.
Technical expertise with metadata technology, such as Dublin Core, used to describe and classify books in an online digital collection is required
Very strong professional interpersonal skills and the ability to represent Bookshare.org's interests to a wide variety of stakeholders
Ability to work well independently and within a multi-disciplinary team environment with high standards, integrity and a sense of humor
Management experience is a plus
Experience working with school libraries at the K-12 or university level is highly desirable
Knowledge of the assistive technology field with emphasis on tools and technology for access to printed materials is a definite plus.

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Sr. Systems and Release Engineer (#SRSE)

Are you ready to join an engineering team that is building tools and services in the areas of literacy, accessibility and human rights? Our group is tackling complex problems and making a difference in the world. Benetech is a non-profit that behaves like a Silicon Valley tech company and if you have a passion for engineering and a desire to support humanitarian causes, then we want you to join us!

Position Summary: Senior GNU/Linux (or Unix) Systems Engineer responsible for developing and maintaining the software platforms that support Benetech services.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Design components of infrastructure that will launch in Fall 2008
Build and manage deployment system to support of a suite of Java-based web applications
General performance tuning
Guide decision-making on system monitoring, productivity applications and collaboration tools
Manage Postgres databases; data-warehousing; author SQL
Some application development, scripting and system customization work
Collaborate with our solution provider in managing Linux-based environments that host Bookshare application infrastructure: Apache, Resin application server, Subversion, continuous integration server, etc.
Implement network security
Documentation

Qualifications

BA/BS in Computer Science or related field, or equivalent experience
4+ years experience with GNU/Linux (or Unix) systems administration
Experience running and monitoring high-traffic sites
Knowledge of configuration and change management
Fluent in at least one scripting/coding language; bash, python preferred
Strong understanding of IP networking, including familiarity with the functionality, operating, and failure modes of common networking devices, and the ability to analyze network behavior, performance and application issues using standard tools like tcpdump
Proven technical troubleshooting and performance tuning experience
Understanding of secure networking protocols required.

Required Competencies

High standards for technical documentation
Ability to work as part of a close-knit, cross-functional team with both technical and non-technical team members
Excellent communication, problem-solving and organizational skills
Ability to effectively prioritize work queue
Fluent written communication and unusual verbal agility are strong assets
Ability to handle periodic on-call duty as well as out-of-band requests
Sharp analytical abilities
A strong sense of ownership, urgency and drive

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