The Queens Memory Project is an ongoing community archiving program of Queens Public Library and Queens College, CUNY. Thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Queens Memory has embarked upon a year-long Monuments project running through March 2023. The project includes identifying places in Queens named after individuals (including streets, schools, statues, and parks) and fleshing out biographical and demographic data for those named people. The project also includes analyzing the demographics of the neighborhoods of Queens to identify gaps in representation between named places and the people who live in these communities. The team will present the gathered information on UrbanArchive.org with a map that features these named places in Queens. The project will engage members of the public and bring new knowledge into the library’s archives.

Under the direction of the Director of the Queens Memory Project, the Project’s Outreach Manager will work closely with the Project’s Data Specialist and Archivist, the QPL Marketing and Metadata Department staff, and Urban Archive to engage members of the public and bring new knowledge into the QPL local history collections. The Outreach Manager will be responsible for leveraging research and
assets generated by the project to reach audiences across Queens, raising awareness of this local history and engaging the public to contribute their knowledge and energy to the project. The project also includes identifying knowledge gaps that will be addressed in crowdsourcing campaigns. The Outreach Manager will lead efforts to use social media, public programming, and local press to achieve strategic goals around audience engagement and acquisition of new knowledge.

Responsibilities:

• Lead the team developing a marketing and outreach plan with the Project’s Archivist, Queens
• Memory Curator and Community Coordinator, Urban Archive, QPL Government Affairs, and QPL Marketing & Communications.
• Create a schedule of outreach activities for project and assure tasks are assigned.
• Pitch ideas for crowdsourcing campaigns, outreach materials, social media explainers and public programs.
• Leverage, and advise on the curation of, compelling content identified by the team such as a list of individuals to feature in outreach and programming as well as “mystery spots” that require more research and can be featured in crowdsourcing campaigns.
• Coordinate with the Project Archivist and the Queens Memory Community Coordinator to engage local educators, artists, community groups, and historical societies to tackle research about named places and cultivate nominations for new named places.
• Participate in the development of outreach materials and public programs to share information about individuals honored by place names and to explore who is not represented in these monuments.
• Lead the public campaign to nominate and then select named place proposals, disseminate results of campaign through social media and public programs.

Qualifications:

• Prior experience with marketing and communications campaigns for cultural projects or engagement journalism
• Experience with leveraging social media analytics for responsive optimization of campaigns
• Experience with Air Table, Instagram, Buffer, Facebook, and Twitter, preferred
• Strong research skills and familiarity with Queens history, neighborhoods, demographics, and its quirky street naming, preferred
• Ability to work independently
• Ability to produce work on deadline
• Collaborative nature and the ability to take constructive editorial feedback when applicable

Compensation:
$10,000 to be paid in installments upon completion of deliverables

Deliverables:

• May 2022: Preliminary outreach plan for project with key deadlines and goals
• July 2022: Packaged assets, scheduled social media posts, and schedule of other outreach tasks for use in the outreach campaign.
• September 2022: Mid-project press advisories and task schedule, scheduled posts, and other materials for use in campaign for crowd-sourced contributions and nominations for new named places in Queens.
• December 2022: Assets, scheduled posts, and task schedule for public campaign to vote for nominated place name proposals.
• February 2023: Final outreach metrics needed for final project reporting

To apply:
Please send a cover letter, resume, and links or files of work samples such as previous campaign assets, analytics reports, or websites to queensmemory@queenslibrary.org. Please include OUTREACH MANAGER in the subject line of your email. This posting closes April 22nd and our team hopes to begin interviews the week of April 18th.

Submit specified application materials to queensmemory@queenslibrary.org.