JTS/AJL Certificate in Judaica and Hebraica Librarianship

The Judaica Cataloging class is team taught and includes and introduction to cataloging and overview of Judaica cataloging; ALA/LC romanization; descriptive cataloging; Hebraica access points and authority files; subject cataloging and LCSH; LC classification; current trends in Hebraica and Judaica cataloging; and an opportunity for an interactive whole-book cataloging session. Hebrew grammar and ability to romanize from Hebrew is required.

This required course will cover major aspects of Judaica reference and research. Taught by four instructors, this course will cover the question “What is Jewish Studies?”; Jewish Periodicals and Databases; Jewish Graphics, Arts, and Ephemera; Rabbinics; Area Studies and Jewish Studies; Jewish Languages and Literature; and Jewish History 

• Internships for North American participants must be at an AJL-member library 
• All internships must be supervised by a professional librarian. 
• The required time for an internship is 100 hours. This includes work on the actual project and meeting time. 
• The internship can take longer than the general six- to seven-week timeframe of the modules. 
• Participants must successfully complete the three required classes and any relevant modules (ie. Archives for an archival internship) prior to the internship.     
• The parameters of the internship are as follows:
  • Action plan (intern, supervisor and librarianship team) 
  • Mid-point review (intern and member of the librarianship team) 
  • Final project and review (intern, supervisor and signed off by librarianship team) 
• Internships must be a finite project such as cataloging a collection, processing an archive, creating a collection development policy or weeding policy, etc. 

Two electives are required for certification. Choose from the options below.

Two electives are required for certification. Choose from the options below.

The Special Collections class is team taught. It will include identifying what is rare; a history of Judaica collecting; provenance; dealers and auctions; gifts collections; Judaica special collections cataloging; Judaica in a general special collection; and conservation and preservation of Judaica and digitization and copyright. This is an elective class.

In this elective course, we will discuss the broad spectrum of organizations that house Jewish archival and special collections, including synagogues, historical societies, private organizations, and academic institutions. The various types of collections (personal papers, organizational records, etc.) as well as the growing array of formats found in both contemporary and older records and how to steward these materials properly will be covered, as will evaluation and acquisition of materials. Topics such as access, processing, and identifying funding sources to support the work of making materials available will also be discussed.  

This course will focus on Judaica digital scholarship: acquiring and evaluating e-resources, identifying major initiatives in Jewish digital humanities (DH), creating a DH project, digital preservation, and sustainability.

This elective course will provide an introduction to Judaic paleography, codicology, and bibliographic collation. Sessions will focus on medieval and early modern hands and identifying non-Hebrew languages in Hebrew script.

In this elective course, we aim to equip Judaica librarians to serve and advocate for their specific Jewish studies collections by understanding the institutional contexts of these  collections.  Ranging from the development of Wissenschaft des Judentums in nineteenth-century Europe through the institutional complexities of contemporary universities and research institutions, we will seek to understand how the politics and structures of these organizations impact the scholars who work in them, and by building awareness of these factors support librarians in working with their diverse institutional constituencies. 

This optional course will teach the practical application of the fundamental principles of Hebrew phonology and morphology: the vowel system, the vocalization of articles and prepositions, an overview of the verb system, and common forms of nouns and their pronominal suffixes. 

This optional course will cover the verb system including strong and weak verbs, pronominal suffixes of the verb, select topics in syntax, and the use of dictionaries, grammars, and other resources. Prerequisite: Hebrew for Judaica Librarians I or permission of the instructor.