Associate Director for Content and Informatics

Description

The Samuel J. Wood Library and the C.V. Starr Biomedical Information Center has been the traditional information hub of the Weill Cornell Medical Center, as well as providing clinical information services to New York Presbyterian Hospital. The Associate Director for Content and Informatics is responsible for oversight of electronic resources, collection development and management; licensing of content, and integration of library content and document delivery request services into user workflows. This position also oversees the integrated library system (ILS) and interlibrary loan services, with appropriate integration of these two applications.  

To enhance content integration, this position oversees all library efforts to pursue semantic technologies.  This position also oversees information workflow and research impact initiatives.  In collaboration with the VIVO team, this position explores how semantic technologies can create administrative, research or collaboration tools that can benefit the college.  Responsible for the oversight of the Weill Cornell institutional repository (IR), the incumbent has expertise in IR platforms and technologies that inform IR decision-making.   This position will partner with other informatics thought leaders in WCMC in imagining, creating, and managing a dynamic, modern information research facility to support education, research, and clinical care for the next generation and beyond.

A member of the Samuel J. Wood Library Leadership team, the incumbent will assist the Director and other Library and Information Technology Services (ITS) leaders in strategic planning and execution of goals to enable the library to develop customized information solutions that meet identified needs, improve the efficiency of scientific or technology transfer workflows, and optimize organizational knowledge management in addition to delivery of specialized information.   Further, the incumbent will join other Weill Cornell thought leaders in health informatics.

Position Activities:

1) Leads a team of librarians and other information scientists and staff who are knowledgeable about the vast array of scholarly publishing and research impact resources and technologies relevant to the mission of a contemporary medical college.  Some will be direct reports, others will be from other units in a matrix organization.  The Associate Director oversees a library unit, and is responsible for developing a unit budget, overseeing unit personnel issues, and developing unit goals.  Recruits and recommends appointments and promotions for faculty supervised.  Serves as a mentor to junior faculty.  Annually ensures evaluations of all staff in the unit.  Defines responsibilities for those in the incumbent’s unit, and creates or reviews position descriptions for unit staff annually.

2) Oversees electronic resources licensing and collection development.   The incumbent is responsible for evaluating integrated library system and other data systems, optimizing electronic resource workflow.  This individual negotiates license agreements as needed with vendors and publishers. 

3) Oversees interlibrary loan, including ILL system integrated into ILS.  Integrates interlibrary loan, including the TripSaver service, seamlessly in patron workflow.

4) Oversees a bibliometric analysis service that considers the scholarly output of various programs and/or individual investigators.  This includes 1) identifying a series of bibliometrics that can reasonably be applied to various groups or individuals with the highest scientific rigor available; 2) tracing science through bibliometric output back to its origin, or identifying citation patterns for highly successful science; 3) linking science from funding to publication to citation in definitive works such as a systematic review or clinical practice guideline to enable the organization identify the translation of its scientific programs into clinical use.

5) Leads the library effort in developing, implementing and managing semantic technologies and applying metadata for library customer and organizational use cases, to reveal program data to senior leaders in the organization.  Collaborates with the VIVO team to further develop the VIVO instance at Weill Cornell. Further explores other semantic applications to position the library to leverage semantic technology for revealing organizational resources and networks.  Coordinates with VIVO team on development, implementation and management of VIVO products to include the VIVO dashboard, which visualize college accomplishments using bibliometric data.  May also become involved in the i2b2 (informatics for integrating biology and the bedside), and ARCH (Architecture for Research computing in Health) efforts with other information scientists at Weill Cornell. 

6) Using semantic technology, coordinates with the VIVO team to develop, implement and manage a grant recommendation tool that alerts Weill Cornell scientists to grant opportunities available that match established criteria.

7) Oversees the library’s data visualization of both bibliometric and semantic data.  Leads a library team in developing, implementing and managing data visualization tools for the college using librarian skills to evaluate data and ensure its accuracy before introducing it to a visualization tool. 

8) Oversees a team responsible for implementation and management of the institutional repository.

9) Oversees the library website as the delivery mechanism for electronic content and many digital library services.

10) Leads library digital and research initiatives, identifying and cultivating staff skill sets necessary to carry out advanced digital or technical responsibilities. This position will work with the Library Director to develop the technological skills of the staff, and have input on the development of new positions to recruit staff with skill sets needed to support the digital future of the organization.

11) Key member of the Library Senior Management Team.  The Library Senior Management Team sets priorities and strategically plans the direction of the library.  This position will initiate library digital initiatives with support from library staff other information scientists within the organization.   The incumbent will work closely with the Library Director to ensure the library plays a leading technology role in the organization.  The incumbent will develop new digital library services that may be provided at cost recovery.  This position will annually develop and recommend a budget for the unit.

Qualifications:

1)  Masters in Library Science from a graduate library program accredited by the American Library Association, or a comparable information science related degree is required.  Must have the ability to meet WCMC requirements for appointment at the academic rank of Associate Librarian, including a record of professional achievement, research, scholarship and service.

2)  10 + years of professional experience, with progressive responsibility in an administrative and/or managerial/supervisory capacity in an academic or health sciences library or equivalent organization. Such experience should include a minimum of five years of either electronic collection development, library systems work, or technologically enabling research and discovery of electronic literature or data sets.

3)  Demonstrates excellent interpersonal and leadership skills, strong user-service orientation; ability to work cooperatively in a team environment. Demonstrates excellent organizational, written and oral communication skills, including the ability to present data effectively.

4)  Demonstrates knowledge of current and emerging digital technologies and services in support of medical informatics, and experience in developing such technologies to the place where they are customer ready, and then integrating them into institutional workflow.
5)  Is self-motivated and demonstrates strong initiative and ability to work independently as well as with others.

6)  Demonstrates flexibility and calmness in stressful situations.

7)  Possesses superior skills in problem identification, analysis and resolution.  Is a systems thinker.

8) Experience participating in library science and/or informatics research, and an appropriate publication and presentation history commensurate with academic level.

9) Has a strong sense of mission and organizational commitment.

Preferred for the Position:

• PHP coding skills
• Knowledge of and experience with semantic technologies
• Knowledge and experience with institutional repository platforms (e.g.  DuraSpace, DSpace, Fedora)
• Data visualization skills

Working Conditions:
Position requires working in an office environment where there are a few physical discomforts such as dust, dirt, noise and the like. Ability to work off-hours and weekends during periods of heavy work such as during budget season and for emergencies is required. Ability to work more than 40 hours a week during periods of heavy work-load is also required. Light travel between office locations, primarily within Manhattan is required. Occasional travel to affiliate locations such as Doha, Qatar, may also be necessary. Occasional meetings or clinical staff interactions in typical patient care areas may be required though direct patient exposure is not routine.

Privacy Notice:
As part of the Senior Leadership Team this position could have exposure and/or access to protected health information (PHI) as part of normal duties. Access to data within systems that contain significant portions of confidential staff or even medical records may be necessary for completion of daily tasks.

With regard to HIPAA and protection of employee and patient privacy, it is the responsibility of each WCMC employee to limit viewing of PHI to the minimum as necessary to perform assigned duties.

Please email cover letter and curriculum vitae to Terrie R. Wheeler, Library Director, at tew2004@med.cornell.edu

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Weill Cornell Medical College's educational mission emphasizes the importance of combining a strong foundation in the medical sciences with extensive clinical training in patient care. By promoting a true social commitment, stimulating creativity, and fostering independent thought and study, Weill Cornell Medical College continues to cultivate the best of tomorrow's leaders in the field of medicine.

Weill Cornell Medical College is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and employer.