Repository Services Coordinator

Description

 Repository Services Coordinator
Academic Professional position, University Library
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign


Position Available:  The expected start date is as soon as possible after the closing date.  This is a 100% Academic Professional appointment.

Responsibilities:  Reporting to the Head of the Scholarly Communications and Publishing, the Coordinator helps support new models for the dissemination of the results of research, scholarship, teaching, and learning.  In conjunction with the Digital Repository Management Team, the Coordinator leads the Library’s campus-wide program for repository services which includes the institutional repository (IDEALS), the Vireo ETD (electronic dissertations and theses) service, and the research data repository.  The Coordinator for Repository Services develops outreach and shapes services that promote the deposit of research output, including data, into university, disciplinary, and other repositories as a critical step in the University Library’s ongoing preservation and sharing effort for University of Illinois scholarship.  Situated within the Library’s Research program, this position will focus on supporting this growing aspect of the mission of the University of Illinois Library.

The primary focus for the Repository Services Coordinator will be aiding scholars to deposit both scholarly output and data into repositories—institutional, disciplinary, or otherwise—in order to  ensure sustained access to their work over time. The Coordinator interacts closely with other members of the Repository Management Team, the Research Data Service, and the Scholarly Communications and Publishing units on both technical development and programmatic outreach, to ensure that both user-facing and back-office functions of Library repositories support scholars’ needs and preferences.  The position also collaborates with the Scholarly Commons to provide outreach through consultations and teaching of the co-sponsored Savvy Researcher workshop series.   He or she will work closely with the Research Data Service, as well as the Scholarly Communications and Publishing program to ensure that publications are available for the long-term in appropriate repositories providing outreach and education, and other pertinent services.

Specific responsibilities include:

Works closely with scholars and campus units in establishing and articulating repository deposit policy/guidelines and evaluating content for appropriateness;
Maintains collection policy, format support, and information regarding best practices for Library-supported repositories;
Partners with individual scholars, campus units, and colleges to develop an understanding of the value of depositing materials to repositories, and identifies appropriate options for deposit based on the type of scholarship;
Develops and maintains user-facing repository and deposit documentation, as well as training and instruction materials;
Develops methods to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of repository outreach and education programs, working with other areas of the Library and campus, in support of programs in the Office of Research;
Prepares periodic and on-demand reports including, but not limited to, goals, annual reports, budget proposals and requests, and grant proposals;
Mentors, motivates, supervises, and trains staff;
Monitors emerging trends and best practices in repository development and user-facing service programs in order to identify possible new services to offer.

Involvement with the development of new scholarly support services and the creation of new tools and technologies that have strong potential to enhance research and teaching activities will necessitate that the individual in this position be actively involved in campus service and in national and international professional organizations that are shaping digital scholarship, scholarly communications and e-scholarship. The Repository Services Coordinator must be aware of emerging trends and best practices in the development and access to scholarly repositories, scholarly communications and publishing, trends in data management and data curation, and digital humanities scholarship, and is expected to contribute to new research and be engaged in professional service activities in one or more of these areas.  Opportunities provided to Academic Professionals appear in the “Guideline for Investigation Time” and are negotiated with the supervisor of the position at the time of employment. Through professional research, service, and collaboration with appropriate colleagues and organizations, the Coordinator contributes to the national and international reputation of the University Library.

Environment: The University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign is one of the preeminent research libraries in the world. With more than 13 million volumes and significant digital resources, it ranks second in size among academic research libraries in the United States and first among public university libraries in the world. As the intellectual heart of the campus, the Library is committed to maintaining the strongest possible collections and services and engaging in research and development activities in pursuit of the University’s mission of teaching, scholarship, and public service. The Library currently employs approximately 90 faculty and 300 academic professionals, staff, and graduate assistants. For more detailed information, please visit