Head of Special Collections Technical Services

Description

Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,150 full-time undergraduates and 4,420 graduate and professional students. Ranked 31 among national universities, Boston College has 758 full-time and 1,096 FTE faculty, 2,750 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $956 million, and an endowment in excess of $2.2 billion.

Position Details
Department: 060041 – Burns Library
Position: 00014584 – Head Librarian, Special Collections Technical Services

Following a year-long strategic and organizational planning process that coincided with retirements in several areas, the Boston College Libraries seek several highly collaborative professionals to provide leadership and direction for newly configured and innovative services. The Libraries offer an agile and dynamic environment that encourages exploration of user-centered initiatives. Successful candidates will have an inherent desire to develop and assess services, and a demonstrated track record of successful implementation of strategies that enhance teaching, learning, research, and scholarship. For more information on these positions and working at the Boston College University Libraries, please visit our employment site: library.bc.edu/employment.

Job Description
Head of Special Collections Technical Services
The John J. Burns Library at Boston College seeks a knowledgeable, collaborative, and forward-looking Head of Special Collections Technical Services to direct and manage a broad array of functions pertaining to the description and preservation of rare books and special collections. S/he will lead a team of Burns Library staff who catalog, conserve, and maintain the storage of Burns Library collections, and will work closely with the Burns Library Head of Archives. S/he will also coordinate special collections cataloging projects performed by other Boston College Libraries staff and will perform additional original and complex copy cataloging of rare materials.

S/he will contribute to the development and documentation of procedures for the ongoing systematic review and correction of legacy metadata for Burns Library materials and coordinate their implementation, especially for the purpose of preparing materials for digitization. S/he will also the development of efficient end-processing and preservation workflows.

Reporting to the Associate University Librarian for Special Collections, this newly created role includes supervision of three full-time positions, including the Burns Library rare book cataloger, conservator, and collections management assistant. As a member of the Burns Library management team, the successful candidate will share in the responsibility for fostering a culture of collaboration that consistently delivers high levels of energy, performance, and impact.

Requirements
Applicants must have a master’s degree in library or information science from an ALA-accredited program or equivalent. Preferred candidates will have at least four years of experience working in an academic or research library or archives in progressively responsible roles, including two or more years of supervisory experience. Applicants should have expert knowledge of current and emerging standards pertaining to the creation and management of descriptive metadata for rare books and special collections, including, but not limited to, MARC, AACR2, RDA, DCRM, Dublin Core, VRA, METS, and MODS. Reading proficiency in Latin and/or one or more modern European languages is highly desirable.

This is an abbreviated version of the full posting. Please read the full position and apply at Boston College, Job ID 13435.