Cambridge, MA: Humanities and Digital Scholarship Librarian, MIT

Description

The MIT Libraries seek a knowledgeable and enterprising librarian to join a growing team of liaisons developing new services and collaborations in digital scholarship.  The Humanities and Digital Scholarship Librarian will support and collaborate with students and faculty doing research in history and other selected humanities disciplines. The successful candidate will engage with a dynamic community in which traditional research methods co-exist and integrate with highly innovative digital scholarship and pedagogies.   Teaching experience, digital project skills, and expertise in humanities research methods and resources are key qualifications.

Advancing the capacity of the MIT Libraries to collaborate on digital scholarship projects is central to the position.  To support the MIT community’s current needs, the librarian in this position will collaborate with departments in the MIT Libraries ranging from Data and Specialized Services to Institute Archives and Special Collections, and work on project teams with colleagues in new positions focused on digital scholarship.  To advance support for digital scholarship, the HDS Librarian will help design and implement a skills-building educational program in research methods, new research tools, data management, collaborative scholarship platforms, and digital presentation or publishing.  Additionally, the liaison will engage professionally with library and scholarly organizations to further his/her foundational knowledge of trends and issues related to humanities scholarship in order to contribute to strategic change.

Reporting to the Department Head for Liaison, Instruction and Reference Services, the Humanities and Digital Scholarship Librarian will serve as a liaison for history and selected other humanities subjects, delivering a program of services and products to support faculty and student success in research, teaching and learning.  The liaison will provide instruction in research skills and strategies, collaborate and consult on digital projects, develop customized resources to support student learning, and ensure that his/her constituencies can make effective use of all library services and resources.   The librarian will support selected other humanities disciplines based on experience and expertise. In collaboration with colleagues, the librarian will select resources, provide reference services, and participate on cross-unit projects to enhance the quality and impact of library services.

Applications must include cover letter and resume.  Priority will be given to applications received by April 25, 2016; position open until filled. MIT is strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community and particularly encourages applications from qualified women and minority candidates.

       
Requirements

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS for the position include:


MLS/MLIS or relevant advanced degree.

Knowledge of new as well as traditional research methods and resources used in history research and scholarship.

Teaching experience in higher education (e.g., curricular instruction, library instruction, teaching assistant work, etc.).

Experience supporting or participating in a substantial digital humanities project

Expertise with a range of tools or practices essential in digital scholarship, (data management, working with digital texts, multimedia presentation platforms, data visualization, datamining, etc.).

Ability to cultivate and sustain productive relationships with faculty and academic staff.



Enthusiasm for embracing the empathy, courage, self-reflection and respect essential in a multicultural, diverse and inclusive workplace, and ability to embrace those values in collections and public service work.



Ability to work effectively in a shared decision-making environment: appropriately taking initiative or seeking guidance, working independently or collaboratively, coordinating projects, and helping others succeed.

Excellent skills for sharing information appropriately in multiple contexts.


Preferred


Advance degree in history or related field, or recent coursework.

Project management experience and skills.

Credentials, participation or active engagement with national or regional digital scholarship or digital humanities organizations.

Demonstrated ability to contribute to organizational learning.

Significant experience working with primary sources and/or conducting archival research

Collection development experience.