Digital Humanities Research Designer

Description

The Z. Smith Reynolds Library in partnership with the WFU Humanities Institute seeks a creative, forward-thinking scholar for the new position of Digital Humanities Research Designer. The Digital Humanities Research Designer will be familiar with a range of technologies and have direct experience bringing digital approaches to bear on research and teaching. The scholar in this position will work as an intellectual partner with faculty, students, and staff at Wake Forest University.

The successful candidate will collaborate with humanities faculty and library colleagues to expand modes of humanistic research through emerging and existing technologies and design thinking. In providing research project support and conducting workshops on the use of various tools, for example, the Digital Humanities Research Designer will be able to translate and share ideas and concepts effectively across diverse interdisciplinary audiences. The Digital Humanities Research Designer will maintain currency in the field and may pursue their own research to do so.

The person in this position will engage in national and/or international initiatives or other professional activities promoting the development of a shared humanities research infrastructure. The Digital Humanities Research Designer will play a critical role in building services and programs to support the digital humanities at Wake Forest.

This Library Faculty appointment is based in the Digital Scholarship Unit of the ZSR Library. The position reports to the Unit director, but it will have a close working relationship with the Humanities Institute.

The ZSR Library works in collaboration with multiple campus partners as part of a growing program in support for emerging digital scholarship needs. ZSR aims to enrich and promote rigorous cross-disciplinary humanities scholarship and research, as well as enhance the undergraduate experience by providing students access to, and support for, cutting-edge humanities research. The services supported by this position, which has been created as part of an “Engaged Humanities” grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will grow capacity for partnerships between the library and faculty to carry out digitally-enriched scholarship. Working together, ZSR and the Humanities Institute intend to build a community of practice for the digital humanities at Wake Forest through programming, services, and research collaborations.

Responsibilities:

• Partners with researchers to facilitate project envisioning and definition, and advise about project scope, requirements, specifications, and/or design.
• Evaluates existing tools and technologies, and investigates emerging technologies to identify potential uses in humanities research. Prototypes demonstration projects and/or implements tools for use by others.
• Collaborates with colleagues in the Library and the Humanities Institute to coordinate services and programming in spaces that support digital scholarship.
• Collaborates with colleagues in the Library, the Humanities Institute, and Information Technology Services to help ensure harmony among various technology infrastructures and needs.
• Promotes and provides individual digital scholarship research consultations.
• Provides limited technical support for digital humanities research projects, including implementation of tools, technology, etc. to help researchers achieve their goals.
• Conducts training, group instruction, or workshops on topics related to digital humanities.
• Collaborates within the Library and the Humanities Institute on building community and promoting digital scholarship tools and methods within the University to establish the Library as a central site of humanistic inquiry.

Required Qualifications:

• Advanced degree in a humanities field.
• Demonstrated proficiency/fluency with tools currently used in digital scholarship, such as GIS, data visualization, social network analysis, etc.
• Experience using digital humanities tools and approaches in their own research.
• Experience teaching or leading workshops on digital humanities tools and/or methods to faculty and students.
• Experience working collaboratively with other scholars and/or with IT professionals on projects related to digital scholarship.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects, effectively identifying and leveraging resources, as well as meeting deadlines and budgets.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Strong service orientation.

Desired Qualifications:

• PhD in a humanities field.
• Experience with development and management of projects, grants, and/or budgets.
• Record of professional presentations and/or publication.

Salary and Rank: Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. The position is appointed to a Library Faculty rank as established by Wake Forest University. Rank at appointment is based on the successful applicant’s experience and relevant credentials.

Review of applications begins May 9, 2016 and continues until the position is filled. Interested applicants should go to https://wakejobs.silkroad.com/WFU/Employment_Listings.html and submit cover letter, resume and references within the online system.

The Z. Smith Reynolds Library, with a collection of over 1.9 million volumes, materials expenditures of over $5 million, and an operating budget of over $11 million, serves over 4,800 undergraduates and 1,300 graduate and professional students. Wake Forest is a private university where academic excellence is consistently recognized through rankings in the top tier of the country’s finest liberal arts institutions. Wake Forest offers a rare combination – the academic and technological resources, facilities and Division I athletic programs associated with a large university with the compact campus, small classes and individual attention only a smaller school can provide. The University has a deep institutional commitment to public service and engagement with the world, as indicated by its motto Pro Humanitate. The University is beautifully located between the western mountains and east coast beaches of North Carolina.