Research Librarian for Digital Humanities & History

Description

The UCI Libraries seeks a knowledgeable, innovative, and collaborative professional for the position of Research Librarian for Digital Humanities & History to lead the development and growth of the Libraries’ Digital Humanities Program.  As a member of the Digital Scholarship Services Department, the Librarian will work collaboratively within the department and across the Libraries to develop and foster best practices for curating research data across Humanities disciplines, produce library collections developed for computational use, and shape repository policies and features to encourage computational use of collections.  The Librarian will proactively seek to build collaborative relationships with campus researchers and scholars involved with digital humanities and humanities data.   As liaison to the History Department, the Librarian will work closely with history researchers on digital humanities and data curation efforts, will be responsible for history collection strategies and specialized research consultations, and will facilitate subject-based instructional services to the History Department.

Qualified candidates from diverse backgrounds and life experiences are encouraged to apply.  The UCI Libraries is committed to recruiting a diverse workforce and advancing UCI’s Commitment to Inclusive Excellence.

Key Responsibilities

• Actively seek collaborations with campus researchers practicing digital humanities or utilizing humanities data.
• Participate in grant development efforts and articulate Libraries’ support commitments via active internal stakeholder engagement.
• Manage digital humanities and humanities data projects from inception to production.
• Provide consultation services and support the campus community in humanities data management throughout the research lifecycle.
• Contribute to strategic planning and capacity building for the Libraries’ to handle multiple simultaneous digital projects.
• Identify trends and activities in digital humanities and humanities data curation on campus.
• Create and implement the Libraries’ support plan for digital humanities researchers.
• Represent the Libraries within campus and UC system-wide digital humanities groups and initiatives.
• Build campus scholarly community around humanities data sharing and computational methods of humanistic inquiry.
• Advocate for the adoption of digital scholarship methods.
• Promote and grow humanities research data services.
• Educate data users and data producers on best practices and ethical guidelines for data creation and use.
• Lead the collection and/or promotion of humanities data and digital collections created by campus scholars or acquired by the Libraries.
• Manage and develop the Libraries’ history collections in all formats.
• Monitor approval plans, use selection tools effectively, and judiciously manage the budget allocation for resources in history.
• Serve as the liaison to the faculty in the Department of History, maintaining active two-way communication to incorporate faculty research and teaching needs into collection development and to inform faculty about collections, services, scholarly communication, and other library initiatives
• Keep abreast of publishing trends and scholarly communication developments in the humanities, promoting library services to support best practices in scholarly communication and data management
• Provide in-depth and specialized reference and research consultations, and facilitate specialized instructional services for history and digital humanities.
• Develop, maintain, and continually enhance expertise in the assigned subject areas in order to respond to specialized reference and instruction needs and to cross-train other reference providers in these research areas.

Qualifications

Required

• Graduate degree in library science from an ALA-accredited institution or an equivalent combination of relevant advanced degree and experience related to digital humanities, humanities data, or digital libraries.
• Experience working with digital humanities projects.
• Familiarity with current trends, best practices, and innovative technologies in digital humanities and humanities data.
• Experience with digital humanities research tools and approaches (e.g. text mining, data visualization, image analysis).
• Knowledge of data issues in the research life cycle and the use of collections as data.
• Ability to provide specialized reference and instruction in the subject area of history and digital humanities.
• Excellent communications skills, both oral and written.
• Familiarity with key research resources in digital humanities and history.
• Ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively and to promote teamwork, diversity, equality, and inclusiveness within UCI Libraries and the campus.

Preferred

• Educational background in history.
• Strong interest in working with students and faculty.
• Knowledge of history resources and scholarly communication issues and trends.
• Experience in licensing and acquisitions of digital resources in history.
• Demonstrated ability to lead change.
• Experience with grant writing.
• Experience in developing a multifaceted program for a multidisciplinary constituency.
• Familiarity with common content-management systems used by humanities data creators (ex. WordPress, Omeka).

Digital Scholarship Services Department

Digital Scholarship Services fosters the use of digital content and transformative technology in scholarship and academic activities. This department works with the campus community to publish, promote, and preserve the digital products of research via programs in Scholarly Communication, Data Curation, Digital Humanities, and Digital Preservation. The department administers repository systems and provides consulting and digital project management for digital collection building. The department currently consists of three librarians and a programmer analyst.

UCI Libraries

The UCI Libraries values innovation and collaboration.  We are committed to the University’s goal of diversity and inclusive excellence.  The Libraries consist of the Langson Library, the Ayala Science Library, the Library Gateway Study Center, and the Grunigen Medical Library.  These buildings contain over 3,300 public seats for study and research and provide nearly 525 public access computers.  The UCI Libraries have a staff of approximately 145 FTE plus approximately 25 student assistant FTE.  The library collection consists of over 3.8 million volumes, nearly 150,000 journals and serial titles, and an aggressively expanding electronic resources collection.  The UCI Libraries are a member of the:  Association of Research Libraries (ARL), California Digital Library (CDL), HathiTrust Digital Library, Center for Research Libraries (CRL), Coalition of Networked Information (CNI), Digital Library Federation (DLF), Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), Pacific Rim Research Libraries Alliance (PRRLA), International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), National Information Standards Organization (NISO), and OCLC Research Library Partnership (OCLC RLP).

University of California, Irvine

The University of California, Irvine, is nestled in over 1,500 acres of coastal foothills, five miles from the Pacific Ocean, between San Diego and Los Angeles.  Founded in 1965, UCI has more than 31,500 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,600 faculty and staff.  Nearly 67% of UCI students identify themselves as Asian American, African American, Chicano/Latino, or Native American.  The University offers graduate degrees in more than 100 academic disciplines and interdisciplinary programs in addition to the M.D. and J.D.  UCI’s academic programs are ranked nationally among the top universities; several doctoral programs are ranked in the top ten.

Librarians at the University of California Irvine are academic appointees and receive potential career status at the time of their initial appointment.  Librarians periodically receive administrative and peer review for merit increases based on the following criteria: 1) professional competence and quality of service within the Library; 2) professional activity outside the Library; 3) university and public service; and 4) research and other creative activity.

Salary & Benefits:  Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience based on the University of California pay scales.  Appointment is anticipated to be at the Assistant Librarian or Associate Librarian rank with a salary of $49,165 - $75,453.

Librarians are entitled to two days per month of annual leave, thirteen paid holidays, and one day per month sick leave.  The University has an excellent retirement system and offers a variety of group health, life, and disability insurance plans.  Benefits are equal to approximately 40% of salary.

Deadline for Applications:  Applications received by September 11, 2017 will receive first consideration, but applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

To Apply:  Qualified applicants who wish to be considered for this position should submit the information requested:  cover letter; complete résumé; a statement that addresses past and/or potential contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion; and a list of three references (names and contact information only) via UCI AP Recruit at: https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/apply/JPF04204.

Upon application, candidates should be in possession of proof of their legal right to employment in the U.S. In compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, verification of legal right to work will be required between the time of final selection and hiring, and is absolutely essential in ultimately being hired.

This position description is listed on the UCI Libraries web site at http://www.lib.uci.edu/about/jobs/librarian-vacancies.html with links to additional web sites featuring campus and community information.

The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.