Digital Initiatives Librarian

Description

The Digital  Initiatives Librarian is an innovative and forward-thinking collaborator who contributes to the success of the faculty, students, and staff of the college by developing, implementing, and maintaining new and existing digital library programs and services. A successful candidate enjoys fostering relationships to facilitate accessibility, integration, and usability across all digital interfaces; leads the exploration and adoption of new technologies; and provides a seamless digital experience for the end-user. Areas of technology oversight and user experience include information discovery and access, library technology for teaching and learning, web services architecture and integration, digital humanities, college repositories and archives, digital projects, and emerging technologies.

Specific activities relating to library technology management include the following:

• Provide creative, positive leadership with digital initiatives in collaboration with librarians, the Digital Learning Team, Office of Information Technology, faculty, staff, students, vendors, or other key campus and community partners.

• Design and manage digital experiences provide through the library website, discovery tools, public online platforms, and integrated technologies, both library-specific or campus-wide, such as the campus learning management system, college repositories, or video content platform.

• Administer and maintain both hosted and non-hosted library-specific applications (such as our ILMS, collection management applications, discovery tools, LibGuides, digital collections, archival platforms, etc.), whether hands-on or acting as liaison with external vendors.

• Collaborate with the Special Collections & Archives Librarian to initiate, sustain, and improve  digital projects relating to Special Collections materials.

• As a member of the Digital Learning Team, support campus-wide initiatives with the expanding role of digital scholarship, digital learning, and digital humanities in the curriculum.

• In conjunction with public services, collection management, and access staff, closely monitor OCLC community announcements and WMS development roadmap.

• Respond to requests for assistance on the use and troubleshooting of library applications; communicate, both internally and campus-wide as needed, developments, updates, changes, and enhancements with these applications.

• Provide leadership and training to empower library staff to extend and customize library technology services and functionality through use of web services and web APIs.

• Collect and analyze data pertaining to library technology applications and website usage, information services, and collection usage in conjunction with other library analytics.

Other responsibilities include:

• Develop ongoing strategic planning, policies, and procedures as they relate to the functional areas within library management services, digital experiences, and information services.

• Work closely with students and support student success through digital scholarship, digital humanities, and digital projects.

• Provide leadership and expertise to empower library staff with statistical reporting, data analytics, and recommendations for development on library technologies and library services.

A successful candidate will center relationship-building in their work, will demonstrate leadership in user-centered technologies and practices, will employ a well-rounded knowledge of  library-specific technologies and architectures, and the ability to work effectively with diverse, multicultural communities. Additionally, the candidate will have:

• An ALA-accredited master’s degree in library or information science, or an appropriate graduate-level degree in an information technology field.

• Professional experience managing complex library technologies and architectures; preferred knowledge of library products and services integration (such as OCLC).

• Familiarity with library technology integration (such as link resolvers, discovery layers, proxy servers, etc.), data reporting and manipulation (Python, R), database query (SQL), website development (HTML, CSS, XML/XSLT, JavaScript, etc.), and digital learning environments.

• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills; excellent communication skills; preferable some supervisory experience.

• Ability to provide leadership regarding technology and digital experiences, recommend strategic directions and participate in planning processes within an academic library setting.

• Demonstrated ability to work collegially with diverse library staff, vendors, donors, faculty, and students; mentoring, coaching, or personnel management experience is also beneficial.

• The ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a collegial, team-based environment and maintain positive working relationships.

• Ability to plan, manage, and oversee multiple projects, meet deadlines, and prioritize work in alignment with the strategic goals of the Library and the College.

• Commitment to the promotion of an outstanding public services culture in a learner-centered environment at a strong liberal arts college.