Digital Technologies Librarian

Description

The Digital Technologies Librarian partners with project and product managers as well as internal stakeholders to establish priorities, communicate with a range of teams, stakeholders and users at the library, and define products to drive completion of tech goals. This position will further develop established working relationships with Smith College Libraries partners, such as Information Technology Services (ITS), the Imaging Center, the Museum of Art, and the Five Colleges; spearhead and shepherd shared projects and workflows; and communicate developments in the digital library technologies landscape.

Take appropriate actions to support a diverse workforce and participate in the College's efforts to create a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming work environment.

Essential Functions

Management:

Supervise a minimum of two full time staff and one term position: Web Services Librarian, Digital Library Applications Developer, and Mellon Project Manager. Supervision of staff includes recruitment, hiring, training, mentorship, regular reviews and providing constructive feedback; it also includes setting reasonable individual goals that align with group goals and mediating competing priorities in keeping with the department’s mission, vision, and values.

Product management:

Provide technical and project leadership for digital products and partnerships including the institutional repository (ScholarWorks), discovery service (EDS), library services platform (FOLIO), digital asset management system (Five College Compass, using Islandora 2), and digital preservation and shared metadata schema (Stronger Together). Facilitate technical development by liaising between vendors/developers and stakeholders regarding functional and technical requirements. Conduct reviews with developers and other team members to ensure business and technical requirements are met. Lead quality assurance testing, including creating and executing test scripts to test product features and identify defects. Lead product requirements gathering sessions, and author clear, logical, and atomic product requirements. Partner with the UX team to create user experience testing models, carry out testing, and engage with internal and external users in order to gain first-hand insight and feedback on software products. Apply user insights to create a clear understanding of the current and future direction and needs of application enhancements.

Communication and Collaboration:

Develop a knowledge of the libraries’ and partners’ organizational goals, key staff, and partners in order to effectively translate their needs into product requirements. Continuously engage in the ongoing development of a Smith College Libraries technology roadmap, including projects shared with key campus partners. Promote Smith College Library applications by advocating for their value and benefits at staff meetings and work with the communications team to raise awareness about the available tools and their use to end users. Coordinate with other staff, including managers, to develop training modules and opportunities when new technologies are introduced or existing technologies are significantly upgraded.

Other Functions

Other duties as assigned.

All employees are expected to participate in the College's efforts to create a respectful, inclusive, and welcoming work environment.

Minimum Qualifications (knowledge, skills, education, experience, certifications, licenses)

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a job related field and 3+ years of related experience in an academic environment or an equivalent combination of education and experience

Experience working with individuals from diverse backgrounds.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited library program or an advanced degree in a related discipline preferred.

• Prior management experience including hiring, training, mentoring employees, assessing performance and providing feedback.

• Excellent communication, problem solving and analytical skills; accuracy and attention to detail; ability to organize, prioritize, and complete work effectively; ability to work independently and as part of a team;

• Experience developing proposals, project charters, research methodologies, requirements documentation, product roadmaps and backlogs, project plans, and QA/UAT procedures. Supervisory experience is preferred.

• Strong research, verbal and written communication skills required.

Skills

• Familiarity with software testing methodologies (functional, acceptance, accessibility, regression, device compatibility).

• Understanding of contemporary library information structures, standards, and systems

• Server-side application development (e.g. PHP).

• Experience with client-side technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript, CSS.

• Knowledge of or experience in relevant archival and bibliographic standards and frameworks for rare materials cataloging (DACS, Records in Contexts, ISAD(G), ISAAR-CPF, FRBR, RDA; EAD, EAC-CPF, BIBFRAME, MARC)