Assistant/Associate University Librarian for Research Resources

Description

The University of California, Irvine Libraries seeks strategic leadership for the position of Assistant/Associate University Librarian (AUL) for Research Resources.  Reporting to the University Librarian, the AUL plays a critical role in fostering local and collaborative strategies to shape a robust and sustainable environment for scholarly content.   We are seeking an innovative, creative, flexible, and knowledgeable leader to join an enthusiastic staff in shaping the development of next-generation technical services, the integration of print and digital resources into high quality 21st century collections, and the development of services to support the efforts of faculty and students to contribute digital content to the broader scholarly community.  The AUL will serve as the chief architect of the integration of separate Collections and Technical Services divisions into a single Research Resources division with enhanced capabilities to support the full life cycle of knowledge resources and scholarly communication in furtherance of the mission and academic programs of the University.

Context


The UC Library System, of which UC Irvine is a member, collectively comprises the largest academic library in the world. The UC Libraries have a long, successful history of developing collaborative progressive services and collections to better meet the needs of the UC community. The UC Libraries are re-focusing their strategic efforts to develop a system-wide view of collections, leverage resources to increase collection diversity, expose hidden resources, and take full advantage of library expertise on the individual campuses.  Building and managing a world-class UC Library Collection is increasingly challenging in the digital environment and requires the integration of print and digital collections, including published and non-published material of all types and formats (text, primary sources, data, images, etc.). The new scholarly content will require curatorial engagement with the research output of the University throughout the entire research and scholarly communication life cycle.

Responsibilities


The AUL is the chief architect in realizing this new model at the UCI Irvine campus and contributing to its development in collaboration with the other leaders in the UC Library System.  Administrative responsibilities encompass the Libraries’ functions for acquisitions and e-resource management, collection development, collection management, cataloging, and preservation.  The AUL will have oversight over efforts to assess faculty and student scholarly communications needs, develop recommendations for providing support for these needs, and explore and develop a more formal suite of services around digital scholarship and scholarly communication.

The AUL provides overall strategic leadership and coordination for the development, management, evaluation, acquisition, cataloging, and maintenance of the Libraries’ collections to support the research, teaching, and clinical activities of the University’s faculty, students and staff.  The AUL oversees the preparation, allocation, and monitoring of the Libraries’ collection budget of approximately $7 million; in collaboration with bibliographers and other librarians, serves as the spokesperson for the collections and scholarly communication to faculty, students and other library users; provides leadership for the Libraries’ participation in cooperative/collaborative collection development activities; and participates in the Libraries’ efforts to secure external funding for library materials and services. The AUL collaborates closely with other library managers to coordinate the provision of excellent public service.

The position provides direct administrative oversight for four units (Acquisitions, Cataloging, Collection Development, and Special Collections & Archives) including approximately 20 librarians and 35 staff, contributes to the strategic development of local, regional, and national strategies in digitization and digital preservation, and supports coordination of relevant licensing and collection management strategies in coordination with the California Digital Library.  The position also has responsibilities for helping the Libraries determine appropriate staffing and infrastructure for Digital Scholarship Services.

The AUL reports to the University Librarian and, as a key member of the UCI Libraries’ Leadership Council, ensures organizational effectiveness and efficiency and shares in responsibilities for decision-making, resource management, and development of policies for library operations and services.  While each AUL position has an individual area of responsibility, all AULs are responsible library-wide for collaborative leadership, strategic planning, management, and decision- making.  The AUL serves as the Libraries representative on various relevant consortial and collaborative venues to develop collective strategies for efficient and progressive multi-institutional program development.

Qualifications

Required:

Master’s degree or higher in library or information science or other relevant discipline.
Minimum five years of increasingly responsible, professional, relevant work experience in an academic library.
Evidence of excellent leadership skills.
Expertise in collections, scholarly communication, digital scholarship, or technical services.
Ability to lead organizational change, encourage innovation, and delegate responsibility appropriately.
Knowledge of emerging trends and new developments in collections, technical services, and digital library initiatives.
Prior supervisory experience including recruitment, training, employee relations and performance management.
Strong analytical and conceptual abilities and proven experience in solving problems and initiating actions for effective management of a complex, multi-functional library.
Familiarity with principles of managing and developing both print and digital collections in a research library, understanding of the nature of research collection building, and an ability to articulate its crucial connection to the University’s mission.
Ability to collaborate and build successful partnerships for joint institutional collection development or collection support efforts.
Strong commitment to staff development and mentoring.
Strong facility with technology and its application in knowledge management.
Excellent and effective interpersonal, verbal, written, and online communication skills.
Solid project management experience.
Strong service orientation, initiative and ability to work both independently and in a collaborative, collegial environment, with colleagues and vendors.
Experience with budget planning, projections, and creating budget management reports.
Preferred:

Leadership experience within an organization of comparable scope and complexity.
Experience in promoting and engaging faculty, students, and administrators in the various issues related to scholarly communication and/or digital scholarship services (authors rights, open access publishing, data management plans, data curation, digital publishing, etc.). 
Evidence of effective human and financial resource management strategies.
Experience in publisher and vendor negotiations and collaborations.
Experience in consortial and multi-institutional program development.
The Libraries

The UCI Libraries are committed to innovation and excellence and are in a major period of change.  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 3,600 public seats for study and research and provide more than 600 public access computers.  The UCI Libraries have a staff of approximately 140 FTE plus approximately 30 student assistant FTE.  The library collection consists of over 3.4 million volumes and over 86,000 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 Digital Library Alliance (PRDLA), and International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA).

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 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students and about 1,100 faculty.  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.

Salary & Benefits:  Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience.  The University has an excellent benefits program including leave policies, retirement system, and insurance plans which equal approximately 40% of salary.

Deadline for Applications:  Applications received by February 20, 2013 will receive first consideration, but applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

To Apply:  Electronic applications are preferred.  Qualified applicants who wish to be considered for this position should send their application materials including: cover letter; complete résumé; and the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of three references, with a statement of each reference's professional relationship to the applicant, to:

Email: libhr@uci.edu
Library Human Resources
UC Irvine, P.O. Box 19557
Irvine, CA 92623-9557
Confidential fax (949) 824-3270

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.