Digital Engagement Librarian

Description

Position Rank: Full Time Professorial Stream - Assistant/Associate Librarian 
Discipline/Field: Digital Engagement Librarian 
Home Faculty: Libraries 
Home Department/Area/Division: Digital Scholarship Infrastructure
Affiliation/Union: YUFA
Position Start Date: July 1, 2023 

Summary 
York University Libraries (YUL) seeks a collaborative and innovative individual with strong leadership capacity for the position of Digital Engagement Librarian located at the Markham Centre CampusLibrary. This is a continuing appointment position with a focus on advancing and disseminating digitally-mediated scholarly research at York University with a multi-disciplinary, inclusive, and community-engaged focus. 

The successful candidate will join a diverse team of specialists collaborating in the areas of scholarly communication and publishing, digital scholarship, digital preservation, data visualization, open educational resources, virtual reality and media creation. YUL at Markham will expand to include gaming, makerspaces, and media creation facilities. This position will begin at Keele campus’ Scott Library before relocating to the new branch for its planned opening in 2024. 

Primary responsibilities include: 

• Collaborate with colleagues and stakeholders to: 
  • advance digital fluencies at the Markham Campus and support the growing interest in digital scholarship at all campuses across York University; and \
  • develop programmatic approaches for digital scholarship and establish sustainable workflows and practices. 
• Cultivate relationships with faculty, researchers, staff, and campus partners to grow the university’s digital scholarship program.
• Animate the Markham campus’ library spaces with co-curricular and curriculum-integrated programming for students, faculty, and staff that foster fluency with digital technologies. 
• Facilitate access to library services and resources in support of students’ experiential learning opportunities. 
• Engage in student mentorship, and share expertise and knowledge with staff, colleagues, and community members. 
• Undertake reference, teaching, and research consultation responsibilities which will be assigned with consideration of institutional priorities and/or the incumbent's disciplinary knowledge and research interests. 

Other duties include: 

• Keep abreast of emerging areas of digital engagement and innovation on campus and in the field. 
• Identify evolving digital tools and resources that advance scholarly investigation and build on traditional research methodologies. 
• Engage in ongoing self-directed learning and professional development to bring new technologies and methodologies into York University’s teaching and research environment. 
• Actively participate in decision-making activities undertaken within the Libraries and the University through collegial contributions to committees and other groups. 
• Represent the Libraries on local, regional, consortial, and/or international digital scholarship organizations, committees, and initiatives. 
• Advance the profession through research, publication, and participation in professional organizations. 

Qualifications 

Required: 

• Candidates must have a Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) from an ALA accredited program, or its recognized equivalent; 
• Superior written and spoken communication in English; 
• Evidence or promise of research contributions in the form of publications or productions, professional development, and/or active involvement in professional or scholarly organizations; and 
• Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills. 

Demonstrated:  

• Leadership capacity and evidence of building effective working relationships with institutional and external colleagues and community stakeholders;  
• Aptitude for adapting to new responsibilities and environments, independent learning, and engagement with technology/software;
• Applied technical troubleshooting skills and/or creative problem solving;  
• Application of digital research methodologies, tools, and approaches with experience using any of the following infrastructure environments: makerspace, media creation space, extended reality, and/or gaming/visualization wall; 
• Online or in-person teaching and presentation experience and an understanding of sound pedagogical practice; and 
• Ability to provide research and consultation services to researchers with varying levels of technical expertise. 

Experience with: 

• Advancing curricular integration for digital and information literacy initiatives; 
• Advancing new programmatic areas and outreach programs and engaging stakeholders in these developments; 
• Identifying and using digital media equipment, video creation equipment, editing software, and digital media control software; 
• Implementing projects using project management techniques; 
• Setting priorities and managing multiple projects independently with competing deadlines; and 
• Designing processes that enhance services while maximizing resources. 

Knowledge of: 

• Digital preservation and data management best practices; 
• Aspects of media production workflows; 
• Rights management, intellectual property, Creative Commons licensing, and fair dealing issues as they relate to creative works and scholarly publishing/author rights (in the Canadian context); and 
• Accessibility and universal design principles and practices such as captioning, web standards, transcription, plain language, and/or annotation. 

About the Position 
This is a continuing appointment stream position at the Assistant or Associate Librarian level starting July 1, 2023. York offers a competitive salary commensurate with qualifications and an exceptional benefits package. All York University positions are subject to budgetary approval. 

Librarians and archivists at York University have academic status and are members of the York University Faculty Association bargaining unit (https://www.yufa.ca). 

About York University 
The successful applicant will be based at York University’s new Markham Campus when operational (expected in Fall 2024) and become a member of the first cohort of resident faculty members. Between July 1, 2023 and the opening of the new campus, the appointee will assume a combination of teaching responsibilities at York’s Keele campus and contribute to the development of academic and research programming planned for the new Markham Campus. 

York University’s Markham Campus offers state-of-the-art facilities to provide innovative job-ready academic programming and research focusing on core themes of technology and entrepreneurship as applied in different contexts, disciplines, and professional fields. Building on York University’s academic presence in the City of Markham, the new campus will help fulfil future labour market and civic leadership needs by providing transferable 21st century skills that are at the core of future economic competitiveness and community development in Markham, York Region, and across Ontario. Collaboration with York University’s existing research strengths in the core areas of the new campus, and dynamic engagement with the area’s businesses and industries, will create an innovative, cross-disciplinary research culture for solving complex problems that transcend traditional disciplines. 

Hiring Policies 
York University has a policy on Accommodation in Employment for Persons with Disabilitiesand is committed to working towards a barrier-free workplace and to expanding the accessibility of the workplace to persons with disabilities. Candidates who require accommodation during the selection process are invited to contact the chair of the search committee at yulapps@yorku.ca. 

Consideration will be given to those who have followed non-traditional career paths or had career interruptions. 

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and Indigenous peoples in Canada will be given priority. No application will be considered without a completed mandatory Work Status Declaration form (see link below).

York University is an Affirmative Action (AA) employer and strongly values diversity, including gender and sexual diversity, within its community. The AA Program, which applies to women, members of racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and those who self-identify as 2SLGBTQ+, can be found at http://acadjobs.info.yorku.caor by calling the AA line at 416-736-5713. Applicants wishing to self-identify can do so by downloading, completing, and submitting a voluntary self-identification form (see link below).

Timeline 
The deadline for receipt of completed applications is March 31, 2023. We anticipate that longlisted candidates will be invited for brief online interviews in late April 2023. Reference letters for shortlisted candidates will be due in early May 2023. Interviews will be scheduled in person from May 8-12, 2023; there will be a presentation and interview in the morning and additional meetings in the afternoon. 

How to Apply 
Candidates must provide a current CV, a cover letter addressing the stated qualifications and experience relevant to the responsibilities, and a completed Work Status Declarationform. An optional component is the voluntary AA self-identification form(see Hiring Policies). Candidates who proceed to a final interview will later be asked to provide names and contact information for three professional references. 

Submit the application package (as one or more PDFs) to: 

Anna St. Onge 
Chair, Markham Digital Engagement Librarian Appointment Committee 
York University Libraries 
516 Scott Library 
4700 Keele St. 
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 
Email: yulapps@yorku.ca