Special collections librarian job description

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The key responsibilities of the position are to:

* Support the collection needs and resources that bolster the clinical, educational, and research missions of the Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences schools, centers, and institutes.
* Understand and keep abreast of trends related to scholarly communication, publishing, copyright, emerging information and data sharing, and funders mandates in the health sciences.
* Represent the health sciences on university-wide collections groups, providing input and advocating for the discipline-specific resources required at an academic health center.
* Conduct continuous evaluation, obtain and utilize metrics, usage data, and other assessment criteria to support data-driven collection development.
* Work collaboratively with health sciences and sciences librarians to advance expertise and depth of knowledge of specialized collections. Write and disseminate updates on a regular basis.
* Work closely with RBHS library users, librarians, and staff on questions about publishing, including manuscript submissions, navigating copyright policies, and complying with open mandates.
* Participate in library planning, committees, and task forces, and engage in campus, regional, and national professional organizations, and collaborative activities. May represent Rutgers to state, national, and international organizations.
* Curate and manage a health sciences e-book list for use by educators and students.
* Serve in select liaison activities such as outreach and instruction on collection and scholarly communication-related topics.
* Regularly participate in virtual information services including Chat and Ask-a-Librarian; and provide consultations to users on the use of specific resources.

This position is a member of the Rutgers University Libraries Faculty, a team of librarians committed to providing first-rate public services to a diverse academic community that collaborates with colleagues across the libraries to enhance the effectiveness of library services to the University community. Reporting to the AUL for Health Sciences Libraries, this librarian will be based at the George F. Smith Library of the Health Sciences on the RBHS Campus in Newark, NJ. This is a tenure-track faculty position, requiring publication, research, and active participation in professional associations. This position may require working evenings and weekends.

Located in Middletown, Connecticut, Wesleyan University is one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges with 3,000 undergraduates and 200 graduates. Established in 1831, Wesleyan is known for its rich, open, and interdisciplinary curriculum. We have a long-standing commitment to creating a dynamically diverse campus comprised of students from all racial, ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.

Within this intellectually stimulating environment, the Wesleyan University Libraries play an important role. Wesleyan's Special Collections & Archives (SC&A) is the home of the University's archives, local history, manuscript, and rare book collections. The Special Collections is made up of over 45,000 volumes of rare books ranging from medieval manuscript codices and early printed books to 21st century fine press books, and covers numerous formats, including books, pamphlets, broadsides, and maps. It also holds a strong collection of over 1,000 artists' books with one strength of the artists' books being social issues and social justice.

Reporting to the Acting Dietrich Family Director of Special Collections & Archives (SC&A), this term limited position (January 2023-December 2023), will collaborate with faculty, librarians, and students to provide innovative instruction and research services using SC&A holdings in the areas of rare books, the history of the book, manuscripts, artists' books, and primary source literacy.

This position will split the instruction load with the Acting Dietrich Family Director. In a typical academic year, the Instruction & Reference Librarian would teach 35-50 class sessions. They will also help provide effective reference/research consultation both in-person and virtually.
RESPONSIBILITIES:

* Develops and conducts instruction sessions using Special Collections & Archives resources for a diverse community and student body, working across a range of arts and humanities disciplines. Primarily sessions will relate to one or more of the following: rare books, history of the book, manuscripts, and artists' books.
* Works closely with faculty to select materials for classroom instruction, prepares multimodal context for these materials, and creates instructional materials such as lesson plans, assignments, and handouts to integrate Special Collections materials into the curriculum.
* Assesses and adjusts instruction strategies and techniques based on learning objectives, student outcomes, and faculty feedback.
* Provides reference services in the SC&A reading room, online, and by telephone, and staffs the reading room 6-8 hours per week.
* Collaborates with SC&A colleagues on collection development decisions for rare books and manuscripts in order to support the curriculum and research needs of the university.
* Assists with staffing events, open houses, and additional outreach activities.
* Performs other duties as assigned.

This is a .75 FTE on campus position that will work year round .

Basic Qualifications

* M.L.S. from an ALA-accredited academic program required.

* Minimum of two years of extensive experience cataloging early to modern books, including other formats such as broadsides and graphics, in a research library setting.

* Demonstrated knowledge of cataloging standards and principles, including DCRM suite, RDA, LCSH, RBMS and AAT thesauri, LC-PCC rules and authority control practices.

* Demonstrated knowledge of integrated library systems (Ex Libris Alma preferred) and bibliographic utilities (OCLC Connexion).

* Reading knowledge of one or more non-English languages (preferably Latin, German or Russian).

* Must have a valid driver's license.

Additional Information

Review of applications will begin immediately.

Position Description

Duties & Responsibilities

* Performs original and complex copy cataloging of books, serials, ephemera, and other printed materials in various languages and subject areas, adhering to RDA, DCRM suite, or other standards as appropriate.

* Collaborates in the development, evaluation, and documentation of cataloging policies, procedures, and workflows.

* Participates in bibliographic remediation activities and projects to enhance description, address harmful and oppressive description, and facilitate discovery of library holdings.

* Participates in shelf-reading and retrospective conversion projects.

* Contributes to Houghton Library Public Services service point rotation.

* Maintains knowledge of current and emerging national and international standards for cataloging and metadata, including DCRM suite, RDA, LCSH, BIBFRAME, linked data, and other appropriate standards.

* Maintains an active presence in local and national professional organizations.

* Collaborate within the section and across other units and departments to ensure consistent metadata description to provide seamless access to the collections.

* Represents Houghton within the Harvard cataloging and library community, both informally through communication and collaboration, and formally by serving on committees and working groups.

* Travels to the Harvard Depository storage facility in Southborough as needed to perform inventory control and accessioning of large collections.

* Special projects and other duties as assigned.

Supervisory Responsibilities

* This position may supervise library assistants, student employees, and temporary staff.

Job Summary

Harvard Library seeks an innovative, collaborative, and motivated Special Collections Cataloger in Houghton Library. The incumbent will be responsible for providing original and complex copy cataloging for all printed materials following prescribed national standards. The incumbent will assist the Head of Rare Book Section to support the Houghton Library's efforts to catalog, preserve, and provide access to books, serials, ephemera, and other printed holdings in a variety of formats across Houghton's curatorial areas. Houghton Library's collections range across the history of civilization with strengths in European and American history and literature and performing arts.

The position reports to the Head, Rare Books Section for Houghton Library. Houghton Library has recently joined with the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, Fine Arts Library, Harvard Film Archive, and Harvard University Archives to create Archives, Arts, and Special Collections of Harvard Library, a new administrative unit currently planning integrated approaches to technical services for archives and special collections across the portfolio.