Head of the Arts & Humanities Division

University of California, Berkeley Library

Hiring Range: Librarian

$86,204-$101,145 per annum, based on qualifications

This is a full time appointment available starting August 2018

The University of California, Berkeley seeks a collaborative, service-oriented librarian with demonstrated management and collection development experience to advance the Library’s engagement with research and teaching in support of the arts and humanities.

The Environment

The UC Berkeley Library is an internationally renowned research and teaching facility at one of the nation’s premier public universities. In a highly diverse and intellectually rich environment, Berkeley serves a campus community of 30,000 undergraduate students, 10,300 graduate students, and a faculty of 1,500. The Library comprises 25 campus libraries – including the Doe/Moffitt Libraries, the Bancroft Library, the C. V. Starr East Asian Library and subject specialty libraries. With a collection of more than 11 million volumes and a collections budget of nearly $20 million, the Library offers extensive collections in all formats and robust services to connect users with those collections and build their related research skills. The Library’s mission and strategic plan can be viewed at http://stories.lib.berkeley.edu/strategicplan/.

The Library’s Arts & Humanities Division includes five libraries – Art History/Classics, Graduate Services, Morrison, Music, and South/Southeast Asia — that serve the Berkeley campus community and broader communities of scholars. Collectively the Division facilitates access to research-level print and digital collections to support research and teaching programs related to arts, language, literature, philosophy and religion in a multicultural, global context. Additionally, the Division is home to several of the library liaisons/selectors who support international and area studies such as Middle East/Near East, South/Southeast Asia, and Europe.

Responsibilities

The Head of the Arts & Humanities Division provides leadership for enhancing the collections, operations, and user-centered services across the Division. The Division includes approximately 12 librarians and 11 library professionals with responsibility for collections, instruction, reference, and academic outreach. As a manager, this position directly supervises the librarians and a chief operations manager who supervises the career library staff in the Division.

The Head works collaboratively with library colleagues to assess strengths and weaknesses in the various collections, determine priorities, and develop departmental service plans that enhance and support the academic mission of the University. Mindful of current trends related to research and scholarly communications in arts and humanities fields, and in partnership with colleagues in the Library, across campus and at other institutions, the Head will play a guiding role in initiatives (such as collaborative collection development agreements, digitization projects, and donor engagement) supporting the current and future research needs of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

The position reports to the Associate University Librarian for Educational Initiatives & User Services, with a dotted line to the Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources, and is a member of the library-wide management team. The management team works collaboratively to guide and coordinate the strategic directions, programs, services, collections, facilities, and policies associated with public service units of the UC Berkeley Library. The Head serves as the collection fund group coordinator for arts and humanities librarians across campus — including many librarians specializing in international and area studies — providing oversight of substantial collections, endowments, gifts and various budgets. This position works with colleagues to develop collection policies and strategies for the benefit of the Library overall.

Our organization continues to evolve in the rapidly changing world of higher education and information resources and services, and thus it is essential that the Head be adaptable, forward- looking, and a good change-management leader. To be an effective manager, the Head will be a fair, progressive leader to Library staff; lead department-wide and library-wide discussions; aid in creating and communicating Library policies; manage personnel and financial matters; contribute to department-wide and library-wide priority setting and project management; encourage ongoing staff development; and foster an environment of collaboration, creative thinking, and continuous improvement.

The Division Head will engage in activities akin to others in the Division: providing research consultations for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students; developing guides and web pages to facilitate user access to resources; offering orientations and instructional seminars; serving as a liaison to an academic department or program; selecting materials in all formats; contributing to reference services for the arts and humanities; and staying abreast of scholarly communication issues. A significant portion of collection development is coordinated through a number of consortial agreements with libraries in the University of California system, Stanford University, and national organizations. The Head collaborates with selectors within the division to identify relevant online resources to purchase through campus funds or group agreements negotiated by the California Digital Library and the Center for Research Libraries.

UC Berkeley librarians are expected to participate in library-wide planning and governance, and work effectively in a shared decision-making environment. Advancement in the Librarian series is based in part on professional contributions beyond the primary assignment; the successful candidate will show evidence or promise of such contributions to the Library, campus, UC System, and profession.

Minimum basic qualification:

• Advanced degree by application date

Additional required qualifications by start date in position:

• Experience supervising and/or leading librarians and career staff

• Experience effectively leading organizational change

• Demonstrated analytical, organizational, problem solving, project management, and communication skills

• Experience providing reference and instructional services related to the arts and/or humanities in an academic or research library environment

• Experience participating in collection development and effectively managing collection funds in an academic or research library

• Demonstrated commitment to providing highly responsive public service

• Ability to foster and maintain partnerships with a broad-based constituency

• Ability to work effectively with diverse staff and campus user communities

Additional preferred qualifications:

• MLIS from an ALA-accredited institution or equivalent degree

• Demonstrated effectiveness working in a highly-collaborative, matrixed environment

• Management experience in an academic library environment

• Experience developing innovative services to enhance research and/or teaching

• Experience in grant writing and fundraising

• Knowledge of cataloging and access issues for print and digital collections

The Library at the University of California, Berkeley is committed to the support and encouragement of a multicultural environment and seeks candidates who can make a positive contribution in a context of ethnic and cultural diversity.

As a management position, this librarian position is not represented by a bargaining unit and is covered by the UC Academic Personnel Manual (APM).

Librarians are entitled to appropriate professional development leave, vacation leave, sick leave, and all other benefits granted non-faculty academic personnel. The University has an excellent retirement system and sponsors a variety of group health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans in addition to other benefits.