Posted to IASSIST on: 2017-11-27
Employer: University of Southern California
Employer URL: https://www.usc.edu/
Description
The University of Southern California (USC) Libraries seek an innovative, service-oriented information professional to lead the Von KleinSmid Center (VKC) Library for International and Public Affairs. This position reports to the Director of the Sciences and Social Sciences Division. The Head will provide leadership, guidance, and management of a team of librarians and staff to ensure quality services and collections to support the teaching, learning, and research needs of USC students, faculty, and staff in the Sol Price School of Public Policy, political science, international relations, and related undergraduate and graduate disciplines, and interdisciplinary majors and minors in the Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences as well as other Schools. The Head will be responsible for fostering creativity and collaboration in a team-based environment. The Head will also facilitate communication and coordinate services and collections within the library, across the Division, and in conjunction with the USC Libraries emerging Collections Convergence Initiative. The Head will cultivate strong relationships with faculty, students, campus partners, and the wider library community.
This position requires a commitment to developing student-focused services and a combination of skills and confidence that will contribute to the transformation of instruction, outreach, reference, and collections at USC Libraries. We seek candidates motivated by a passion to develop transformative library services and invested in the future of librarianship. The successful candidate is expected to be creative in identifying and solving problems within a collegial and collaborative environment. The successful candidate must be knowledgeable of current relevant library and scholarly information trends and practices, and be able to apply this understanding to make a significant, positive impact on the USC community. Duties include weekend and evening hours.
Reporting to the Director, Sciences and Social Sciences Division, the Head will:
- Lead and manage the VKC Library in the context of the Libraries' strategic plan
- Coordinate and supervise all VKC librarians to fulfill reference, instruction, outreach, and collection development assignments
- Provide leadership in developing and assessing innovative research support services in the social sciences using disciplinary and specialized materials, government information, social science data, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
- Provide in-person, virtual reference, and research consultation services
- Provide teaching and research-focused information services, including developing and conducting instruction programs focused on advanced resources for students in the Price School and in Dornsife College
- Participate in library and other committees as assigned
- Engage in professional and/or subject discipline organizations, research, or publishing that will have a significant, positive impact on the VKC Library and the USC Libraries strategic plan, and advance the University’s strategic plan and vision
- Provide evening and weekend service as assigned.
Minimum qualifications:
MLS from an ALA-accredited program or non-U.S. equivalent is typically required for a librarian appointment at USC. In addition, candidates must provide evidence of:
- Undergraduate degree in the social sciences or humanities
- At least three years of experience working in an academic, research, or special library, with increasing leadership or managerial responsibilities
- Experience working with specialized information resources in the social sciences
- Experience with managing budgets and organizational planning
- A strong commitment to public services and user-centered reference and instructional services within an academic or research library setting
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines
- Effective oral and written communication skills
- Experience in solving problems independently and collaboratively
- Knowledge of current professional trends, especially those relating to research support services to a diverse population on and off campus.
Desirable qualifications:
- Graduate degree in the social sciences
- Demonstrated knowledge of scholarly communication trends in the social sciences, social science data curation, and research data management
- Experience managing projects in a library, academic, or information environment
Archived on: 2018-01-16