Head of the Social Sciences Division - University of California, Berkeley Library

POSITION DESCRIPTION

The University of California, Berkeley Library seeks a collaborative, service-oriented, and forward-thinking librarian with demonstrated management and collection development experience to advance the Library's support of research, teaching, and learning of the social sciences.

The Environment

The UC Berkeley Library is an internationally renowned teaching and research facility at one of the nation's premier public universities. A highly diverse and intellectually rich environment, Berkeley serves a campus community of 33,000 undergraduate students, over 12,000 graduate students, and 1,500 faculty. With a collection of more than 13 million volumes and a collections budget of over $15 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 Social Sciences Division is comprised of librarians, library career staff, and student library employees, who support students and faculty in twelve social science departments within the College of Letters & Science, six professional schools (Business, Education, Environmental Design, Information, Journalism, Public Policy, and Social Welfare), three international and area studies programs (African Studies, Latin American Studies, and East European Studies), and an array of organized research units.

Responsibilities

The Head of the Social Sciences Division provides leadership for developing the Library's personnel, collections, operations, and user-centered services related to social sciences across multiple campus libraries. The Division includes the Business Library, Environmental Design Library, and Social Research Library which are staffed by 17 librarians and library professionals with responsibility for collections, instruction, reference, academic outreach, and operations. The management position directly supervises the librarians and a chief operations manager; the chief operations manager supervises the career library staff in the Division.

The Head works collaboratively with library colleagues to assess collections, determine priorities, and develop departmental service plans that align with the academic mission of the university. Mindful of current trends related to research, data, and scholarly communications in social science 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, data support, digitization projects, and donor engagement) supporting the current and future research needs of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students.

Reporting to the Senior Associate University Librarian, the Head participates in library-wide management teams that work collaboratively to guide and coordinate the strategic directions, programs, services, facilities, and policies associated with the UC Berkeley Library. Under the leadership of the Associate University Librarian for Scholarly Resources, the Head serves as the collection fund group coordinator for social science librarians across campus, providing oversight of substantial collections, endowments, gifts and various budgets, and working with colleagues to develop collection policies and strategies for the benefit of the Library overall.

The Head is a change management leader who will build strong links between and across disciplines, departments, campus libraries, and user communities. To be an effective manager, the Head will be 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 professional development; and foster an environment of collaboration, creative thinking, and continuous improvement.

In addition to providing leadership for the division, this person will have responsibility as a library liaison and selector for a department or discipline that matches their subject expertise and Library needs, selecting materials in all formats; 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 sessions; contributing to virtual and in-person reference services for the social sciences; and staying abreast of scholarly communication issues.

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. The UC Berkeley Library is committed to supporting and encouraging a multicultural environment and seeks candidates who can make positive and imaginative contributions in a context of broad diversity.

Librarians are entitled to appropriate professional development leave, vacation leave, sick leave, and all other benefits granted to 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.

This librarian-manager position is not represented by a bargaining unit and is covered by the UC Academic Personnel Manual (APM).

This is primarily an on-site position, with partial remote/telework within California permitted.

Department: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/

Advanced degree

• Minimum of six years of professional library experience with record of professional contributions
• Minimum of three years experience supervising and/or leading librarians and career staff
• Minimum of three years experience providing reference and instructional services in an academic or research library
• Minimum of three years experience participating in collection development and effectively managing collection funds in an academic or research library

• Master's degree from an ALA-accredited institution or equivalent international degree.
• Management experience in an academic library environment
• Demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Demonstrated effectiveness working in a highly-collaborative, matrixed environment
• Experience providing highly responsive public service in a library
• Experience effectively leading organizational change
• Knowledge of initiatives and trends related to research in social science fields and to the evolving scholarly communication landscape
• Experience developing innovative services to enhance research, teaching, and learning

• 3-5 required (contact information only)

UC Berkeley is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The excellence of the institution requires an environment in which the diverse community of faculty, students, and staff are welcome and included. Successful candidates will demonstrate knowledge and skill related to ensuring equity and inclusion in the activities of their academic position (e.g., teaching, research, and service, as applicable).

The University of California, Berkeley is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status.

Please refer to the University of California's Affirmative Action Policy and the University of California's Anti-Discrimination Policy.

In searches when letters of reference are required all letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. Please refer potential referees, including when letters are provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service or career center), to the UC Berkeley statement of confidentiality prior to submitting their letter.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.