UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Literatures & Digital Humanities Librarian
Arts & Humanities Division
Hiring Range: Associate Librarian
$53, 116 – $73,126 per annum, based upon qualifications
This is a full-time appointment available starting January 2016.
The University of California, Berkeley seeks a collaborative and service-oriented librarian to support world-class research and teaching through the development of the Library’s research collections and engagement with faculty and students associated with scholarship and practices in English and American Literature, comparative literature, and digital humanities.
The Environment
The UC Berkeley Library is an internationally renowned research and teaching facility at one of the nation’s premier public universities. A highly diverse and intellectually rich environment, Berkeley serves a campus community of 25,500 undergraduate students, 10,300 graduate students, and 1,500 faculty. With a collection of more than 11 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 Arts & Humanities Division supports core research collections and services located in Doe Library/Gardner MAIN Stacks and four additional library locations in Doe Library — the Art History/Classics Library, Graduate Services, Morrison Library, and South/Southeast Asia Library – as well as The Hargrove Music Library located across campus. With a staff of 14 librarians, 16 library staff, and over 50 student library employees– these libraries are primary service points and provide research-level print and digital collections to support the research and teaching programs related to visual and performing arts, humanities, and international and area studies in a multicultural, global context. Visit http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ for more information about the UC Berkeley Library.
Responsibilities
Reporting to the Head of the Arts & Humanities Division, the Literatures & Digital Humanities Librarian supports research, teaching, and scholarship by shaping the Library’s rich research collection; developing research tools to facilitate user access to resources in various formats; providing specialized orientations, instructional sessions, and research consultations for faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students; and contributing to reference services for the humanities and social sciences. The incumbent cultivates and sustains connections with faculty, students and staff of key academic departments, programs, and centers, including serving as a resource for emerging technologies, scholarly communication, and research methods to meet the evolving needs of these fields.
Collection development/management includes responsibility for selection, acquisition, access, assessment, and disposition of wide-ranging resources in all formats that are appropriate to the research and teaching needs of the UC Berkeley campus. Through skilled management of collections budgets, including endowments and collaborative purchases, the incumbent guides the development of the core collections and special collections in the disciplines of English and American literature, and comparative literature published in English and supporting North America, the United Kingdom, and other English-speaking nations.
In the area of digital humanities, the incumbent will be a leader, change agent, and expert resource for subject librarians and special collections curators involved in facilitating faculty and student digital humanities projects. In addition, the selected candidate will create and coordinate educational programing for library staff focused on digital arts and humanities issues and projects. Working with a network of subject specialists and other relevant staff, s/he will conduct regular environmental scans of the campus environment to identify emerging trends and scholarly digital projects; and participate in campus digital humanities groups and departments that support emerging digital humanities scholarship.
In order to effectively enhance access and support interdisciplinary research, the incumbent partners with other campus colleagues specializing in social sciences, humanities, area studies, international documents, and digitization, as well as with the California Digital Library and the Center for Research Libraries. UC Berkeley librarians and academic staff are expected to participate in library-wide planning and governance, and work effectively in a shared decision-making environment.
Advancement is partially based upon 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.
Qualifications
Minimum Basic Qualification at time of application:
• American Library Association-accredited Master’s degree or equivalent degree
Additional Required Qualifications by start date of position:
• Experience participating in collection development in an academic or research library
• Experience providing reference and/or instructional services related to humanities, social sciences, and/or area studies in an academic or research library environment
• Working experience with digital humanities research tools and approaches related to the discipline of literature (e.g. text mining, text analysis, electronic literature)
• Demonstrated commitment to providing highly responsive public service, and ability to work effectively with diverse staff and campus user communities
• Demonstrated understanding of the information needs of researchers studying topics in humanities, English and American literature, comparative literature, and scholarship in the digital humanities
• Knowledge of scholarly communication issues and trends within the English and American literature, and comparative literature disciplines and practice
• Excellent analytical, organizational, problem solving, interpersonal, and communication skills
• Capacity to thrive in a dynamic environment, respond effectively to shifting needs and priorities of library constituents, and afford a willingness to be flexible with liaison and selector assignments as assigned
Additional Preferred Qualifications:
• Advanced degree in a related field (such as English literature, American literature, comparative literature, or other humanities focus)
• Experience developing innovative services to enhance research and/or teaching
• Experience engaging in collaborative projects and programs at the local, regional, national, and/or international level
• Experience with grant writing and fundraising
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 ethnic and cultural diversity.
UC professional librarians are academic appointees and are represented by an exclusive bargaining agent, University Council – American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT). This position is in the bargaining unit.
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.
This recruitment will remain open until filled.
Submit applications online at http://apptrkr.com/697338.
Applications must include a cover letter detailing a statement of qualifications, curriculum vitae noting degrees and relevant work experience, and the names and contact information of three references who are knowledgeable about the applicant’s qualifications for this position. References will only be contacted for individuals under serious consideration.
The University of California 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 identify, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct
Send inquiries to:
Susan E. Wong
Director, Library Human Resources
Phone: 510-642-3778
Email: librec@library.berkeley.edu