The Fine & Applied Arts Librarian promotes use of library resources, services, and facilities by developing outreach programs, by partnering with units across campus, and through assessing the evolving needs of today’s fine arts majors and faculty to implement new services as warranted. This position provides direct user services in areas of teaching, research, outreach, technology, programs, and events in a welcoming and intellectually engaging learning environment. This position also manages the day-to-day operations of the Fine Arts Library. The Fine & Applied Arts Librarian position is a 12-month tenure track faculty position.
Target Salary: $70,000
Position Responsibilities:
Teaching
- Serves as the liaison librarian for the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts.
- Serves as librarian-in-residence within the Fine Arts Library. Ensures the library is open the maximum number of hours possible during the week. Provides on-site consultations for faculty and students and coordinates library-related public programming including events and exhibits.
Relationship Development
- Develops and maintains positive working relationships outside the library with administrators, library representatives, faculty, and students in academic and affiliated units for assigned subject areas. Meets and/or communicates regularly with administrators and library representatives.
- Communicates regularly with department faculty and students through email, departmental websites, or other channels as appropriate. Attends departmental meetings of academic departments, schools, and colleges and/or holds regular office hours in academic departments, schools, and colleges if applicable.
- Establishes and sustains positive working relationships with all levels of staff – administrators, faculty, staff, and student employees – within the library.
Scholarly Communication
- Develops and maintains working knowledge of scholarly communication and open access developments and trends as well as local, statewide, regional, and national initiatives in order to be able to consult with faculty and students and provide support for campus-level initiatives.
- Works with Open Educational Resources Coordinator and other librarians to identify, review, and promote open educational resources for teaching and research.
- Compiles and maintains academic profiles for assigned units. Manages special projects or initiatives related to academic units as assigned.
Collection Management
- Develops and manages print, electronic, and recorded media collections in assigned areas in accordance with current collection management policies.
- Manages and reviews approval plan profiles on a regular basis.
- Manages allocations for the purchase of library materials for assigned subject areas.
- Works with disciplinary teams, the Head of Acquisitions, and the Collections Strategist Librarian to prioritize purchases and coordinate collection management projects, as necessary.
- Participates in library collection review projects.
- Develops and curates physical and virtual community collections that feature collection resources on a focused or timely topics and in support of curricular initiatives.
- Performs regular assessment to maintain sustainable and usable collections for faculty and students.
Research Support
- Provides research assistance to primary constituency on the use of library and related resources in person (by appointment) or remotely (via chat, phone, and email) to primary constituency.
- Responsible for responding to Email-A-Librarian inquiries in assigned disciplinary areas.
- Collaborates with scholars on advanced research projects or digital scholarship projects as appropriate.
- Participates as a team member in digital scholarship projects as appropriate.
Instruction/Information & Data Delivery
- Teaches instructional sessions within credit courses in assigned departments and/or works with individual students and small groups outside of credit courses as requested.
- Develops and provides specialized instruction on library and related resources and the literature of a field through classes, group training sessions, and workshops sponsored by the library or related organizations.
- Conducts tours and orientation sessions for new and prospective students, faculty, and other patrons.
- Develops and maintains subject and course guides and special topic guides for the library website and appropriate university websites and systems.
- Develops and maintains online tutorials and open educational resources for use within library and university online venues and in support OU online learning initiatives.
Other Liaison Duties
- Contributes content for the library website.
- Compiles and submits activity reports and statistics for liaison activities related to research consultations, instructional activities, outreach programs, and other activities in a timely manner into public services statistics system, ensuring accuracy and completeness. Creates reports related to activities as requested.
- Develops and maintains subject and interdisciplinary knowledge and knowledge of academic librarianship. Keeps abreast of new technologies/trends and how they may apply within academic libraries and to assigned disciplinary fields. Attends and participates in professional and scholarly conferences, workshops, and webinars.
- Performs special duties as assigned.
Branch Management
- Responsible for the management of the Fine Arts Library, including daily management of library services and operations and supervision of branch staff.
- Participates in development library and branch policy. Implements library policies and practices within the Fine Arts Library.
Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity
- Participates in research and scholarly activity through presentations, publications, or creative activities.
Professional, University & Administrative Service
- Participates in library and university committees and task forces related to primary job assignment as appropriate or assigned.
- Serves and participates at the local, state, regional, national and/or international level in professional and scholarly associations as appropriate to position and experience.
- Maintains up-to-date professional knowledge and skills in areas related to primary job assignment by participating in appropriate professional development and continuing education activities in the library, on campus, and within the library profession.
Job Titles Position May Supervise
- Student employees
- Graduate research assistants
- Staff
Required Qualifications:
Required Education
- Master’s degree in library and information science from an ALA-accredited program or a terminal degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., doctorate).
Required Skills & Proficiencies
- Three or more years of professional experience working in an academic library setting..
- Demonstrated commitment to service excellence.
- Demonstrated ability to establish and sustain positive working relationships with all levels of staff—administrators, faculty, staff, and student employees—within the library and university.
Preferred Qualifications:
- Advanced degree in music, fine arts, performing arts, or related discipline.
- Experience working in a fine arts or music library.
- Strong organizational, project, and time management skills to lead and/or coordinate multiple projects.
- Experience in providing instruction to undergraduates in face to face and online environments, with an emphasis on teaching students about library resources and services and information and data literacy in one-on-one and in group settings.
- Demonstrated knowledge of trends in library instruction and information and data literacy and instructional technology concepts, trends, pedagogies, and assessment.
- Experience developing online subject guides to library resources and/or Web content for users.
- Understanding of the academic library’s role in teaching, learning, and research and knowledge of current and emerging trends in higher education, undergraduate education, academic librarianship, scholarly communication, library services trends, and undergraduate services.
- Ability to perform detail-oriented tasks, analyze needs and develop action plans, and coordinate with appropriate personnel as required.
- Strong interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills. Ability to communicate effectively via email and telephone.
- Demonstrated technology proficiency and capabilities working with personal computers and software, the Web, social media, and library-relevant information technology applications.
- Interest in participating in professional development and continuing education activities, professional and scholarly associations, and presenting, and publishing on work-related topics.
The Successful Candidate Will
- Be curious — demonstrating a genuine interest in the research and creative work of fine arts faculty and students, and in the evolving landscape of academic librarianship.
- Be adaptable — responding effectively to shifting priorities, diverse patron needs, and emerging technologies in both library services and fine arts disciplines.
- Be approachable — creating a welcoming environment in the Fine Arts Library that encourages faculty, students, and staff to seek out research assistance and collaboration.
- Be proactive — anticipating the needs of the Fine Arts community rather than waiting for requests, and taking initiative in developing new services, programs, and partnerships.
- Be collaborative — working comfortably across boundaries with library colleagues, academic departments, and campus partners to achieve shared goals.
- Be organized — managing competing responsibilities — from branch operations to collection development to instruction — with consistency and attention to detail.
- Be a connector — building meaningful relationships across campus that position the Fine Arts Library as an indispensable hub for creative and scholarly activity.
Application Instructions
Applications received by April 30th will receive full consideration. Interested candidates are asked to submit the following materials:
- Comprehensive cover letter
- Current curriculum vita
- Full contact information for three professional references, including current supervisor..
All application materials may be submitted online through the Interfolio website at apply.interfolio.com/183088. Please contact Brian Rossmann at brian.rossmann@ou.edu with any questions.
About University Libraries
University Libraries seeks to create an atmosphere in which diverse thought and experiences are valued and that promises opportunities to succeed and thrive. Named an “Education Futurist” and recipient of a Campus Technology Innovators Award, the University of Oklahoma Libraries’ award-winning facilities and resources create opportunities for faculty and students to excel. We invest in our organization by recruiting individuals committed to superior user experience and actively strengthening and expanding our skills and capabilities.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries’ team consists of 135 library faculty, professional staff, and classified staff, as well as graduate and undergraduate assistants. Facilities include the Bizzell Memorial Library located in the heart of campus, the Donald E. Pray Law Library on the Norman campus, the Robert M. Bird Health Sciences Library on the Oklahoma City campus, the Schusterman Library on the Tulsa campus, and three branch libraries: the National Weather Center Library, Youngblood Energy Library, and Fine Arts Library.
The University of Oklahoma Libraries is the largest academic research library in the state of Oklahoma containing more than 5.4 million volumes (including 1.8 million eBooks), 3.6 million microform materials, over 300 databases, and 170,000 serials. Outstanding special collections include the History of Science Collections, with 100,000 volumes; the Western History Collections, with over 12,000 linear feet of manuscripts, 2 million photographs, 80,000 volumes, 2,700 sound recordings, 5,000 cartographic resources, and 580 works of art; the Harry W. Bass Business History Collections, with over 23,000 volumes; the John and Mary Nichols Rare Books and Special Collections, with over 12,000 volumes; and the Chinese Literature Translation Archive, which houses nearly 10,000 volumes and thousands of documents relating to translators of modern Chinese literature in the West.
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About the University
The University of Oklahoma serves the educational, cultural, economic, and healthcare needs of the state, region, and nation from three campuses: Norman, Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, and Tulsa Schusterman Center. The university is home to over 31,000 students, more than 3,500 faculty and 8,000 staff across all three campuses and is supported by a $2 billion budget and an endowment of $1.52 billion. In 2014, OU became the first public institution ever to rank #1 nationally in the recruitment of National Merit Scholars. The 277-acre Research Campus in Norman was named the No. 1 research campus in the nation by the Association of Research Parks in 2013.
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