[Asis-l] Digital Resource Librarian position

[Richard Hill]

[Posted for Marianne Affifi, afifi at usc.edu  Dick Hill]

Digital Resources Librarian
Position #219
Librarian/Information Services Professional

Information Development & Management
Information Services Division
University of Southern California


POSITION SUMMARY
The University of Southern California is seeking an energetic, highly 
motivated Digital Resources Librarian. The successful candidate will join 
Information Development & Management with primary reporting relationship to 
the Project Manager, Collection Information Systems and secondary with the 
Director, Electronic Resources. Information Development & Management is the 
group whose responsibility it is to foster development of staff and 
projects related to the middle-space between the traditional library and IT 
organization. A key goal of this group is to develop a cadre of 
professionals who are comfortable working in this middle space and 
recognize the opportunities present when the talents of librarians, 
computer scientists and other information professionals are brought 
together to solve problems involved in information delivery and access. As 
part of this group, the successful candidate is responsible for building 
relationships with other professionals in order to create a climate in 
which innovative services and programs can be developed and flourish.

The Digital Resources Librarian actively collaborates with other 
professionals at USC to develop services and programs related to its 
digital collections and to promote use of current and emerging technologies 
as applied in digital libraries within the university and profession. In 
order to foster a community of practice interested in digital libraries 
within the university, the incumbent will coordinate the activities of 
ISD's Digital Library Roundtable, a group of faculty and information 
professionals who work with digital collections and meet monthly to discuss 
issues and emerging technologies. She/He will invite speakers and set the 
agenda for its meetings in collaboration with DIM staff and Roundtable 
members.

Her/his core responsibilities will include serving on collection 
development councils as required to facilitate selection of electronic 
resources and other materials in digital format such as digital collections 
created by university faculty, staff and partner institutions; and 
prioritizing new digital archives for creation and/or migration to the Web.

She/He will coordinate the evaluation of resource overlap among aggregators 
in collaboration with selectors; manage licenses and intellectual property 
rights of digital resources; gather and analyze usage statistics; and work 
with the appropriate departments to see that electronic resource 
information is current.

A major responsibility of this position will be evaluating policies and 
procedures related to the selection of electronic resources and digital 
archives and the maintenance of the Electronic Resources Database. She/He 
will make recommendations on process improvements and work with the 
appropriate departments to implement changes and coordinate migration of 
the current Electronic Resources Database to the Collection Information 
System (CIS) currently under implementation.

Another key responsibility will be serving as program manager for the CIS. 
In this role, she/he will coordinate the programmatic needs of the CIS with 
teaching faculty, ISD personnel, and external partners including outreach 
and investigation of new collection options and system enhancements. 
Working with appropriate departments, especially the library systems group 
which is responsible for the CIS's technical infrastructure, the Digital 
Resources Librarian will prioritize collections and enhancements for their 
inclusion in the system; create proposals and budgets for system 
enhancements and collection creation; negotiate for the resources needed to 
complete this work; coordinate training of contributors; publicize 
acquisition of new collections and new system features.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Founded in 1879, USC is an international center of learning, enrolling more 
than 30,000 FTE undergraduate, graduate, and professional students on the 
University Park and the Health Sciences campuses and offering degrees 
through its College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Graduate School and 16 
professional schools. It ranks in the top 10 among private research 
universities in the United States in federally funded research and in 
voluntary support. USC is one of only four private research universities in 
the western United States elected to membership in the Association of 
American Universities, a group that represents the top one percent of the 
nation's accredited universities and which accounts for nearly two-thirds 
of all federally sponsored research.

INFORMATION SERVICES DIVISION
The University Libraries are an integral part of USC's Information Services 
Division (ISD), a unified organization with the explicit goal of providing 
highest quality and fully integrated computer, telephone, and research 
services. To accomplish its goal, the ISD is structured into three primary 
components: Resources and Services (which includes Information Development 
& Management), Infrastructure Core, and the Center for Scholarly 
Technology, with central support units in Administrative Services, 
Operations, and Advancement.

USC's libraries house, in Doheny Memorial Library, Leavey Library, and 
twelve specialized subject libraries, collections of more than three 
million volumes, over 5,000,000 microforms, 3,000,000 photographs, nearly 
44,000 linear feet of manuscripts and archives, and subscribe to over 120 
electronic databases and more than 14,000 journals in print and electronic 
formats. Annually, reference transactions number close to 50,000 and 
approximately 1,100 instructional presentations are made to 16,000 
participants.

USC is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for 
Research Libraries, the Digital Library Federation, the Statewide 
California Electronic Library Consortium and the Greater Western Library 
Alliance. Additional information about the University of Southern 
California and the Information Services Division can be obtained at  and at .


EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
The successful candidate will have a strong commitment to meeting the needs 
of the University's scholarly community; a strong customer service 
orientation; an ability to interact effectively with students, faculty, and 
staff from diverse cultural backgrounds; an ability to manage multiple 
priorities and meet deadlines in a dynamic, changing environment; and a 
willingness to take risks in approaching solutions.

Required: Graduate degree in library science from an ALA-accredited 
institution or equivalent combination of relevant advanced degree and 
academic research library experience; enthusiasm for working with 
technology; knowledge of emerging information technologies such as XML and 
their application in a research library environment; experience in managing 
digital libraries and electronic resources and developing digital 
collections; knowledge of intellectual property and licensing issues as 
related to electronic resources and digital archives; familiarity with 
standards applicable in digital libraries such as Dublin Core, EAD and 
METS; experience collaborating with librarians and a variety of information 
technology professionals on complex projects; ability to work effectively 
as part of a team; and excellent oral and written communication skills.

Desirable: Knowledge of scholarly publishing environment. Experience in 
systems administration, analysis and/or management. Experience in leading 
projects in an academic environment; experience collaborating with 
librarians and other information technology professionals on complex 
projects. Experience in specialized collection development with electronic 
resources.

APPOINTMENT RANK/SALARY
Librarian II (minimum salary $45,000) or Librarian III (minimum salary 
$50,000); appointment rank and salary commensurate with experience and 
qualifications.

Librarians at USC have faculty status, with the option for appointment on 
either the Continuing Appointment track or the renewable Contract Status 
track. Appointment to the Continuing Appointment track requires the 
potential to meet the University's requirements for the granting of 
continuing appointment, which requires demonstrated excellence in 
librarianship, substantive and continuing contributions to the profession, 
and university and community service. Appointment to the renewable Contract 
Status track requires the potential to demonstrate excellence in 
librarianship and effectiveness in meeting contract standards and provisions.


BENEFITS
The position is full-time on a 12-month contract. Benefits include a choice 
of university sponsored retirement programs, 22 paid vacation days per 
year, a choice of medical and dental plans, and tuition assistance.


APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Candidates should submit a letter of application, resume, and three 
references including their email addresses and other contact information to:

Nannette Edelman, () Coordinator
Search Committee
ATTN: # 219
Information Services Division
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA90089-0182

Review of candidates will begin immediately and will continue until the 
position is filled. Because this is a faculty appointment, candidates 
eligible for appointment to Librarian III may be asked to provide three 
additional references to Nannette Edelman, Coordinator, Search Committee.

Review of applications will begin mid-November 2003 and continue until the 
position if filled.  For more information about this position please 
contact Deborah Holmes-Wong, Chair, Digital Resources Librarian, Search 
Committee at dhwong at usc.edu

USC is an EO/AA employer.


Rev.  9/29/03


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