Electronic Resources Librarian and Unit Head

POSITION: Electronic Resources Librarian and Unit Head

RANK: Assistant University Librarian (Tenure Track)

REPORTS TO: Chair, Acquisitions & Licensing Department

SALARY: Anticipated starting salary is $43,500. Commensurate with selected applicant’s qualifications.

REQUISITION #: 0704465

DEADLINE DATE: 1/31/08

Please note that this posting has specific instructions for the submission of application materials (see below: APPLICATION PROCESS). Failure to submit all of the required documents as instructed, may result in your application not being considered.

JOB SUMMARY:
The University of Florida Libraries is seeking a creative, skilled, and enthusiastic individual to serve as the Electronic Resources Librarian. This tenure track faculty member is responsible for the expert management of all acquisitions and licensing functions of library electronic resources. The position supervises two support staff and manages the activities of the Electronic Resources Unit within the Acquisitions & Licensing Department. The unit is responsible for managing license agreements, paying invoices, compiling and loading bibliographic records, and maintaining online access to all the electronic resources acquired by the library. The Electronic Resources Librarian collaborates and coordinates communication with Library Administration, representatives of the Florida Center for Library Automation, Health Science Center Library and the Legal Information Center, as well as staff from the departments of Access Service and Collection Management to renew license agreements and package subscriptions, in addition to initiating new electronic resources acquisitions. The expectation is that this librarian will develop and maintain expert knowledge on issues related to electronic resources and take the lead in implementing an electronic resources management system. Collect and analyze data to evaluate usage and make recommendations to collection management. In addition, the Electronic Resources Librarian will monitor and contribute to the professional dialogue regarding electronic resources development and trends. The selected applicant will be a motivated, service-oriented individual with a strong commitment to facilitating the use of technology and library resources in the UF community.

The duties of this position include:
1. Supervision and management of the Electronic Resources Unit operations. This includes planning and goal setting; monitoring and evaluating workflow for quality and quantity of production; hiring, training, and evaluating two full-time staff.
2. Management of electronic resources. This includes coordinating electronic resource acquisitions; facilitating the licensing process; coordinating access to electronic resources; and providing support for management of established licenses and contracts, license compliance, and record keeping for digital information.
3. Participation in library and state-wide discussions, conference calls, workshops, and projects to develop strategies for using electronic resources management systems, link resolvers, federated search tools, and enhanced user interfaces for integrated library system OPAC’s.
4. Participation in organizing, analyzing, and preparing data related to e-resources for use in acquisitions, collection development and institutional reporting.
5. Ensuring quality control in acquisitions by monitoring electronic resources vendor services. This includes performing vendor evaluations; facilitating negotiations of vendor services as needed; and preparing regular budget reports.
6. Establishing policies and procedures for acquisitions and cataloging tasks that comply with national standards and local policy and procedures. This includes co-chairing the Electronic Resources Management Committee; coordinating standards and procedures for electronic resources acquisitions and management; and coordinating licensing within and among the University of Florida Library Departments, branches and SUL state-wide consortium.
7. Contributing to the development of departmental and library goals, policies, procedures and priorities. This includes working with a variety of groups and various assignments, and reviewing current procedural and workflow documentation and recommending improvements.
8. Participation in and contribution to the library profession, particularly in the fields of acquisitions and electronic resources. This includes conducting research and publishing in peer recognized journals, and serving on national library committees.

Minimum qualifications:
1. A Masters degree in Library Science from an ALA accredited institution or in another field with direct relevance to the duties of this position.
2. At least two years of professional experience working with e-resources in some capacity.
3. Excellent analytical, organizational, and problem solving skills. Ability to perform workflow analyses.
4. Ability to work collaboratively as a team member in a complex academic research library environment.
5. Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing. Ability to document procedures.
6. Ability to work independently and meet project deadlines.
7. Ability to shift priorities and cope with change.
8. Knowledge of trends in scholarly communication, research, publishing, and instructional technology in the academic world.
9. Strong potential for meeting the requirements for tenure and promotion. More information available at: http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/Pers/cdh/cdh_chaptertwo.html.

Preferred qualifications:
1. Familiarity with electronic resources standards such as OpenURL and ONIX, and electronic resource related initiatives such as SUSHI, COUNTER, License Expression, etc.
2. Experience working in a consortium.
3. Experience with licenses agreements as pertaining to electronic resources and the academic environment.
4. Experience in training staff on technical topics.
5. Experience in cataloging, acquisitions or other Technical Services areas within a library.
6. Experience using the Ex Libris Aleph integrated library system.
7. Experience implementing or using an electronic resources management system.
8. Experience generating cost and usage statistical reports.
9. Successful supervisory experience preferred.

The University of Florida
The University of Florida is a large, land grant, public educational research institution with a faculty of approximately 4,000 and a student body of 48,000. It ranks third nationally in size of student body and eighth nationally in the number of merit scholars enrolled in the freshmen class. The University is a member of the Association of American Universities and offers the Ph.D. in more than 90 fields and the Master's degree in more than 120 fields. For more information please consult the UF homepage at http://www.ufl.edu/.

The University of Florida Libraries are members of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for Research Libraries, the Research Libraries Group, and SOLINET. The library staff consists of more than 400 FTE librarians, technical/clerical staff and student assistants. For more information about the Libraries, please visit http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/.

The Technical Services Division of the George A. Smathers Libraries at the University of Florida consists of four departments: Acquisitions & Licensing, Cataloging & Metadata, and Preservation. The mission of Technical Services is to make the library's technology infrastructure work in support of the information needs of the University of Florida community, and thus serve as a catalyst for research and discovery. The technology infrastructure includes the functions required to provide online access to library
resources: support for the Library web site, the Library catalog, acquisitions, organization & navigation, preservation and the transformation of priority materials to digital form. The aim is to provide the tools library staff and the university community needs to manage information for learning and research in the digital world.

The Acquisitions and Licensing Department is responsible for ordering, receiving and paying for print and digital resource materials that support the academic and professional programs of the University of Florida.
Over the next few years, the Department will be engaged in planning and implementing initiatives such as executing EDI file transfer of payment and other acquisitions functions in Aleph and PeopleSoft; managing licensing agreements, information access fees, and usage statistics for electronic resources; monitoring virtual approval plan and evaluating returns for profile adjustments. The five units (Serials, Monographs, Electronic Resources, Paying, and Technical Support Services) in the Department will actively participate in these and other initiatives to advance the transition from print to digital resources in the collection.

Benefits:
Twenty-six vacation days, nine paid holidays, and thirteen days sick leave annually; retirement plan options; insurance benefits; tuition fee waiver program; no state or local income tax.

Application Process:
The University of Florida is an equal opportunity employer and is strongly committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. Applicants from a broad spectrum of people, including members of ethnic minorities and disabled persons, are especially encouraged to apply. As part of the application process, applicants are invited to complete an on-line confidential and voluntary demographic self-disclosure form which can be found at: http://www.hr.ufl.edu/job/datacard.htm. This information is collected by the University of Florida's Faculty Development Office to track applicant trends and is in no way considered by the Smathers Libraries in the selection process.

Please submit application materials via e-mail. Send, as attachments (MS-Word format preferred), a cover letter detailing your interest in and qualifications for this position, your current resume and a list of three references. Include address, telephone and email information for references. Please include a 250 word document expressing your opinion on the topic “What do you see as the most significant challenges to managing electronic resources in an academic environment, and how would you overcome these challenges?” Apply by 1/31/08 (applications will be reviewed as received). Send all required application materials to Brian Keith, Smathers Libraries Human Resources Officer, at: brikeit@uflib.ufl.edu.