Assistant Conservator (Librarian I)

Position Description: Reporting to the Conservator, Preservation/Conservation, the Assistant Conservator performs treatment, coordinates various departmental activities, assists the Conservator with lab organization and training, and provides outreach and educational opportunities. Specific duties include:

• Perform a wide range of conservation treatment on books, manuscripts, maps and other paper based materials.
• Assist with the evaluation of library materials, advise on selection of collection items for treatment.
• Perform single-item and collection care treatments, including full treatment documentation.
• Oversee the environmental monitoring program.
• Participate in all disaster prevention and recovery operations or other activities involving the protection and handling of collections.
• Assist the Conservator with the management of all library exhibitions and loans. Survey, document, treat and prepare materials for exhibit.
• Maintain and manage daily workflows, compile statistics, and train students and volunteers.
• Cultivate, initiate and participate in a variety of outreach activities relative to preservation, exhibitions, or other appropriate areas.
• Create and update website information for educational and outreach purposes.
• Seek out opportunities for continued training and development.

Required Qualifications:

• Advanced book or paper conservation degree, certificate in book or paper conservation or related field, or equivalent conservation experience.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Experience in book and/or paper conservation treatment and a working knowledge of conservation theory and practice.
• Demonstrated organizational skills.
• Knowledge or understanding of artists materials, book structure, and book/print history.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team environment where consultation, flexibility, collaboration and cooperation are essential.
• Demonstrated interest in professional development.
• Understanding of the mission of a research university and the value of library collections in an academic and research environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity in the workplace or community.

Desired Qualifications:

• Experience in book and paper conservation in an academic or research library or museum setting.
• Experience in training students or volunteers.
• Strong computing and digital media skills.
• Photography skills.

Universal Competencies

• Positive Impact/Achieving Results: Ability to utilize existing resources and learning to achieve or exceed desired outcomes of current and future organizational goals/needs. Able to demonstrate ethical behavior in diverse situations while producing results.
• Service Excellence/Customer Focus: Ability to meet or exceed customer service needs and expectations and provide excellent service in a direct or indirect manner. Ability to effectively transmit and interpret information through appropriate communication with internal and external customers.
• Collaboration and Embracing Diversity: Ability to work with a variety of individuals and groups in a constructive and civil manner while appreciating the unique contribution of individuals from varied cultures, nationalities, genders, ages, etc.

Salary and appointment: Appointment will be made at the Librarian level with a salary range of $43,000 - $46,000. Start date is negotiable. The University of Iowa offers an attractive package of benefits including 24 days of paid vacation per year, your choice between two retirement plans and two University of Iowa health insurance plans, dental insurance, pre-tax child and health care spending accounts, and additional options.

The University of Iowa Libraries: The University of Iowa Libraries system consists of the Main Library, the Hardin Library for the Health Sciences and a number of branch libraries. The Libraries has more than 5 million volumes including thousands of electronic resources and coordinates the development and maintenance of the University’s locally-created open access digital resources including the Iowa Digital Library, featuring close to a million digitized texts, images, and audio and video recordings, as well as Iowa Research Online, our institutional repository. Our Special Collections include over 200,000 rare books, ranging in age from the 15th century to newly created artists’ books.

Library systems are built on a mix of open source, locally developed, hosted services, and vended applications primarily from Ex Libris, OCLC, and Microsoft. The University of Iowa is a member of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), ARL, OCLC, CRL, SPARC, CNI, CLIR, LOCKSS, CLOCKSS, and Portico. The Libraries provides a program of support for professional development activities and its staff members are actively engaged in national cooperative efforts.

The University and Iowa City: A major research and teaching institution, the University of Iowa offers internationally recognized programs in a diverse array of academic, medical, and artistic disciplines, from otolaryngology to fiction writing, printmaking to space science, hydraulic engineering to dance. The University consists of a faculty of 2,000 and a permanent staff of 13,000 serving 30,500 students, more than 40% of whom are from out of state and close to 10,000 of whom are registered in graduate and professional degree programs. Approximately 9% of the University’s faculty and staff and 10% of its student body are members of minority groups, and 8% of the students are from foreign countries.

The University of Iowa is home to the Writers’ Workshop, the oldest graduate creative writing program in the country, and the blueprint for many of the creative writing programs that now thrive on campuses worldwide. It is also home to the International Writing Program where, since 1967, over a thousand writers from more than 120 countries have participated. The University has recently instituted a program in creative writing in Spanish. Finally, UNESCO designated Iowa City as the world’s third City of Literature in 2008.

Iowa City is a community of some 68,000 people (more than 150,000 live in the surrounding area) with excellent educational, recreational, and cultural advantages. It is consistently cited in the national media as a city with an excellent quality of life. The city is readily accessible via interstate highways and a major airport is only 30 minutes away. The community is growing in its diversity; within the Iowa City Community School District, 33% of the students are minority, with 17% identifying as African-American, 9% as Latino/Hispanic, 7% as Asian-American, and .4% as Native American during the 2011/12 school year.

Application Procedure: To apply for this position, please visit the University of Iowa Jobs@UIOWA website at http://jobs.uiowa.edu. Please provide a cover letter, resume and the names/contact information for three professional references. To help facilitate your application process, note the requisition number 61862. Applications must be received by January 7, 2013.

THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER. WOMEN AND MINORITIES ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY.

For more information about the University of Iowa Libraries and community, please see http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/about/employment/