Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Princeton University: East Asian Languages Team Leader

Princeton University Library is one of the world’s leading research libraries. It employs a dedicated and knowledgeable staff of more than 300 professional and support staff working in a large central library, 9 specialized branches, and 3 storage facilities. Through a combination of exemplar services and world-renowned collections the Library supports a diverse community of 5,200 undergraduates, 2,700 graduate students, 1,200 faculty members, and many visiting scholars. Its holdings include more than 10 million printed volumes, 5 million manuscripts, 2 million non-print items, and extensive collections of digital text, data, and images.  Further information: http://library.princeton.edu/

Major Responsibilities:
Princeton University Library seeks candidates for the position of Leader, East Asian Languages Team (EALT).   Applicants must be strongly versed in Chinese and the history and cultures of East Asia, and possess the qualities and experience necessary to lead a team of professional experts and highly skilled support staff in the creation and management of metadata critical to the effective use of the Library’s renowned East Asian Collections throughout the library system.

Princeton University Library collects materials in all subjects in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, with an emphasis on literature, history, and art, ranging from rare books to a wide variety of digital databases.  The Japanese collection has similar areas of strength with the holdings in premodern history being particularly noteworthy.  The Korean collection, though much smaller in scale than the other two, provides a basis for scholarly research.

The position reports to the Head of Cataloging and Metadata Services and is part of the management group responsible for framing the Department's overall metadata strategy, exploring new technologies, and implementing new workflows to improve user services and enhance discovery access to the Library’s collections.  The East Asian Languages Team Leader directly supervises 2 professional librarians, and 8 paraprofessional bibliographic specialists.  The EALT Leader collaborates with colleagues within Technical Services and in other Library departments on projects providing metadata to support digital initiatives, contributing special technical and subject expertise to discovery system configuration efforts, and crafting innovative cataloging strategies to address special acquisition and holdings scenarios.  The EALT Leader supplements the Team’s cataloging production to ensure priority throughput and attends to cataloging instances requiring creative solutions.  The East Asian Languages Team Leader is expected to maintain awareness of peer operations and best practices through professional involvement.

Essential qualifications:

  • MLS combined with an academic background in East Asian studies; or an advanced degree in East Asian studies with an emphasis on Chinese language, literature, culture, and history;
  • Fluency in English and Chinese languages (in both traditional and simplified characters) with excellent oral written communication skills, including excellent knowledge of the pinyin Romanization system and computer input methods; 
  • Supervisory experience or related experience demonstrating an ability to manage personnel;
  • Cataloging experience in an academic library.


Strongly preferred qualifications:

  • Reading knowledge of Japanese or Korean languages, including their library Romanization systems;
  • Experience providing cataloging and metadata for digital formats, and in creating and editing non-MARC metadata using standards and schema such as Dublin Core, MODS, etc.;
  • Familiarity with linked data concepts and standards;
  • Experience with workflow planning.


Princeton is especially interested in qualified candidates who can contribute, through their service to the Library, to the diversity and excellence of our academic community.
The successful candidate will be appointed to an appropriate Librarian rank depending upon qualifications and experience.  Applications will be accepted only from https://puwebp.princeton.edu/AcadHire/apply/ and must include a resume, cover letter, and a list of three references with full contact information. This position is subject to the University's background check policy.  Princeton University is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Yale University: Director of the Department of Area Studies and Humanities Research Support

To apply, please visit: http://www.yale.edu/jobs

Position Focus: 

Reporting to the Associate University Librarian for Arts and Humanities, the Director provides vision and leadership for a newly created department of subject experts who support humanities and inter-disciplinary area studies programs at Yale. The Yale University Library (YUL) holds one of the most extensive humanities research collections in the United States and has the distinction of being the first American university to collect in many non-western languages.  The academic programs in these areas attract a world-class group of faculty and students, for which the Department of Area Studies and Humanities Research Support (DASHRS) provides collection development and liaison and research services.  The department is located in the recently renovated Sterling Memorial Library (SML) in the center of Yale’s campus and has oversight of eight reading rooms and two classrooms in SML, as well as the Classics Library in Phelps Hall.

The Director of the Department of Area Studies and Humanities Research Support is responsible for the programmatic aspects of liaison and outreach, collection development oversight and coordination, assessment, budget administration, and supervision and mentorship of 12 librarians and one assistant.  S/he directs departmental teams responsible for evidence-based assessment, research support programming, the departmental web presence, training and skills development, and digital scholarship support services.  

The Director develops strong working relationships with university administrators, academic department leaders, faculty, and students.  The Director communicates and collaborates with colleagues from other Yale University Library (YUL) units to develop and maintain research support and outreach programs and services.  The Director also works closely with the leadership of YUL special collections repositories and the Departments of Collection Development, Technical Services, Access Services and Digital Scholarship. The Director represents the department on the Council for Research Services and Collections and the Collections Steering Committee

The Director is expected to demonstrate leadership within YUL and the University and commitment to participation in regional, national and international professional organizations. The Director must also demonstrate a strong commitment to agile, responsive, innovative public service programs in support of teaching and research in the humanities and international and area studies programs at Yale.

Principal Responsibilities 

  1. Provides leadership and vision for area studies and humanities collection development and research support and outreach programs. 
  2. Designs projects and brings them to conclusion in a timely manner.
  3. Manages liaison librarians including hiring, training, setting priorities, evaluating, and advising on staff development. 
  4. Engages with deans, chairs, faculty and students in support of the University’s teaching and research mission.
  5. Collaborates with colleagues throughout the Yale University Library and other campus units.
  6. Works independently with varied user groups in a complex organization and team environment.
  7. Collaborates with library staff engaged in development efforts. 
  8. Plans and implements marketing and assessment processes.
  9. Coordinates facilities issues involving the Classics Library and Sterling Memorial Library reading rooms and classrooms.
  10. Serves on Library and University committees. 
  11. Participates in professional activities outside of Yale and monitors developments and best practices elsewhere to encourage innovation and ensure excellence.
  12. May be required to assist with disaster recovery efforts. May be assigned to work at any Yale University location.
  13. May perform other duties as assigned. 


Required Education, Skills and Experience 

  1. Master's degree from an ALA-accredited library school. An advanced degree in a related discipline may be substituted in selected instances.
  2. Advanced degree in area studies or the humanities.
  3. Minimum of 10 years of related professional experience.
  4. Strong commitment to responsive, innovative research support and outreach services and collection development.
  5. Demonstrated experience managing staff.
  6. Demonstrated excellent oral and written communications and analytical ability.
  7. Demonstrated excellent customer service skills; flexibility and a strong commitment to innovation, creativity and excellence.
  8. Demonstrated problem-solving skills.
  9. Demonstrated experience designing and coordinating projects and bringing them to a timely conclusion.
  10. Demonstrated experience in research library service programs.
  11. Demonstrated experience working collaboratively and independently with various groups within a complex organization and rapidly changing team environment.
  12. Experience managing collection development programs. 


Preferred Education, Experience and Skills: 

Experience working with academic research library liaison librarian services and collections.  Knowledge of and experience with academic technologies for research and teaching as well as knowledge of and experience with digital humanities.   A Ph.D. in an area of the humanities or area studies.  Experience in donor relations, deeds of gift, and/or archival processing.  Knowledge of issues related to collecting, processing and supporting use of non-roman language materials.  Experience supervising subject librarians.

Monday, March 6, 2017

British Library: Head of Asian and African Collections


Recruiter:     Sue Hill Recruitment
Location:     London
Salary:     £61k - 73.2k per year
Posted:     02 Mar 2017
Closes:     30 Mar 2017
Ref:     VS/24734
Contact:     Recruitment
Industry:     Arts & heritage, Librarian & archivist, Museums & galleries
Hours:     Full time
Contract:     Permanent

About the company

We are delighted to be working in partnership with the British Library to recruit a Head of Asian and African Collections, based in at St Pancras in Central London, to lead their collections and curation team and work on the strategic development of their renowned collections.

What you'll be doing

This opportunity is compelling and without rival. It is a strategic leadership post where you will have the opportunity to work with fascinating collections of pre-eminent national and international importance, ranging widely in format in intellectual content, and spanning some 3000 years. The broad-ranging responsibilities vary from designing and implementing content development strategies to full international collaborative projects. In addition, you will be responsible for overseeing all major projects and programmes, balancing highly complex and at times conflicting interests, ensuring you have full oversight of potential issues.

Key duties include:


  • Resource Management including full budgetary responsibility of the department and leadership of a team of 50+ highly specialist staff
  • Work closely with other Collection Heads on shared strategic and operational issues
  • Responsible for directing the collections, including negotiating of major partnerships
  • Engage with high-level external stakeholders nationally and internationally
  • Develop innovative strategies and world class service propositions which meet user needs
  • Lead the content development strategy for the area


Why you’ll be hired 

Applications are invited from individuals with a demonstrable track record in collections/curation with experience from a research library, academic or other similar environment.

The successful candidate will have a strong reputation for expertise and knowledge in curatorship at a practical and theoretical level. You will also be able to show your experience of developing high level partnership and collaboration strategies, both nationally and internationally. Coupled with this will be your proven leadership abilities and experience of financial management.

Why you should apply

This offers the  opportunity to join the British Library to take on a high-profile role overseeing the management and development of one of the world’s finest resources for the study of Asia, the Middle East and Africa. You will be given autonomy to develop exciting new initiatives  and the support to implement it.

In addition to working in one of the most respected global institutions and with some of the foremost experts within the subject area, this role comes with an excellent compensation and benefits package, including a generous pension scheme. The salary range for this job is £61,000 - £73,200 per annum.

This is a unique opportunity and one that shouldn’t be missed.

This is a full time, permanent position. The closing date for applications will be the 31st March 2017.

If you are interested in this opportunity please contact Victoria Sculfor, Senior Consultant at Sue Hill Recruitment, for a confidential conversation on victoria.sculfor@suehill.com or 020 7378 5476

For more information, https://jobs.theguardian.com/job/6479349/head-of-asian-and-african-collections/