Los Angeles - UCLA - Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library - Access Services Librarian

 http://chronicle.com/jobs/0000768583-01/?cid=ja&utm_source=ja&utm_medium=en

Associate Librarian II VII ($50,892 $70,956)


Position Availability: Immediately

Candidates applying by March 30, 2013 will be given first consideration.

Description of Institution and Library

One of ten University of California campuses, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is located in Westwood Village, approximately five miles from the Pacific Ocean near Santa Monica.  Comprised of the College of Letters and Science and 11 professional schools, the 419-acre campus features 174 buildings, including the Center for Health Sciences.  UCLA has more than 6,600 faculty and academic staff and approximately 26,000 employees overall.  Founded in 1919, UCLA offers 118 undergraduate degree programs and 200 graduate programs and has more than 26,100 undergraduates and 11,900 graduate students.  Academic excellence, faculty distinction, and a comprehensive curriculum are hallmarks of UCLA, which is a member of the Association of American Universities.  Among the faculty are six Nobel Laureates, four National Medal of Science winners, eleven MacArthur Grant winners, and 46 Guggenheim Fellows.  UCLA is Californias largest university and is a model for public institutions of higher education.  As the tenth largest employer in the region, UCLA generates almost $9 in economic activity for every $1 state taxpayers invest in UCLA and generates an annual $6 billion economic impact on the greater Los Angeles region.

Consistently ranked among the top 10 academic research libraries in North America, the UCLA Library is comprised of 8 major libraries and 13 library wide departments and the Southern Regional Library Facility, the remote storage facility for the southern UC campuses, all of which report to the University Librarian.  In addition, there are 12 affiliated library units located on the campus.  There are approximately 120 librarians on the campus, and the UCLA Library has a staff of approximately 350, and approximately 400 500 student employees.  The Library has an organizational structure that includes the use of teams in conjunction with departments and units.  The library collection consists of more than 9 million volumes and more than 78,000 current serial titles and an aggressively expanding electronic resources collection. The Librarys annual budget is in excess of $51 million; more than $9.5 million supports the acquisition of print and digital material, and the library is part of the California Digital Library.  The UCLA Library is a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC).

The UCLA Law Library serves the Law School faculty and students as their basic library and study resource for teaching and research. There are approximately 1,200 law students, approximately 100 full and part-time faculty, and more than 120 Law School staff. The school has a varied and demanding curriculum, highly productive faculty, an extensive clinical and externship program and a co-curricular program that includes an active Moot Court program and 13 law reviews. The Law Library also supplies the legal literature resources for other UCLA faculty, students, and staff with a need for such materials. Heavy use of the Law Library is made by members of the community, including lay people and members of the bench and bar.

The Law Library is one of the larger professional school libraries on campus. It currently has a staff of 17 librarians (including this position) and 15 staff personnel, as well as many part-time student employees. It contains over 580,000 bound volumes and documents and over 94,000 microforms. The administration of the Law Library is headed by the Director of the Law Library, who reports to the Dean of the School of Law. The day-to-day functions of the Library have been divided into four sections: Access and Information Services (AIS), Bibliographic Services and Collection Management, Scholarship Support and RA Program, and Reference and Research Services. The AIS department interacts extensively and collaboratively with the other three departments in providing services to the Law School community. The Law Library has a beautiful facility that opened in the Fall of 1998.

Description of Position & Duties

Under the general direction of the Director, Access & Information Services (AIS), the Access Services Librarian participates in the delivery of services to the Law Library's users.  This includes working from the Circulation Desk (and occasionally the Reference Desk) to provide basic research and reference services to School of Law Faculty and students and other library visitors, and creating training materials for the entire department. The Librarian coordinates the development, maintenance and updating of the Law Library Intranet, as well as making significant contributions to its content. The Librarian serves as Assistant Department Head and is responsible for the daily management of the Circulation Desk, hard copy and electronic reserve services, and stacks maintenance. The Access Services Librarian also indirectly supervises approximately 15 part-time student assistants assigned to circulation, shelving, and document delivery services.  The Librarian administers the Librarys Limited Access Policy, including coordinating CSO coverage of the librarys access control desk and the After Hours Reading Room. The Librarian also heads the librarys emergency preparedness efforts.

These responsibilities require in-depth knowledge of library circulation policies and procedures and a basic knowledge of complex legal sources, covering a variety of jurisdictions (U.S., California, other states, as well as foreign and international materials) in a variety of formats, including online databases, as well as the ability to contribute to making the Library hospitable and responsive to the needs of the law school community. The Access Services Librarian supervises the Circulation & Stacks Coordinator, the Circulation & Reserves Coordinator, the Evening Circulation Coordinator and, indirectly, the Evening Circulation Supervisor, as well as assists the AIS director with the overseeing of all daily operations of the AIS department. Responsibilities also include assisting the AIS director in the development and enforcement of all department policies and procedures with the goal of furthering the service mission of the library.  

Minimum qualifications

• ALA-accredited Master's Degree in Library or Information Science OR significant graduate-level coursework toward such a degree OR equivalent education and experience (subject expertise combined with professional library education and/or experience);
• Minimum two years experience working in an academic and/or law library;
• Experience providing basic reference service and in using online databases, library catalogs, etc.
• Minimum two years experience working in a library access services or circulation department;
• Demonstrated commitment to service for students, staff and faculty and willingness to actively collaborate with colleagues in the Library and across the campus community;
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills in order to communicate effectively and confidently with colleagues, faculty, students, and staff;
• Strong customer service skills;
• Creativity and strong analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Ability to quickly learn new skills;
• Demonstrated departmental management and staff supervisory skills;
• Demonstrated organizational and project management skills;
• Ability to quickly learn and apply new technical skills;
• Experience with databases and spreadsheet programs (such as Access and Excel)
• Ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively both as a team member and independently and to promote teamwork among colleagues.
• The ideal candidate will possess: enthusiasm for and commitment to exploring and assessing ways to improve and expand services and procedures; demonstrated ability to implement new programs; analytical skills to critically assess their effectiveness, and the flexibility to adapt them as needed.
• Interest in and willingness to meet the criteria of, and to participate in, UCLAs peer review processes for the advancement of those appointed to the Librarian series at UC.

General Information

Professional librarians at UC are academic appointees and are represented by an exclusive bargaining agent, University Council - American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT). They are entitled to appropriate professional leave, two days per month of vacation leave, one day per month of sick leave, and all other benefits granted to non-faculty academic personnel. UC has an excellent retirement system and sponsors a variety of group health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans in addition to other benefits. Relocation assistance is provided.

Appointees to the librarian series at UC shall have professional backgrounds that demonstrate a high degree of creativity, teamwork, and flexibility. Such background will normally include a professional degree from an ALA-accredited library and information science graduate program. In addition to professional competence and quality of service within the library in the primary job, advancement in the librarian series requires professional involvement and contributions outside of the library, university and community service, and scholarly activities. Candidates must show evidence or promise of such contributions.