University of California, Los Angeles - Assistant Professor of Information Studies with an emphasis in Library Studies

Date Posted: October 26, 2015

Deadline: December 01, 2015
If you apply to this recruitment by December 1st, 2015, you will have until December 14th, 2015 to complete your application.

Type: Tenured, tenure track

Salary: Commensurate with experience

Employment: Type Full-time

Rank: Assistant Professor

Starting date: July 1, 2016. (Teaching duties begin late September 2016.) This position is contingent upon final budgetary approval.

To apply, visit https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/apply/JPF01753

DESCRIPTION

University of California, Los Angeles
Graduate School of Education and Information Studies
Department of Information Studies
Assistant Professor of Information Studies with an emphasis in Library Studies

The Department of Information Studies of the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor of information studies specializing in Library Studies (LS). The Department of Information Studies’ LS specialization focuses on the role of libraries and the profession of librarianship, and stresses the core values of the profession: access, confidentiality and privacy, democracy, education and lifelong learning, intellectual freedom, preservation, the public good, professionalism, service, and social responsibility. The successful applicant will have research and teaching interests in information studies that relate to any aspect of librarianship. These interests might include, but are not limited to, the following topics:

• libraries in the Information Age, including their roles in the political, cultural and information economies;
• their role in providing access to technology, and their use of it, such as the mediation of library services; 
• their various social contexts and civic engagement, from community-based information services (such as efforts in digital inclusion, intellectual freedom, services to particular kinds of communities, including immigrants and the minoritized), to colleges and universities (including critical information literacies and critical pedagogies), and to children’s and youth’ services (such as literacy and learning);
• the changing identities of libraries in universities, business, public spheres, schools, and other institutions;
• the cultural stewardship of and access to non-traditional libraries and materials;
• management of libraries, including evaluation and outcomes assessment;
• the role of libraries in governmental information policy (including library funding, privacy, copyright, intellectual property and scholarly communication); and,
• issues of professionalization (including ethics, cultural competence, diversity, plurality and inclusion).

The Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSE&IS) is one of the top-ranked schools in the U.S., and supports internationally recognized research centers such as the Center for Information as Evidence. Within the school, the Department of Information Studies is an innovative, interdisciplinary locus for theory and research in information studies, where library studies is situated within a broader landscape that includes archival studies, data science and curatorship, information ethics and policy, new media and Internet studies, archive, museum and community informatics, cultural preservation, technology studies, and textual and visual studies, among other areas. The Department’s faculty is among the most productive and highly-cited in the field, and the Department is a founding member of the iSchool Caucus. At UCLA, the Department has close ties with the Center for Digital Humanities, Ethnomusicology Archive, Library Digital and Special Collections, Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE), and the UCLA Film & Television Archive, among other units. The Department has strong connections to area libraries, archives, and museums who host students for internships and field work.

The Department offers the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree with a specialization in Library Studies, as well as MLIS specializations in archival studies, media archival studies, informatics, and rare books/print and visual culture. The Department also offers the Ph.D. in Information Studies, and a growing undergraduate program. All faculty in the Department teach at both master’s and doctoral levels; the successful candidate’s research and teaching will help foster the growth and excellence of the Department’s academic programs at all levels. The appointee will teach four four-unit courses per year or their equivalent, in accordance with the Department’s workload policy, including core courses in the MLIS and Ph.D. program, and core seminars in the LS specialization of the MLIS. Other duties include graduate student advising and mentoring; active engagement in research, scholarship, and/or creative work; and active participation in administrative and governance responsibilities for the Department, the School, and the University. For more information on courses offered by the department, visit: http://is.gseis.ucla.edu/programs/course-offerings/.

The School and the Department have strong commitments to the rich and varied multicultural communities of the Southern California region, and a reputation for merging research and practice in statewide, national, and international outreach and service. We seek a scholar who will make the most of Los Angeles’ unique advantages as a setting for research that links information studies to public engagement, and for creating international connections, especially with the Pacific Rim and Latin America. We particularly encourage applications from those whose research and teaching address the practices, perspectives, and needs of diverse populations.

Qualifications:

A Ph.D. in information studies or a closely related field is preferred; a terminal degree in other relevant fields will be considered. Candidates should demonstrate a strong record of (or potential for) scholarly publication and/or creative work; a well-developed agenda for continuing research, scholarship, and/or creative work; university-level teaching experience or potential for teaching excellence; and the ability to engage with external audiences to advance research and teaching, including the possibility of seeking extramural funding.

See full listing at the above link for application requirements.