Teaching & Undergraduate Services Librarian

Columbia University Libraries

Engaging and collaborating with campus partners, the Teaching & Undergraduate Services Librarian meets the learning and research needs of Columbia’s diverse undergraduate student communities. The Librarian works to build a sustained program of excellent, equitable library teaching and learning centered on undergraduate curricula, benefitting in particular from close partnerships with colleagues in Columbia College, the School of General Studies, and the Center for Teaching & Learning. The Librarian engages in ongoing teaching and learning assessment and keeps up with scholarly and professional trends. The Librarian also collects and maintains library materials for undergraduate populations, including for the Milstein undergraduate collection and the First-Generation, Low-Income (FLI) Partnership Library. As part of the Humanities & Global Studies department, the Librarian is responsible for research consultations, instructional services, and front-line remote and in-person research support.

Responsibilities

• Deploying partnerships across the Libraries and the wider University, the Librarian strategically helps to coordinate and participates in an instruction program designed to produce the literacies and habits of mind required for research and scholarship in a contemporary information environment. Teaching activities concentrate on undergraduate education and include course-based instruction, individual consultations, embedded research support, stand-alone workshops, and asynchronous teaching (e.g., online tutorials, videos, research guides, and related formats). Ongoing assessment of teaching and learning is crucial to this program’s success and coherence. Instruction will not only involve the critical use and discovery of general collections, but will also situate those practices in the larger research process, including their connection to original research and the use of primary sources, as well as their incorporation into non-traditional scholarly outputs and methodologies such as those common to the digital humanities.
• Builds and maintains relationships with undergraduate academic and administrative departments. As part of a team of librarians, coordinates orientations for a wide range of student and faculty groups. Promotes library services, spaces, and resources through creative programming and partnerships.
• Participates in the Libraries’ physical and virtual reference services. Strives to forge connections between reference services and the Libraries’ broader teaching and learning goals.
• Strategically selects materials (e.g., print books, ebooks, databases, periodicals, audio-visual resources) to support Columbia’s undergraduate populations. Effectively and responsibly manages materials budgets. Monitors usage and publishing trends to inform collecting decisions. Works with colleagues in Access Services and other units to maintain collections and enhance user experience.
• Keeps up with evolving scholarly and professional trends. Participates in local and national forums to develop professionally and promote the Libraries’ work and goals. Contributes to Library and University committees, task forces, and other initiatives.
• Supervises a student worker(s) who assists with managing the FLI Partnership Library and other tasks as needed.

 

Minimum Qualifications

• A Masters of Library Science or other advanced degree in a related field
• Knowledge of pedagogical methods and trends in higher education, especially related to undergraduate education
• Experience teaching in an academic setting (either formal or informal instruction)
• Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills
• A strong public service ethos
• Proven commitment to the values of anti-racism, equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Commitment to the values of a liberal arts education

Preferred Qualifications

• A second advanced degree (e.g., master’s or PhD)
• Familiarity with the work and mission of a contemporary research library
• Experience in instructional design
• Experience using digital tools and methodologies for teaching and scholarship

Learn More in an Online Information Session

We are hosting anonymized information sessions for prospective applicants. We welcome you to join one of these sessions to learn more about the Columbia University Libraries, meet the director (Director of Humanities & Global Studies), supervisor (Head of Humanities & History), and Director of Human Resources for Columbia University Libraries, and ask questions you may have. Attendance and questions will be confidential, as the participant list for each Zoom Webinar session will be hidden. Please note that attendance is not required to apply or be considered for a position.

Register to join one of our Online Information Sessions:

• September 29, 2022 12:30pm-1:00pm EST

CUL Librarian Information Session 9/29/22 12:30pm-1:00pm EST

• October 6, 2022 12:30pm-1:00pm EST

CUL Librarian Information Session 10/6/22 12:30pm-1:00pm EST

Additional Information

The initial review of applications is expected to begin October 10, 2022.  Applications will be considered until the position is filled.

Please note that expertise in all qualifications for this position is not expected.  We encourage applicants who have experience in some areas, and a commitment to learning in others.  If this role interests you, we encourage you to apply.

About Columbia University Libraries

We encourage individuals of diverse backgrounds, cultures, experiences, identities, and abilities to apply for this exceptional opportunity to join an evolving Libraries and University community. Columbia University Libraries is a globally-recognized academic research library system, serving one of the world’s most important centers of research and learning in the most exciting and dynamic city in the world. Talented Libraries staff build, sustain, and make discoverable collections that transcend traditional boundaries of format and domain, keeping pace with a dynamic and rapidly evolving information environment and creating opportunities for users to encounter 4,000 years of human thought.

Our decisions are informed by new curricula developed to meet the needs of a more diverse student body, new and emerging areas of research from a broad spectrum of researchers, including graduate students and newly-hired faculty, as well as by perspectives from the diminished or entirely lost voices of historically oppressed, marginalized, or underserved populations and communities. As a workplace, the Libraries provides a supportive, connected environment where every employee’s perspective is valued and every employee is encouraged to grow. All staff members have an impact on Columbia’s mission to advance knowledge at the highest levels and make the results of research accessible to the world.

Columbia University has a longstanding commitment to diversity rooted in values of inclusion and social justice, a commitment reflected in the curriculum and throughout University life. Columbia welcomes applications from candidates who share these values and who will foster their contribution to the University’s educational mission. We invite applicants who have demonstrated creative approaches to empowering and mentoring staff, leading projects, solving problems, and developing user-centric programs, services, or collections.

Minimum salary: $74,000

 

Apply online here