[Web4lib] Position Announcement: Librarian of the College, Amherst College

[Susan Kimball]

Position Announcement. Apologies for cross-posting

 

Librarian of the College

Amherst College
Amherst, Massachusetts

 

The Librarian of the College is the chief administrator of the Amherst
College Library, which encompasses the Robert Frost Library with its
Archives and Special Collections, the Harry Keefe Science Library, the
Vincent Morgan Music Library, the Olds Mathematics Library, the Center
for Visual Resources, and the Amherst College Library Depository. The
Librarian supervises 17 FTE trustee-appointed librarians and archivists
and 24 FTE library support staff and manages a budget of approximately
$6 million. The Librarian reports directly to the Dean of the Faculty,
Amherst College's chief academic officer. Although not under the
Librarian's supervision, the Amherst Center for Russian Culture, the
Emily Dickinson Museum (both in Amherst) and the Folger Shakespeare
Library (in Washington, DC) also operate under the College's auspices.
The Librarian also has a close working relationship with the College's
Director of Information Technology and the Director of the Mead Art
Museum.

Amherst is an independent liberal arts college enrolling approximately
1,650 men and women. The College offers the Bachelor of Arts (B. A.)
degree in 33 fields of study, with a student-faculty ratio of 8 to 1.
Teaching at Amherst occurs in classrooms and other deliberative settings
(including the Library) that emphasize close interpersonal engagement as
well as individual study.

The new Librarian of the College will promote the centrality of the
library's role in providing essential support for instruction, learning
and research. The new Librarian will have an opportunity, the economy
permitting, to envision the creation of a new library, based on
conceptual planning now nearing its conclusion. Amherst is determined
that the renewed library anticipate the scholarly needs of its
twenty-first century users, while also providing state-of-the-art access
for the College's existing collections and the flexibility to
accommodate such new media of record as may emerge over the next
half-century, as well as changing modes of library-centered pedagogy and
undergraduate study habits. 

Because Amherst expects from its faculty an equal professional emphasis
on active research and undergraduate teaching, the library must support
both faculty and student research. Since its founding in 1821, the
library has amassed special collections that are comparable in quality
and scale to those of some universities. The Library's Archives and
Special Collections are strong in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
books, nineteenth- and twentieth-century American poetry, and
twentieth-century diplomatic papers, among other distinctions.

Amherst benefits from its membership in the Five Colleges, a consortium
with nearby Smith, Mount Holyoke and Hampshire Colleges and the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The Librarian serves as the
College's representative to the Five College Librarians Council, which
develops cooperative plans among the member institutions.

Amherst is notable for the devotion of its alumni to the College's
academic priorities. The Friends of the Amherst College Library,
established in 1968, provides important ongoing support, including
funding for visiting scholars and writers, as well as the Folger
Undergraduate Fellowships. The College's 1,000-acre campus is near the
center of the town of Amherst, Massachusetts, in the Pioneer Valley,
"arguably the most author-saturated, book-cherishing,
literature-celebrating place in the nation," as a New York Times
reporter has recently concluded.

Qualifications: An ALA-accredited graduate degree in library or
information science is required; an additional graduate degree is
preferred. Candidates should be accomplished professionals with at least
seven years of successful administrative experience, including
significant management and supervisory responsibilities, in an academic
library. Amherst expects its Librarian to provide leadership not only on
campus but also in service to the profession, e.g. through active
participation in professional organizations and consortia such as the
Oberlin Group. The successful candidate will have the temperament and
inclination for such leadership.

The ability to advance the College's relationship with all
constituencies, including faculty, alumni, and the Friends, is
essential. Candidates should manifest strong communication, analytical,
interpersonal and motivational skills; the ability to manage multiple
projects concurrently; and a command of budgeting and personnel
supervision. The successful candidate will evince the initiative,
imagination, and political and social sophistication necessary to pursue
innovation within a confident, self-reflective, progressive institution.
Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications.

A complete application will include a letter of interest, a current
curriculum vitae and contact information for three professional
references. Applications should be sent electronically to Amherst
College at https://jobs.amherst.edu. Inquiries are welcome and may be
directed to Chuck O'Boyle at (404) 897-1687 or chuck at cvoboyle.com, who
is assisting in the search. Review of applications will begin
immediately and proceed until the position is filled. 

 

Amherst College is an equal opportunity employer and encourages women,
persons of color, and persons with disabilities to apply. The College is
committed to enriching the diversity of its faculty, administration and
staff to ensure that full participation and inclusion are an integral
part of the culture of the institution.