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Anthropology and Qualitative Research Librarian - Library

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Position description

Hiring Range: Associate Librarian $53, 116 - $71,203 per annum, based upon qualifications
This is a full-time appointment available starting July 2015.

The University of California, Berkeley seeks a collaborative and user-centered librarian to join a team of specialists supporting world-class research and teaching in the social sciences through active engagement with collection development, data and information literacy initiatives, course-based instruction, individual research assistance, and outreach to students, faculty and the broader academic community. This position serves as subject librarian for Anthropology, and takes a leadership role in providing support for qualitative research methods throughout the social sciences.

The Environment

The UC Berkeley Library is an internationally renowned research and teaching facility at one of the nation's premier public universities. A highly diverse and intellectually rich environment, Berkeley serves a campus community of 25,500 undergraduate students, 10,300 graduate students, and 1,500 faculty. With a collection of more than 11 million volumes and a collections budget of over $15 million, the Library offers extensive collections in all formats and robust services to connect users with those collections and build their related research skills.

The Library’s Social Sciences Division consists of six library locations – the Anthropology Library, Business Library, Data Lab, Education Psychology Library, Environmental Design Library, and Social Research Library – and support for collections and services located in Doe Library/Gardner MAIN Stacks. Collectively, the staff – 11 librarians, 12 library staff, and over 50 student library employees – support the research, teaching, and study needs of a diverse clientele. These libraries are primary service points and provide research-level print and digital collections in several languages to support the research and teaching programs of the Haas School of Business, Graduate School of Education, School of Information, Graduate School of Journalism, Goldman School of Public Policy, School of Social Welfare, College of Environmental Design, and College of Letters & Science. Additionally the collections and libraries are heavily used by other campus departments, research units, and the general public. The George & Mary Foster Anthropology Library contains over 93,000 print volumes covering all areas of anthropological research, including very strong historic collections related to California Native American culture and California archaeology.

The research and teaching of the Anthropology Department at Berkeley is highly diverse, studying human beings from every time period in all their complexity, including research in indigenous and environmental politics; inequality and race, class, and gender; and science and technology studies. The Anthropology & Qualitative Research Librarian will work closely with subject librarians in related subject areas such as Linguistics, International and Area Studies and Geography, as well as with the Library Data Lab (which provides support for numeric data) and GIS.

Responsibilities

Reporting to the Head of the Library's Social Sciences Division, the librarian in this position serves as a liaison to the department of Anthropology and to the Global Poverty and Practice Minor. Liaisons at Berkeley are expected to establish strong relationships with the faculty and students of their departments, and to actively participate in the Library’s reference, outreach, and instructional services. This includes providing virtual reference, individual research consultations, promotion of library resources and services, in-person classes, and the development of online subject guides and instructional material.

The librarian will also be responsible for collection development, management and assessment for anthropology, ethnic studies, and African American studies. The librarian will collaborate with other librarians on campus and within the UC System on interdisciplinary and/or system- wide collection decisions, and will work with librarians nationally and internationally on issues related to improved access for legacy print and digital collections.

The librarian will take a lead role in supporting qualitative research methods, offering training and partnering with the Social Sciences D-Lab, Research IT, other research support services and other librarians to assist faculty and students with qualitative research and data life cycle management.

Additionally, the librarian will assume division-wide leadership responsibility for an initiative such as data management, instruction, scholarly communications, or web services.

UC Berkeley librarians are expected to participate in library-wide planning and governance, and work effectively in a shared decision-making environment. Librarian advancement is partially based upon professional contributions beyond the primary assignment; the successful candidate will show promise or evidence of such contributions to the Library, campus, UC System, and profession.

Qualifications

Minimum Basic Qualification Required by Time of Application:
• American Library Association-accredited Master’s degree or equivalent degree.

Additional Required Qualifications by Date of Hire:
• Significant coursework or experience in anthropology or a closely related discipline.
• Experience participating in collection development in an academic or research library.
• Experience providing reference and instructional services in an academic or research library.
• Demonstrated knowledge of qualitative research methods such as ethnography, participant observation and qualitative surveys.
• Proven commitment to public services and improving the user experience.
• Excellent analytical, organizational, problem solving, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated initiative, flexibility, and ability to work creatively and effectively both independently and as a team member.
• Knowledge of trends and issues in scholarly communication in the social sciences.

Additional Preferred Qualifications:
• Experience working with one or more Computer Assisted Qualitative Data AnalysiS (CAQDAS) tools such as NVivo, Dedoose, and Atlas.ti.

The UC Berkeley Library is committed to supporting and encouraging a multicultural environment and seeks candidates who can make positive and imaginative contributions in a context of ethnic and cultural diversity.

UC professional librarians are academic appointees and are represented by an exclusive bargaining agent, University Council – American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT). This position is in the bargaining unit.

Librarians are entitled to appropriate professional leave, vacation leave, sick leave, and all other benefits granted to non-faculty academic personnel. The University has an excellent retirement system and sponsors a variety of group health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans in addition to other benefits

DEADLINE: The initial review date for this position is May 21, 2015. All completed applications received by this date will be given full consideration; this recruitment will remain open until filled.

References will only be contacted for individuals under serious consideration.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct.

Send inquiries to:
Susan E. Wong
Director, Library Human Resources
Phone: 510-642-3778
Email: librec@library.berkeley.edu

Application Requirements

Document requirements
  • Curriculum Vitae - Curriculum vitae noting degrees and relevant work experience

  • Cover Letter - Cover letter detailing a statement of qualifications

Reference requirements
  • 3 required (contact information only)