Position Opening: Collection Strategist for Arts & Humanities -MIT

>From  	Millicent R Gaskell <mrg_at_MIT.EDU>
Position Opening: Collection Strategist for Arts & Humanities


The MIT Libraries seeks an innovative and process-driven strategic thinker to
provide holistic strategy and leadership in collection development and to serve
as the strategist for the Arts and Humanities collections. Through active
engagement with publishing and scholarly communities, the Strategist will
cultivate an awareness of best practices and emerging trends in these areas.

Reporting to the Head of Collections Strategy and Management (CSM), the
successful candidate will collaborate with department colleagues in the
development and implementation of collections policies and strategies. S/he will
manage approval plans; manage designated central collections funds and
prioritize expenditures; and select major interdisciplinary resources. The
Collections Strategist will compile data from a variety of sources to guide
collections work and decisionmaking, and will utilize data analysis and
assessment in developing collections strategy. S/he will serve as the CSM lead
on projects related to the management of physical collections across all subjects.

As a member of the highly collaborative Arts and Humanities Community of
Practice (A&H CoP), the Collections Strategist will engage with colleagues
around significant collections issues in these areas and will coordinate
collections projects. S/he will partner with selectors in enhancing collections
skills and engage them in a holistic approach to collections building within the
context of outreach, access, metadata creation, rights management, and curation.
Resource management responsibilities include oversight of A&H CoP and gift
funds, and participation in resource development and donor stewardship,
particularly the identification and articulation of collections needs. S/he will
help to select general subject resources that serve broad aspects of the A&H
community’s research needs, and will keep abreast of collection trends and
publisher changes. S/he will also support library services for the Arts and
Humanities community.

QUALIFICATIONS:

· MLS/MLIS from an ALA-accredited institution or equivalent advanced degree in
library or information science

· Minimum of five years collection development experience in an
academic/research/special library

· Significant experience with research collections and a deep understanding of
the literature and information sources used in one or more Arts or Humanities
disciplines

· Demonstrated ability to lead change and implement new services and work methods

· Excellent oral and written communication skills

· Experience producing reports and communicating findings for diverse audiences

· Excellent interpersonal skills and a collaborative approach to problem solving
and working across organizational boundaries

· Experience working with vendors of scholarly research products

· Proven project management skills

· Strong analytical skills

· Ability to work with geographically-distributed physical collections with
limited accessibility
 

Preferred

· Bachelor’s or advanced degree in the Humanities or significant experience
working with Humanities collections

· Demonstrated vendor negotiation skills

· Grant writing experience
 

SALARY AND BENEFITS: $60,000 minimum salary. Actual salary based on
qualification and experience. MIT offers excellent benefits including a choice
of health and retirement plans, a dental plan, tuition assistance and a
relocation allowance. The MIT Libraries afford a flexible and collegial working
environment and foster professional growth of staff with management training and
travel funding for professional meetings.
 

APPLICATION PROCESS: Apply online at: http://hrweb.mit.edu/staffing/.
Applications must include cover letter, resume, and contact information for
three references. Review of applications will begin July 29, 2013 and will
continue until position is filled. MIT is strongly and actively committed to
diversity within its community and particularly encourages applications from
qualified women and minority candidates.

 

 

_______________________________________________

Millicent Gaskell
Head of Collections Strategy and Management, MIT Libraries
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg 14S-226
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
617.253.5619