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ERM & Continuing Resources Team Leader

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Position description

Department: Cataloging & Metadata Center
Rank and Salary: Associate Librarian - Librarian ($64,967 – $102,341)
Position Availability: Immediately
Application deadline for first consideration: May 19, 2017

Description of Institution and Library
As one of the world's great public research universities, UCLA integrates education, research, and public service so that each enriches and extends the others. From its beautiful neighborhood campus in a uniquely diverse and vibrant city on the Pacific Rim, teaching and research extend beyond the classroom, office, and lab through active engagement with communities, organizations, projects, and partnerships throughout the region and around the world.

UCLA’s diverse community of scholars encompasses nearly 30,000 undergraduates pursuing 125 majors, 13,000 graduate students in fifty-nine research programs, and 4,000 faculty members including Nobel Laureates; Rhodes Scholars; MacArthur Fellows; winners of the Fields Medal, National Medal of Science, Pritzker Prize, and Pulitzer Prize; and recipients of Oscars, Emmys, Tonys, and Golden Globes. UCLA ranks tenth in the Times of London Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, twelfth in the Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and fifth in the U.S. by Washington Monthly. The National Research Council ranks forty of its graduate and doctoral research programs among its top ten.

To enable these accomplished students, faculty, and staff to create, disseminate, and apply knowledge for the benefit of global society, the UCLA Library is re-envisioning how it is acquired, synthesized, and shared across academic audiences and with the public. It was among the first academic libraries to develop subject-specialist librarians and to launch a program to enhance students’ research skills. Its Special Collections pioneered the acquisition by public institutions of rare and unique books, children’s literature, pulp and detective fiction, works by or about women and minorities, screenplays, architectural plans, and Los Angeles-related materials and today leads the way in collecting archival resources in digital format such as emails and manuscripts. It has launched innovative data management services and an affordable course materials initiative that have served as models for other libraries.

The Library serves UCLA students, faculty, and staff whenever and wherever they need its resources and expertise. Reconfigured, high-tech spaces and services in its ten campus libraries enable users and librarians to explore and work with print and digital materials collaboratively or individually, pursue new lines of inquiry, and develop new pedagogical approaches as well as novel forms of scholarship. More than 3.5 million people visit annually, while an additional 3.4 million visitors enter online through its virtual front doors.

Whether on campus or online, the Library forms the intellectual heart of UCLA, a hub for cutting-edge discovery, scholarship, and instruction.

The UCLA Library Cataloging & Metadata Center is the main cataloging center in the UCLA Library system. It is primarily responsible for providing access to more than 90,000 titles annually including locally-digitized and curated materials, in various formats and languages, using various metadata schemas. In addition to providing access to tangible materials, this includes creating metadata in support of UCLA’s Digital Library Program. Members of the Center advise and consult with members of the campus community and others on metadata and cataloging issues. The Center serves the cataloging needs of the Arts, Biomedical, College, Management, Music, Science & Engineering, and Young Research Libraries, as well as of eight small collections on campus. The Center’s 13 FTE librarians and 19 FTE staff are organized into six teams: Data Integrity, Discovery, ERM/Continuing Resources, International, Metadata Services, and Subject Specialists. The Center is exploring next generation metadata development through BIBFRAME/linked data and actively participating in national efforts to determine how these changes in data format can improve the user experience and obtain greater benefits from structured metadata investments. The Center is also a long-standing member of the Program for Cooperative Cataloging and a significant contributor to BIBCO, CONSER, NACO, and SACO.

Within the Center, the ERM & Continuing Resources Team consists of 2 FTE librarians and 0.6 FTE library assistants and is primarily responsible for creation and enhancement of CONSER records for continuing resources collected by client units; for identity management of persons and bodies; and for related e-resources management (ERM) work. The team also assists in metadata creation for digital collections. CONSER records created by the team facilitate discovery of journals, newspapers, and other ongoing publications in the local library catalog and shared bibliographic database (OCLC). The team’s ERM work facilitates successful linking from library research tools such as online indexes to the resources themselves.

Position Duties
The UCLA Library seeks a creative and visionary professional to guide a team with a history of providing leadership in the bibliographic control of continuing resources at the national and regional levels, involvement in cutting-edge initiatives, and experimentation with tools and technologies. With demonstrated success in leading change, both internal to an organization and externally through participation in the profession, the ERM & Continuing Resources Team Leader collaborates with peers at UCLA and beyond to help re-envision metadata infrastructure needs, redesign workflows, and redeploy energies to meet new needs.

Reporting to the Head of the Cataloging & Metadata Center, the ERM & Continuing Resources Team Leader is responsible for the following duties:

• Supervises the Center’s ERM & Continuing Resources Team staff and student employees, including recruitment, orientation, training, and performance evaluation.
• Contributes as a member of the Center’s leadership team to overall planning, strategy, policies, problem-solving, and daily operation of the Center; collaborates with other key units for the success of collection management efforts.
• Participates in the planning, development, and evaluation of services.
• Assists the Head of the Cataloging & Metadata Center in determining staffing and resource budget needs.
• Provides expert leadership and guidance in traditional and new uses of library metadata for continuing resources.
• Suggests methods for streamlining or automating metadata creation and management, using various tools for metadata manipulation and scripting.
• Takes a lead role in the provision of quality control, data transformation, investigation of new tools and standards, and development of standards and best practices.
• Externally advocates for standards and tools needed locally.
• Represents UCLA on the Program for Cooperative Cataloging’s CONSER Operations Committee, the University of California’s Shared Cataloging Advisory Program.
• Contributes leadership to the UC CONSER Funnel.
• Plans, manages, and reviews work for special projects.
• Develops and delivers training within the team, the Center, and the UC CONSER Funnel.
• Writes and maintains documentation of policies and procedures.
• Develops or revises load specifications for batch loaded metadata received from outside sources and oversees follow up work needed.
• Creates, authenticates, and maintains CONSER records and corresponding NACO authority records in OCLC and the local ILS (Voyager).
• Activates and maintains related data in the library E-Resources Management System (Serials Solutions) and the link resolver (SFX).
• Resolves problems related to continuing resources in the bibliographic, authority, ERM, and link-resolver databases.
• Creates non-MARC metadata and responds to requests for metadata advice, in support of the UCLA Digital Library. Contributions may also include (but are not limited to): creating non-MARC metadata using a variety of schemas; mapping among various metadata schemas; reviewing and analyzing data; identifying strategies for extending and reusing existing metadata; consulting with members of the campus community on any of the above; as well as collaborating with the unit head and the Director of Metadata Services to develop cost-effective, efficient best practices.

Required Qualifications
• ALA-accredited Master's Degree in Library or Information Science OR significant graduate-level coursework toward such a degree OR equivalent education and experience (subject expertise combined with professional library education and/or experience).
• Demonstrated knowledge of current and emerging issues, trends, workflows, and best practices in the area of continuing resources cataloging.
• Excellent understanding of national standards, specifically, Resource Description and Access (RDA)/Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules (AACR2r), CONSER cataloging practices and documentation, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) and classification, FAST, MARC21 formats for bibliographic and authority data.
• Experience cataloging continuing resources.
• Demonstrated experience working with linked open data and linked data concepts.
• Strong service orientation and interest in anticipating and supporting information users' values and needs.
• Demonstrated proficiency and capabilities with personal computers and software, the Web, and library-relevant information technology applications. Working knowledge of standard computer office applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint or other productivity software.
• Experience in cataloging materials through a cataloging utility, such as OCLC, in an integrated library system environment.
• Aptitude for learning new technologies and metadata standards.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a production-oriented environment and to develop and adjust workflow to service needs.
• Ability to respond effectively to changing needs and priorities, by strategizing, prioritizing, and taking a flexible approach to working in a rapidly changing environment.
• Proficiency in cultivating an environment that promotes cooperation, creativity, innovation, continuous improvement, assessment, and accountability for results.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, coordinate and manage projects.
• Excellent analytical, organizational and time management skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to train librarians, staff and/or student employees.
• Demonstrated ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively both as a team member and independently and to promote teamwork among colleagues.
• Ability to foster effective relationships with peers and stakeholders throughout the Library and University community.
• Commitment to fostering a diverse educational environment and workplace and ability to work with a diverse student and faculty population.
• Capacity to thrive in the exciting, ambiguous, future-oriented environment of a world-class research institution.
• Commitment to professional issues, demonstrated through strong interest in local or national committee work, research, publication, etc.

Desired Qualifications
• Knowledge of and experience using programming languages (such as Python, Perl, Ruby, R, etc.)
• Bibliographic proficiency in additional languages besides English.

General Information
Professional librarians at UCLA are academic appointees. Librarians at UCLA are represented by an exclusive bargaining agent, University Council – American Federation of Teachers (UC-AFT). This is a represented position. They are entitled to appropriate professional leave, two days per month of vacation leave, one day per month of 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. Relocation assistance may be provided.

Appointees to the librarian series at UC shall have professional backgrounds that demonstrate a high degree of creativity, teamwork, and flexibility. Such background will normally include a professional degree from an ALA-accredited library and information science graduate program. In addition to professional competence and quality of service within the library in the primary job, advancement in the librarian series requires professional involvement and contributions outside of the library, and/or university and community service, and/or scholarly activities. Candidates must show evidence or promise of such contributions.

Candidates applying by May 19, 2017, will be given first consideration for this position. UCLA welcomes and encourages diversity and seeks applications and nominations from women and minorities. UCLA seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the people of California, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.

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: UC Nondiscrimination and Affirmative Action Policy at http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct

Under federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally authorized to work in the United States as established by providing documents specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Employment is contingent upon completion of satisfactory background investigation.

Visit the UCLA Library Employment and Human Resources website at: http://www.library.ucla.edu/about/jobs-ucla-library

Application Requirements

Document requirements
  • Cover Letter - Describing qualifications and experience.

  • Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V. detailing education and relevant experience.

  • References - Names and contact information for three professional references, including current or previous supervisor; contact information only.

Job location

Los Angeles, CA