Middle East and Islamic Studies Librarian

Department: International Area Studies Team, Services Division, Woodruff General Library

Salary: Commensurate with qualifications and experience

Position Availability: Summer 2017

The Emory Libraries seek an energetic, user-oriented, and collaborative professional to serve as Middle East and Islamic Studies Subject Librarian. Focused primarily on the Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, the librarian will provide a full range of subject specific library services in collection development, cataloging, research consultation, and instruction.

Emory’s teaching and research in the Middle East occur mainly in the fields of language studies, Islamic studies, history, and literature. The Middle East and Islamic Studies Librarian at Emory has responsibility for acquiring and cataloging materials about Islamic studies and the history and cultures of the Middle Eastern and North African countries. The successful candidate will have a passion for the teaching and research missions of the University, and understand the Libraries’ role in advancing those missions. This position offers opportunity for strategic and interdisciplinary approaches to the selection, teaching, discovery, and delivery of digital and print information resources.

Position Duties

Reporting to the Area Studies Team Leader, the subject librarian for Middle East and Islamic Studies provides the full range of subject specific library services to the academic department, including collection management, consultation, instruction, cataloging and assessment. The subject librarian serves 22 faculty, 10 graduate students, and 12 undergraduate majors and 2 minors. The subject librarian maintains and expands research-level collections, acts as an expert guide, provides research help at the time of need, and contributes to the programmatic and collaborative work of the Services Division and the library in general.

Specific duties include:

ENGAGEMENT

• Serves on the Area Studies Team as primary liaison to and actively develops professional relationships with faculty, students and staff in the assigned subject areas. May include other areas within the Area Studies Team, if needed.
• Plans and delivers point-of-need instruction services; teaches research tools and skills relevant to the discipline.
• Collaborates with faculty to achieve information literacy and learning outcomes in course-specific ways, including providing instruction sessions and assignments, research guides, and/or tutorials.
• Provides in-depth, specialized research consultations in support of the entire research lifecycle.
• Develops content for subject-based web pages.
• Assists faculty engaged in digital scholarship projects and teaching with technology initiatives. Collaborates as needed with Emory’s Center for Digital Scholarship (ECDS) and Academic Technology Services.
• Partners with other libraries, such as Emory’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library.
• Contributes to University efforts to assess and promote institutional scholarship.

COLLECTIONS

• Develops and manages excellent electronic, multimedia, and print collections in the relevant disciplines to support the research and teaching needs of the Emory University community.
• Promotes resources using current tools and technologies.
• Provides marketing and assessment of library services.
• Acquires material in a variety of languages, including English, French, German, Arabic and Persian. Catalogs any materials in Arabic script based languages.
• Responsibility for additional subject areas may be assigned.

PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Participates in professional and scholarly associations.
• Maintains up-to-date professional knowledge and skills in areas related to primary job assignment as well as maintains general knowledge of current trends in the relevant fields/disciplines, higher education, academic libraries, and information and educational technology.
• Adheres to guidelines outlined in the Handbook Governing the Librarian series for Faculty-Equivalent Librarians to ensure appointment, appointment renewal and promotion-in-rank.
• Participates in library and campus committees as appropriate for service purposes.

Required Qualifications

• ALA-accredited master’s degree in Library and Information Science or equivalent education and experience (subject expertise).
• Advanced degree in a relevant subject area.
• Fluency in Arabic, with reading knowledge of Persian.
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience with instruction, information literacy, and assessment of library services and resources.
• Strong interest in technology and tools for research and teaching.
• Commitment to user-centered library services.
• Strong understanding of the key issues and trends in instruction, collection development, and research, in the subject areas of Middle East and Islamic Studies.
• Knowledge of scholarly communication issues and trends within the relevant disciplines.
• Evidence of excellent communication, teaching, writing and analytical skills.
• Commitment to fostering a diverse educational environment and workplace and an ability to work effectively with a diverse faculty, staff, and student population.
• Demonstrated willingness to respond to new opportunities with initiative, creative energy, and leadership.
• Evidence of active participation, involvement, or leadership in local, state, regional, national, or international professional or scholarly associations.
• Strong interpersonal and team skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Library experience as a Middle East and Islamic Studies Librarian.
• Cataloging experience.
• Reading knowledge of Persian.
• Practical knowledge of ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.
• Experience working with ALMA, vendor sites such as YBP’s GOBI, libguides, LibAnswers, and other assessment tools.

Application Procedures

Interested candidates should review the applications requirements and apply online at:

https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?partnerid=25066&siteid=5449&areq=72531br

Applications may be submitted as Word or PDF attachments and must include:

1) Cover letter of application describing qualifications and experience;

2) Current resume/vita detailing education and relevant experience; and

3) On a separate document list the names, email addresses, and telephone numbers of 3 professional references including a current or previous supervisor.  

Candidates applying by July 17, 2017 will receive priority consideration.  Review of applications will continue until position is successfully filled. Emory is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer that welcomes and encourages diversity and seeks applications and nominations from women and minorities. 

General Information

Professional librarians at Emory Libraries are 12-month faculty-equivalent positions evaluated annually with assigned ranks renewable for 3 or 5 years based on experience and background.  Appropriate professional leave and funding is provided.  Depending on educational credentials and position, librarians may be considered for a shared/dual appointment between the library and academic department as a faculty member.

Librarian appointees at Emory generally have educational credentials and professional backgrounds with academic library experience and/or disciplinary knowledge and demonstrate a commitment to continuous learning, professional engagement and involvement, research and scholarship, creativity, innovation, and flexibility.   Such backgrounds will normally include a graduate degree from an ALA-accredited library and information science program AND/OR a discipline-specific master’s OR doctoral degree.  In addition to professional competence and service within the library in the primary job assignment, advancement and/or appointment renewal requires professional involvement and contributions outside of the library and scholarly activities.  Candidates must show evidence or promise of such contributions.  

Emory provides an extremely competitive fringe benefit plan that includes personal leave, holiday pay, medical and dental plans, life insurance, courtesy scholarships, and tuition reimbursement just to name a few.  For a full list of benefit programs, please go to http://www.hr.emory.edu/eu/benefits/.

Description of Institution and Library

Emory University is internationally recognized for its outstanding liberal arts college, superb professional schools, and one of the South’s leading health care systems.  Emory’s beautiful, leafy main campus is located in Atlanta’s historic Druid Hills suburb and is home to 7,591 undergraduates and 7,103 graduate and professional students.  As the third largest private employer in Atlanta, Emory University and Emory Healthcare have a combined workforce of approximately, 29,931 and an annual operating budget of $4.8 billion.  Emory University received $574.6 million in research funding in 2016.

Ranked among the top 25 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in North America, Emory Libraries in Atlanta and Oxford, Georgia are an intellectual commons for Emory University.  Comprised of 9 libraries, the holdings include more than 4 million print and electronic volumes, nearly 100,000-plus electronic journals, and internationally renowned special collections.  Emory is well known in a number of collection areas including modern literature, African-American history and culture, U.S. Southern history and culture, and U.S. civil rights. Emory Libraries staff number approximately 170 and the overall library budget is approximately $25.3 million.  The Emory Libraries is a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Center for Research Libraries (CRL), the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), the Digital Library Federation (DLF), International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the Scholarly Publishing & Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC) as well as regional associations including the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries (ASERL), Georgia Library Learning Online (GALILEO), and the GETSM Consortium (a consortium of the University of Georgia, Emory, Georgia Tech, Georgia State University, and Georgia Regents University).

The Emory Libraries include the Robert W. Woodruff Library, which is also home to the MARBL.  Other campus libraries, which serve the specialized and professional schools, include the Goizueta Business Library, the Woodruff Health Sciences Library, the Pitts Theology Library and the Hugh F. MacMillan Law Library in addition to the Oxford College Library located on the Oxford Campus approximately 30 miles from Atlanta.

– 31 May 2017

EEO/AA/Disability/Veteran Employer