Dean of University Libraries

Description

Ball State University seeks a Dean of University Libraries
Click here to view position profile: https://summitsearchsolutions.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/BallState_Dean_Libraries_Profile.pdf
Location: Muncie, Indiana 

The Position:
Ball State University seeks a visionary, innovative leader committed to making a sustainable impact on student learning and faculty teaching and research to serve as the next dean of its University Libraries. Reporting directly to Provost Anand R. Marri, the next dean will champion the mission and strategic plan of Ball State’s four library facilities and large material collections to advance an institutional commitment to the enduring values of excellence, innovation, integrity, inclusiveness, social responsibility, and gratitude. 

The dean of University Libraries will work with campus leaders to steward the impressive library collections, manage a major renovation planned for the Alexander M. Bracken Library, champion faculty, staff, and student success, and enhance community engagement. Ball State seeks in the next dean a leader with demonstrable thought leadership and visibility in the library community and a commitment to student success.  

Responsibilities:
The next dean of University Libraries will be expected to:

• Provide a clear mission, vision, and strategic direction. The dean will define and lead the Libraries’ involvement in the University’s teaching and learning mission, strategic initiatives, and community engagement efforts. The dean will champion the enduring value of libraries, not only as repositories of knowledge, but also as centers of learning that nurture 21st century skills. Additionally, the dean will develop and implement policies, practices, and programs that promote inclusivity and accessibility within the library system.
• Provide operational leadership and sophisticated financial stewardship. The dean reports to the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs and serves as the Libraries’ chief administrative and budgetary officer. The dean is responsible for the administration of University Libraries and ensures inclusive access to collections, services, technologies, and spaces aligned to the mission of the Libraries and the curricular and research needs of Ball State University. The dean will effectively plan and administer the financial resources of the Libraries to provide access to scholarly collections and content, innovative technologies, and collaborative and focused study spaces that meet the research, teaching, and learning needs of students and faculty.
• Continue the transformation of the Libraries. The dean will lead the continuing transformation of University Libraries into a center for student and faculty success by collaborating broadly to develop partnerships and integrated services that promote research, scholarship, and academic excellence. The dean will also continue to promote the outreach of the Library across campus, as well as the local and regional community.
• Foster a culture of transparency and collaboration. The dean will work closely with the Ball State University Foundation to build upon fundraising efforts that are part of the University’s largest comprehensive campaign, Our Call to Beneficence, by attracting external financial support for the Libraries, particularly to advance student learning and faculty research needs alongside innovative initiatives.
• Enhance community engagement and donor relationships. The dean will advocate effectively for University Libraries’ mission, programs, services, and collections by engaging in community partners beyond the Ball State campus. The dean will serve as an authoritative resource for government leaders in Indiana and a thought leader at the state and national levels. 

About University Libraries:
University Libraries’ history traces back to 1918, when the institution was founded as the Indiana State Normahttps://theapplicantmanager.com/jobs?pos=su422l School, Eastern Division. The college library was originally housed in the west wing of the Administration Building but moved to the newly constructed North Quadrangle Building (then referred to as the Library and Assembly Hall) in 1927. 

Despite significant expansions completed in 1955 and 1967, the institution’s transition from Ball State Teachers College to Ball State University in 1965 and a vast expansion of the student population during the decade necessitated the planning of a larger and more modern library facility. Ball State University President John J. Pruis, who assumed office in 1968, immediately prioritized the planning of a new university library building. Collaborating with external consultants and the Walter Scholer and Associates architectural firm, Ball State developed plans for a new university library to accommodate 1,000,000 volumes and support a campus population of 20,000 students. Ground was broken on the library on May 24, 1972, and on Feb. 20, 1974, the Ball State Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name the facility in honor of Alexander M. Bracken, who had served as the University’s Board of Trustees president since 1958. 

The Alexander M. Bracken Library officially opened to the campus on Sept. 9, 1975, and was formally dedicated on March 26, 1976. The new library facility provided students, faculty, and the community with expanded access to both unique, distinctive collections and an increasingly innovative, technology-driven research environment. The year marked the formal opening of the library’s Special Collections, including the institution’s unique John Steinbeck Collection. Bracken Library also housed the Delaware County Archives (renamed the Althea L. Stoeckel Archives of Local History) and served as a federal documents depository. In 1987, University Libraries unveiled an automated, online card catalog system that provided computerized, searchable access to 300,000 bibliographic records. In 1992, an Ethernet Local Area Network (LAN) connection was first introduced to the building, expanding online access for library patrons and the campus community. In 1996, Email a Librarian service was introduced at Bracken Library; a year later, Bracken Library introduced innovative electronic instruction spaces to advance information literacy instruction in the Internet Age. 

In the 21st century, University Libraries has significantly invested in the building of locally developed digital collections to increase the accessibility of signature collections and University scholarship. The Digital Media Repository (DMR) was launched in 2005 to provide access to locally digitized archival materials and cultural heritage collections and now boasts over 250,000 open access research materials. In 2007, the Cardinal Scholar Institutional Repository was launched to provide open access to materials created by University faculty, staff, and students.

In addition to Bracken Library, the Ball State University Libraries system also includes multiple branch Libraries that for decades have provided unique, specialized services to specific disciplines across campus. The Architecture Library first opened in 1966, and in 1982, moved into a new facility in the Architecture Building addition. In 1972, the Science– Health Science Library first opened in the Cooper Science Complex, and later split into two unique branches—the Health Library, opened in 2019 in the Health Professions Building, and the Foundational Sciences Library, opened in 2021 in the Foundational Sciences Building. 

University Libraries Vision and Goals
University Libraries supports the University’s mission and enduring values by creating transformative experiences for diverse communities of learners through excellent research assistance, dedicated study and learning spaces, innovative services and technologies discovery, the dissemination of scholarship, promotion of lifetime learning, and engagement with the surrounding community. University Libraries is an essential partner and effective leader in the success of Ball State students, the advancement of Ball State faculty and staff, and the progress of the wider East Central Indiana community. The Libraries innovates to connect people, cultures, and knowledge as a center for lifetime learning and a catalyst for new ideas and models for inclusive excellence, enriching a campus culture of inclusion, diversity, and equity at Ball State. 

Two essential goals for University Libraries are to advance undergraduate excellence and innovation and to contribute to graduate education and lifetime learning. To achieve these goals, University Libraries engages students in the research and discovery process through access to scholarly resources, information, and digital literacy instruction that supports student research, community-engaged scholarship, and immersive learning projects. The Libraries helps prepare students for career success, civic engagement, and lifetime learning while striving to ensure the diversity, inclusivity, and equity of resources, services, and amenities provided for all students. 

University Libraries also advances community engagement and facilitates scholarship among faculty and staff. To this end, University Libraries continuously expands its capacity to support the teaching and research needs of faculty and staff, preserve and make accessible physical research archives and collections of enduring value to the community, and engage in strategic partnerships in the community that foster civic engagement and community awareness and involvement through educational programming. 

Finally, University Libraries strives in all efforts to increase institutional and inclusive excellence. University Libraries has worked to expand access to diverse resources and collections, and to offer programs and services with broad, inclusive goals. Library leadership uses data-informed decision making to enhance and continually improve the effectiveness of the Libraries’ services, programs, collections, and spaces for the benefit of all. 

About the Institution:
Ball State University serves approximately 20,000 graduate and undergraduate students across seven academic colleges with about 190 undergraduate programs. Ball State offers more than 140 certificates and master’s, doctoral, and specialist degrees, many of them ranking among the best in the nation. Originally founded to meet the need for more and better teachers, Ball State has earned a Community Engagement Classification from the Carnegie Foundation and serves as one of Indiana’s public research institutions while remaining committed to empowering its graduates to have fulfilling careers and meaningful lives. 

For 105 years, Ball State has had an unwavering belief in an education rooted in creativity, values, and intellectual curiosity. The institution was founded on the beneficence and tenacity of the Ball brothers, who gave back to the community that gave them so much. They purchased the land and buildings of a defunct institution and donated them to the State of Indiana. This gift became the Indiana State Normal School Eastern Division, which opened in 1918. 

To recognize the Ball family’s generosity, the Indiana General Assembly changed the institution’s name to Ball Teachers College in 1922 and then Ball State Teachers College in 1929. By the 1960s, the regional teachers college had begun to attract faculty from outside the Midwest. In 1965, the Indiana General Assembly renamed the college Ball State University, acknowledging its phenomenal growth in enrollment and facilities, the variety and quality of its educational programs and services, and the anticipation of the broader role it would play in the state’s future. 

What began as a teachers college has grown into a world-class University with highly respected programs in education, architecture, business, communications, fine arts, sciences, humanities, and the health professions. Symbolized by the statue Beneficence, our enduring values—excellence, integrity, inclusiveness, innovation, courage, social responsibility, and gratitude— guide us today and will endure as we enter a bright future. 

Inclusive excellence is an integral part of Ball State’s mission and strategic plan. As the University recruits and develops diverse leaders, faculty, staff, and students, it strives to ensure that its students are prepared to engage and succeed in increasingly diverse environments. Ball State is and will continue to be recognized for its positive climate—one in which all stakeholders know that their contributions are essential to the University’s success. 

The best is yet to come.
Destination 2040: Our Flight Path establishes Ball State University’s ambitious goals for our second century. This strategic plan was designed with input from faculty, staff, students, alumni, community partners, and benefactors. It provides a strategic framework with five long-term goals for 2040 and a small set of strategic imperatives to be executed by 2024. 

To Apply:
All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. Applications should include a CV or resume and a letter of interest addressing the themes in this leadership profile. 

Summit Search Solutions, Inc. is assisting Ball State University in this search. For fullest consideration, candidate materials should be received by October 15, 2024.

Application materials should be submitted to Summit’s candidate portal:
https://theapplicantmanager.com/jobs?pos=su422  

Nominations and inquiries can be directed to:
Lyndi Hewitt, PhD
Senior Consultant
Summit Search Solutions, Inc.
615-423-0525
[email protected]  

Ball State University is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer that is strongly and actively committed to diversity within its community. Women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and protected veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status, or any other legally protected status. MC-69172 24

Requirements

Qualifications:

Ball State University’s dean of University Libraries is the chief administrative and budgetary officer of the Libraries and reports to the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. The dean is responsible for the administration of University Libraries and ensures inclusive access to collections, services, technologies, and spaces aligned to the mission of the Libraries and the curricular and research needs of Ball State University. 

The successful candidate will show evidence of a strong commitment to the academic values of Ball State University and support for the Libraries’ programs in education, research, public service, and professional development. 

An MLS/MLIS/MIS master’s degree from an ALA-accredited program is required, along with evidence of scholarly and professional achievement and a minimum of five years of increasingly responsible experience in an academic library with significant administrative experience in budgetary and personnel areas. 

In addition, the ideal candidate will possess the following characteristics:

• Provide clear vision, strategic direction, and operational leadership for the Libraries to advance the University’s teaching and learning mission, strategic initiatives, and community engagement endeavors; develop and implement library policies, practices, and programs that promote inclusivity and accessibility.
• Lead the continuing transformation of University Libraries into a center for student and faculty success, collaborating broadly to develop partnerships with other units and integrated services that promote research, scholarship, and academic excellence.
• Effectively plan and administer the financial resources of the Libraries to provide access to scholarly collections and content, innovative technologies, information specialists, and collaborative and focused study spaces that meet the University’s teaching, research, and learning needs.
• Represent the University as necessary by providing leadership in communication and advancing the interests of University Libraries in university, local, state, national, and international contexts.
• Demonstrate a proven ability to manage complex projects from inception to completion, including but not limited to major library renovation projects.
• Serve as the University Libraries’ liaison to University administrative offices and governance bodies.
• Serve as a member of the Provost’s Council and Academic Leadership Group.
• Exercise full managerial responsibility for hiring of personnel, conduct and performance appraisal, compensation, and educational/professional development of personnel for University Libraries.