Head, Acquisitions and Cataloging Services

Description

Head, Acquisitions and Cataloging Services

Associate or Full Professor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Library

Position Available: Position available immediately. This is a 100%, twelve-month, tenure-system appointment.  Rank will be appropriate to the qualifications of the candidate selected, at a level of either Associate Professor or Professor. The faculty appointment is permanent, the administrative appointment as unit head is at the pleasure of the Dean of Libraries for a renewable, five-year term of service.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Statement: The University Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign values diversity of thought, perspective, experience, and people, and is actively committed to a culture of inclusion and respect. We are dedicated to the practices of social justice, diversity, and equality, and we strive to overcome historical and divisive biases in our society and embrace diverse points of view as assets to the fabric of our community. All positions will be called on to contribute to building this environment in the Library and throughout the campus community, and we encourage candidates who share these values to apply. Additional information can be found on the Library’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Accessibility (DEIA) webpage: https://www.library.illinois.edu/geninfo/deia/ .

Position Description: The Head of Acquisitions and Cataloging Services (ACS) manages and coordinates all activity in ACS, including acquisitions, e-resources licensing, troubleshooting, and collection description and access. Reporting to the AUL for Collections and Technical Services, the Head of ACS works closely with disciplinary liaisons, technical specialists, and the Library’s Business and Human Resources Services Center (BHRSC). The Head of ACS leads unit personnel in procuring and delivering access to materials via an annual collections budget of over $20.5-million. The Head interprets policy, ensures adherence to university and state procurement guidelines, coordinates fund tracking and expenditures, oversees the application of appropriate cataloging and metadata standards among unit personnel, and provides leadership in all functions that support library materials procurement and access. The Head works closely with Library administrators, unit personnel, and faculty and staff from throughout the University Library. 

Responsibilities: The Head of ACS oversees a unit with 7 FTE Library faculty lines, over 25 staff, 3 academic professionals, and a team of graduate assistants and student assistants. The Head of ACS has primary responsibility for initiating and leading a complex acquisitions and cataloging services program and fostering a culture of service, technological innovation, and outreach within the Library and across campus. In addition, the Head establishes a unit vision to maximize the impact of the unit’s resources, footprint, and resources.

As the Head of the ACS, the incumbent will be responsible for:

Leading ACS’s overall service strategy and programs, in close collaboration with Library leadership and stakeholders, while keeping abreast of trends that impact higher education; Overseeing day-to-day management of the University Library’s collection development budget of $20.5 million; Coordinating the design, implementation, and assessment of innovative services that support the Library’s collections programs;

Supporting the professional development of ACS personnel to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing information environment within a culture that values and promotes a collaborative and cohesive service philosophy; Collaborating and consulting regularly with faculty and staff in Library stakeholder units on the continual development and improvement of overall acquisitions and cataloging services; Overseeing management of the unit’s operational activities in acquisitions, cataloging, e-resources management and licensing, and metadata production and management, including those ACS personnel located in satellite locations such as the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Map Library, and Music and Performing Arts Library; Guiding the development of documentation and procedural support for ACS operations to improve communications within the unit and Library; Preparing regular and on-demand reports for ACS, including, but not limited to, contributions to strategic planning, unit annual reports, grant and budget proposals, annual graduate assistant and wage funding requests, audit reporting, and service reports; Working with Library Advancement and the Library’s Business and Human Resources Service Center (BHRSC) on coordination of endowment spending on collections by disciplinary specialists; Working closely with BHRSC to monitor and oversee reconciliation of spending between Alma and Banner;  Collaborating within the Technical Services division to prioritize services and initiatives, plan for their implementation, and set system-wide policies and practices; Contributing to the national and international reputation of the University Library through professional research, service, and collaboration with appropriate colleagues and organizations.

Appointment Information

Unit Profile: The Acquisitions and Cataloging Services (ACS) unit began unified operations in 2019 and is the primary unit serving the University Library’s technical services operations, including: Acquisitions, Cataloging, E-Resources Access and Licensing, and Metadata Production. Directly overseeing annual expenditures in excess of $20.5-million in state funding plus endowment spending, ACS not only serves as the primary mechanism for procuring Library materials for the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, it is responsible for coordinating cataloging and metadata for over 9.7-million titles, licensing and troubleshooting all e-resource content, and coordinating online access to resources logging in excess of 20-million uses annually. The ACS unit operates within the Library’s Technical Services Division, engaging in integrated budgetary planning and governance activities as appropriate. For more information on the ACS unit, see: https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/acs/. 

Environment: The University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign is one of the preeminent research libraries in the world. With more than 15 million volumes and significant digital resources, it ranks second in size among academic research libraries in the United States and first among public university libraries in the world. As the intellectual heart of the campus, the Library is committed to maintaining the strongest possible collections and services and engaging in research and development activities in pursuit of the University’s mission of teaching, scholarship, and public service. The Library currently employs approximately 80 faculty and 300 academic professionals, staff, and graduate assistants. For more information, see: http://www.library.illinois.edu/.

Salary and Rank: The budgeted salary ranges for this open-ranked unit head position in the Library is $85,000 to $115, 000 at the Associate Professor level, and $110,000 to $130,000 at the Full Professor level. Unit heads are awarded an administrative stipend of $7,000 per year. The salary for this position will be negotiated with the successful candidate and will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. The University of Illinois Library is committed to competitive salaries and attending to equity in compensation within the organization.

Librarians have faculty rank, and must demonstrate excellence in librarianship, research, and university/professional/community service in order to meet university standards for tenure and promotion. Library faculty have an obligation to remain professionally informed, to pursue the discovery of new knowledge related to their field of expertise, to disseminate the results of their scholarly work, and to seek opportunities for service to the Library, campus, state, nation and profession. Library faculty are governed by University statements on review and promotion found in Article IX of the Statutes, and in Provost’s Communication No. 9 https://provost.illinois.edu/policies/provosts-communications/communication-9-promotion-and-tenure/ and Provost’s Communication No. 13 https://provost.illinois.edu/policies/provosts-communications/communication-13-review-of-faculty-in-year-three-of-the-probationary-period/. For more information on library tenure and promotion, see https://www.library.illinois.edu/staff/committee/promotion-and-tenure-advisory-committee.

Terms of Appointment: Typical twelve-month appointment; 24 annual vacation days; 11 annual paid holidays; 12 annual sick-leave days (cumulative), plus an additional 13 sick-leave days (non-cumulative) available, if needed, each year; health insurance requiring a small co-payment is provided to employee (with the option to purchase coverage for spouse and dependents); required participation in State Universities Retirement System (SURS) (8% of annual salary is withheld and is refundable upon termination), with several options for participation in additional retirement plans; newly-hired employees are covered by the Medicare portion of Social Security and are subject to its deduction. 

Campus and Community: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is a comprehensive and major public land-grant university (Doctoral/Research University-Extensive) that is ranked among the best in the world. Chartered in 1867, it provides undergraduate and graduate education in more than 150 fields of study, conducts theoretical and applied research, and provides public service to the state and the nation. It employs 3,000 faculty members who serve 36,000 undergraduates and 12,000 graduate and professional students; approximately 25% of faculty receives campus-wide recognition each year for excellence in teaching. More information about the campus is available at http://www.illinois.edu.

The University is located in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana, which have a combined population of 100,000 and are situated about 140 miles south of Chicago, 120 miles west of Indianapolis, and 170 northeast of St. Louis. The University and its surrounding communities offer a cultural and recreational environment ideally suited to the work of a major research institution. For more information about the community, visit: https://illinois.edu or https://www.champaigncounty.org.

Application Procedures & Deadline Information: Apply for this position using the Apply Now button at the top or bottom of this posting. To ensure full consideration, all required application materials must be received by 6:00pm (CST) on March 14, 2025. Please create your candidate profile, upload a cover letter, your curriculum vitae, and the names and email addresses of four professional references by the close date. Applications not submitted through https://jobs.illinois.edu will not be considered.

For questions about these positions, please contact Aneitre Johnson at [email protected]  or 217-265-0244. For questions regarding the application process, please contact 217-333-2137.

The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.

Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply and may request a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (2008) to complete the application and/or interview process. Requests may be submitted through the reasonable accommodations portal, or by contacting the Accessibility & Accommodations Division of the Office for Access and Equity at 217-333-0885, or by emailing [email protected] .

Requirements

Required Qualifications:

Master’s degree from an ALA-accredited library school or international equivalent; Evidence of strong management and supervisory skills demonstrated through increasing managerial and supervisory responsibilities over three or more years of continuous employment; Demonstrated professional employment experience in one or more of the following areas of librarianship: acquisitions, cataloging, e-resources, metadata, or other technical services functions;  Demonstrated communication and leadership skills;  Demonstrated ability to work effectively with a diverse community of library staff and users;

Evidence of research, professional service, and publications sufficient to merit appointment at the level of tenured Associate or Full Professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

 Preferred Qualifications:

Five years or more of supervisory and project management experience in leading and managing technical services units or initiatives, preferably in an academic research library; Experience mentoring and supporting junior faculty in research, service and librarianship;  Evidence of the ability to promote cultural competencies, diversity, accessibility, and inclusivity in a team environment; Demonstrated experience assessing the effectiveness and impact of programs, services, operations, and/or spaces; Involvement in professional service organizations key to shaping technical services operations, such as an established leadership role in professional service organizations.