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University of Florida: Head of the Price Library of Judaica

University of Florida

Position: Head of the Price Library of Judaica

Rank: Assistant University Librarian or Associate University Librarian

Reports To: Chair of Special and Area Studies Collections

Salary: Minimum anticipated salary for appointment as an Assistant University Librarian: $47,000. Actual salary and appointment rank will reflect the selected professional's experience and credentials.

Requisition #: 0705841

Deadline Date: Search will remain open until the position is filled.

Please note that this posting has specific instructions for the submission of application materials (see below: APPLICATION PROCESS). Failure to submit all of the required documents as instructed may result in your application not being considered.

Job Summary: Responsible for the overall management and collection development of the Price Library of Judaica. Responsible for selection of library materials, reference service, research consultations, and bibliographic instruction in support of the Jewish Studies program. Promotes a public awareness of the Price Library of Judaica's mission and resources and determines needs and priorities to enhance appropriate library support. Collaborates with librarians and the academic faculty to establish collection management policies. Participates in defining public service, technical service, and collection management goals, objectives, strategies, performance criteria, and materials budgets. Assigns, trains, monitors, and evaluates staff assigned to the Price Library of Judaica. Participates in the Library's publications, fund raising, and bibliographical control programs. The library encourages staff participation in reaching management decisions and, consequently, the head of the Price Library of Judaica may be asked to serve on various departmental and library-wide committees and teams. The incumbent will pursue professional development opportunities, including research, publication, and professional association activities, to meet library-wide criteria for tenure and promotion.

Responsibilities:

    As the bibliographer for Jewish Studies, maintains and integrates the following responsibilities:
  • Maintains contact with the faculty and students utilizing the Price Library of Judaica to ensure that the collections and services provided by the Library support needs. Informs this clientele of relevant library issues.
  • Develops collection management policy and approval plans for the Price Library of Judaica. Stays informed of relevant Jewish Studies resources available in other libraries and collections.
  • Reviews notification slips, trade and national bibliographies, advertisements, catalogues, and similar sources so as to initiate current and retrospective acquisition orders in all formats enhancing the Judaica collections in support of the academic program. Selects appropriate materials received by gift; reviews approval plan profiles and receipts for Judaica, and advises the Acquisitions and Licensing Dept. on sources of supply.
  • Works with the library Gifts and Exchange programs to solicit and review gift collections and to establish exchange programs for Jewish Studies.
  • Establishes cataloging and preservation priorities for Judaica materials. Makes storage, transfer, and deselection decisions for Judaica materials.
  • Participates in the reformatting and digitization programs to ensure conversion of important items in jeopardy.
  • Assists the Cataloging and Metadata Dept. in the copy cataloging of Hebraica and selection of materials for outsourcing of cataloging services.
  • Provides consultative services to the faculty and advanced graduate students in Jewish Studies, usually by referral from public service areas or by specific arrangement with the academic program area faculty.
  • Develops and maintains a professional relationship with other Judaica bibliographers, providing leadership at the national level in various organizations.
  • Participates in the Special and Area Studies Collections departmental strategic planning process.
  • Prepares collection assessment studies and defines resource needs.
  • Participates in the Library's development program.
  • Participates in the Library's exhibition program.
  • Participates in the Library's research and publication program.
  • Serves on Library and departmental consultative bodies as appropriate.
  • Pursues professional development opportunities, including research, publication, and professional association activities, to meet library-wide criteria for tenure and promotion.

Qualifications:
Required:

  • Thorough knowledge of one Jewish language and a working knowledge of one additional Jewish language
  • Strong familiarity with Jewish history and culture
  • An ALA accredited MLS degree (or foreign equivalency) or graduate degree in the bibliographic subject area or related field
  • A minimum of three (3) years experience in an academic or research library, with experience in managing and enhancing library collections, including those supporting Jewish Studies or other relevant and equivalent professional experience
  • Effective oral and written communication skills in English
  • Familiarity with information and digital-based technologies and automated library systems
  • Strong potential for meeting the requirements for tenure and promotion.

Preferred:

  • Earned graduate degree in a relevant subject field with a thorough knowledge of the research literature of Jewish Studies
  • A demonstrated record of bibliographic instruction, scholarship, public outreach, and development
  • Working knowledge of two modern European languages
  • Working knowledge of a Semitic language other than Hebrew
  • Experience as a catalog librarian in an automated environment
  • Experience in an academic library that awards tenure to librarians
  • Demonstrated supervisory experience

THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
The University of Florida is a large, land grant, public educational research institution with a faculty of approximately 4,000 and a student body of approximately 50,000. UF is Florida's largest university, the nation's fourth-largest, and traces its beginnings to a small seminary in 1853. Since 1985, UF has been a member of the Association of American Universities, the prestigious higher-education organization comprised of the top 62 public and private institutions in North America. UF is home to 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes. The University offers the Ph.D. in more than 90 fields and the Master's degree in more than 120 fields. For more information please consult the UF homepage at http://www.ufl.edu. The University of Florida Libraries are members of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for Research Libraries, the Research Libraries Group, the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Program for Cooperative Cataloging (PCC) and SOLINET. The library staff consists of more than 400 FTE librarians, technology/clerical staff and student assistants. For more information about the Libraries, please visit http://www.uflib.ufl.edu. Special and Area Studies Collections encompasses two units: the Area Studies Collections and the Special Collections of the University of Florida. The Area Studies Collections are the Latin American Collection; the Africana and the Asian Studies collections; and the Price Library of Judaica. Special Collections include Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature, the Belknap Collection for the Performing Arts, the P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, the General Manuscript Collection, the Rare Book Collection, and the University Archives. The Price Library of Judaica, with holdings exceeding 90,000 volumes, is a regional library of excellence in Jewish studies in the Southeast. The Library is built on the core collection of Rabbi Leonard C. Mishkin of Chicago. At the time of its acquisition by the Smathers Libraries in 1977, it was the largest personal library of Judaica and Hebraica in the United States. Formally dedicated in March 1981 to support the teaching and research missions of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of Florida, the Library is named for Isser and Rae Price, whose sons, Jack and Samuel Price of Jacksonville, Florida, established a fund to support sustained development of its collections. The Price Library of Judaica is a well-balanced Jewish studies collection of notable depth and scope. Its diversified holdings of uncommon research materials in English and other languages support scholarship in virtually every aspect of the Jewish experience. Materials relevant to the ancient, medieval and modern periods await advanced students, visiting scholars and casual readers who possess a curiosity about a creative people with 4,000 years of recorded history.

Community:
Gainesville, Florida and the surrounding community are home to approximately 240,000 people. Gainesville is also home to the University of Florida and Santa Fe Community College. Situated just over an hour from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, Gainesville is surrounded by over 40 nature parks including many spring fed lakes and rivers. Gainesville has numerous cultural institutions and is a haven for sports fans. In 2007, Gainesville was ranked as the "Best Place to Live and Work" by Frommer's Cities Ranked and Rated and as one of the "Best Places to Live and Play" by National Geographic Adventure. Jacksonville, Orlando, Tampa, Tallahassee, and St. Augustine are all within a two hour drive of Gainesville.

Benefits:
Twenty-six vacation days, nine paid holidays, and thirteen days sick leave annually; retirement plan options; insurance benefits; tuition fee waiver program; no state or local income tax. Prospective employees should review the information about employment at UF available at http://www.hr.ufl.edu/training/neo/default.asp.

Application Process:
The University of Florida is an equal opportunity employer and is strongly committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff. Applicants from a broad spectrum of people, including members of ethnic minorities and disabled persons, are especially encouraged to apply. As part of the application process, applicants are invited to complete an on-line confidential and voluntary demographic self-disclosure form which can be found at: http://www.hr.ufl.edu/job/datacard.htm. This information is collected by the University of Florida's Faculty Development Office to track applicant trends and is in no way considered by the Smathers Libraries in the selection process.

Please reply by e-mail. Send, as attachments (MS-Word format preferred), a cover letter detailing your interest in and qualifications for this position, resume and list of three references. Include address, telephone and email information for references. Please include a 250-word document expressing your opinion on the topic, "What is the future of a separate Jewish Studies Library within a larger academic research library". While the search will remain open until the position is filled. All inquiries and submissions of required application materials should be sent to Bonnie J. Smith, Smathers Libraries Human Resources, at: bonniesmith@ufl.edu