Associate Librarian/Archivist or Senior Librarian/Archivist and Associate Dean, Research and Open Scholarship

The York University Libraries (YUL) at York University invites highly qualified applicants for an Associate Librarian/Archivist or Senior Librarian/Archivist continuing appointment position to commence July 1, 2024. The successful candidate will be appointed as Associate Dean, Research and Open Scholarship with an initialfive-year term, with the possibility of renewal upon successful review.

Reporting to the Dean of Libraries, the Associate Dean for the Research & Open Scholarship division is a member of YUL’s senior leadership team. The Associate Dean provides strategic direction and oversight over the division and plays a lead role in fostering collaborative strategies to shape a robust and sustainable environment for teaching, learning, and research.

The Research & Open Scholarship division has the following departments: the Content Development & Analysis department; Content Development & Acquisitions department; the Archives & Special Collections department; and the Open Scholarship department. These departments work together to support the academic programs of the University, contributing to global scholarship and the stewardship of York’s intellectual assets. In 2019, York University passed a Senate approved institutional open access policy. The Associate Dean, Research & Open Scholarship, will continue to build upon the division’s strengths in knowledge mobilization and open access to operationalize the policy on behalf of the University.

Working closely with YUL’s senior leadership team, the Associate Dean also plays a lead role in developing support structures to foster librarian and archivist research and scholarship. This includes developing effective mentorship structures to strengthen YUL’s research agenda and advance the University’s research intensification priorities. The Associate Dean will serve as the Libraries’ representative on various pan-university research committees.

The successful candidate will be an exceptional leader with excellent communication skills, experience with change management, and an unwavering user-centered focus. The candidate should also have a track record of collaboration across all levels of an organization and be committed to creating a supportive and inclusive work environment that upholds the principles of decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Additionally, the successful candidate will work to advance the Libraries’ core values of empowering staff and aligning our resources to be innovative, flexible, and creative. The incumbent should also be comfortable operating in a unionized environment.

CONTEXT

The Libraries’ organizational structure is intended to leverage expertise across YUL and foster a focused alignment with the University’s strategic directions. Three divisions serve this arrangement: Research & Open Scholarship, Teaching & Learning, and Digital Engagement & Strategy.

The Research & Open Scholarship division directly aligns with York’s priorities to amplify and sustain research and promote open models of scholarship to support institutional values on the democratization of knowledge. It supports scholarly and creative contributions by providing access to research collections, providing infrastructure supports for knowledge creation, and supporting research dissemination, discovery, and preservation. The division is also responsible for providing expertise for open access, research data management planning, data services, and enhancing visibility and impact of York research. The division also supports the Libraries’ leadership role in the implementation of the institutional open access policy.

As the chief architect in realizing the vision of the division, the Associate Dean will work closely with the Dean and YUL’s Associate Deans of Teaching & Learning and Digital Engagement & Strategy to successfully align the divisional framework with the Libraries’ overall strategic priorities and organizational structure.

DEPARTMENTS IN THE RESEARCH AND OPEN SCHOLARSHIP DIVISION

The Archives & Special Collections department resides within this division with the University Archivist & Head having a dotted line reporting relationship to the Associate Dean. The Clara Thomas Archives & Special Collections consist of university records, private papers, rare books, maps, and other primary source material acquired to support research and learning by the university’s faculty, students, and a community of international scholars. The holdings are strong in the areas of Canadian history and literature, fine arts (design, photography, music, film, theatre), philosophy, environmental and labour history, women’s studies, and sexual diversity.  The Content Development & Analysis department is dedicated to building and curating high quality, accessible and multidisciplinary collections that enable innovative research and teaching. The department provides the York community with the broadest possible access to this content, whether through advocating for fair and appropriate licensing terms, or through strategic investment in sustainable models for open access and open data content.

The Content Development & Acquisitions department works collaboratively to identify, acquire, license, and enable broad access to collections in all formats to support teaching and research at York. They develop systems-wide approaches for content management and set strategic priorities and policies relating to library collections.

The Open Scholarship department supports research intensification across the broader campus by promoting, communicating, and leveraging its expertise in scholarly communications and open access. Through its work, the department aims to help researchers harness the benefits of open scholarship practices including open access
publishing and author rights, research data management, data services, research visibility, and research data deposit and discovery.

The successful candidate will provide administrative oversight for the Archives & Special Collections department; the Content Development & Analysis department; Content Development & Acquisitions department; and the Open Scholarship department. The candidate will work closely with each department’s directors and managers to develop policies, procedures, and best practices that enable and shape the work of the division, including supporting collaborative workflows with other departments and committees within the Libraries, other university partners (i.e., the Office of the Counsel, the Office of Institutional Planning and Analysis, etc.), and consortia and national library associations, (i.e., Canadian Knowledge Research Network, Canadian Association of Research Libraries, etc.).

RESPONSIBILITIES

The Associate Dean is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the Research & Open Scholarship division. The Associate Dean will:

• Provide leadership, direction, and planning in support of the Libraries’ departments in the division.
• Promote a strong vision for the division and introduce improvements to services and processes that
  enhance student success, research intensification, and academic excellence in collaboration with the divisional directors, managers, librarians, archivists, and staff.
• Facilitate divisional strategic planning and make recommendations for resource allocation, policy development, program evaluation, and stewardship priorities.
• Embrace and implement the Libraries’ strategic plan and mobilize leadership, librarians, archivists, and staff in the division to operationalize key priorities
• Demonstrate fiscal leadership and accountability in the context of constrained resources by streamlining and reimagining systems and processes, leveraging technologies, and overseeing the collections budget in consultation with the Dean.
• Foster an inclusive and respectful work environment for library colleagues within the division.
• Champion the strategic advancement of the Libraries’ and University’s decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion (DEDI) goals.
• Collaborate across the Libraries’ divisions and coordinate processes related to the development and management of teaching, learning, and research collections, as well as open scholarship initiatives.
• Work with the directors and managers to develop library and campus advocacy and outreach initiatives to advance the division’s work.
• Ensure departments are responsive to user feedback with a focus on continued improvement of the user experience.
• Develop and support the Libraries’ staff in the division, strengthening professional development across the organization relevant to YUL’s strategic priorities.
• As a member of the Dean of Libraries’ senior leadership team, participate in strategic planning, the development of new initiatives, budgeting, policy development, and governance.
• Working closely with the Dean and members of the Libraries’ senior leadership team, coordinate strategies to foster and enhance the Libraries’ research and scholarship.
• Contribute to the profession through engagement with appropriate organizations and societies.
• Remain up to date on trends, opportunities, and challenges facing research libraries and communicate these issues to relevant stakeholders.

Candidate Qualifications:

• Degree: Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) from an ALA-accredited program or its recognized equivalent or master’s degree in archival studies from a graduate program meeting the Association of Canadian Archivists’ Guidelines for the development of a two-year curriculum for a Master of Archival Studies in is required.
• Demonstrated experience:
  o Successful record of leadership, planning, development and managing library programs and services.
  o At least five years of experience in library management positions, leading staff through change.
  o Ability to develop a shared vision of library services across the division and to advocate, communicate,
  support, and assess its implementation
  o Ability to develop and implement strategic plans
  o Successful navigation of ambiguity and complexity
  o Creative, yet practical in finding new solutions, evolving processes, and reconfiguring services
  o Strong record of mentoring and developing individuals and teams
  o Strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to build respectful, collaborative team structures that advance
  the Libraries’ mission to support students and faculty with their teaching, learning, and research needs
  o Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills
  o Ability to function effectively as a member of a senior management team, working within a collegial
  environment, and experience in building and managing relationships at all levels of the organization
  o Track record of scholarship and professional service, including presentations, publications, and service to
  relevant professional organizations and associations
• Demonstrated knowledge of, and a commitment to ongoing learning in:
  o Developing research collections in university or college libraries
  o Supporting reference services and collections management in archives and special collections
  o The broader scholarly communications landscape
  o Change management, and principles of decolonization, equity, diversity, and inclusion
  o Developments in higher education and the issues facing research libraries, especially in Canada

Hiring Policies:

• Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.
• All York University positions are subject to budgetary approval.
• York is an Affirmative Action (AA) employer and strongly values diversity, including gender and sexual diversity, in its community. Details of the AA Program, which applies to women, members of racialized groups, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and those who identify as 2SLGBTQ+, can be found here or by contacting Christal Chapman, EDI Program Manager ([email protected]; 416-736-5713).
• York welcomes and employs scholars from all over the world. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens, permanent residents and Indigenous peoples of Canada will be given priority.
• York has a policy on Accommodation in Employment for Persons with Disabilities and is committed to working towards a barrier-free workplace and expanding the accessibility of the workplace to persons with disabilities. Applicants who require accommodation are invited to contact the Search Committee Chair at [email protected].