Search for University Jobs in Social Sciences

Overview

Tufts University’s Tisch Library seeks an innovative and collaborative colleague to join us as Research Librarian for the Social Sciences and continue our growth within the context of our strategic framework. The Collections and Liaison Services Department supports the research needs of Tufts Arts & Sciences and Engineering (AS&E) academic departments, fostering a culture of information fluency and targeting outreach for patrons with advanced research projects. To further this work, we are seeking a colleague who can complement, strengthen, and expand partnerships across the library and the university to address barriers that limit access to services, collections, programs, and spaces as Tufts strives to become an anti-racist institution.

What You'll Do

The Research Librarian for the Social Sciences builds deep connections with their assigned academic departments, aligning outreach, instruction, consultation, and collection development with the evolving needs of those departments.

• Partner with faculty and students to ensure that they make the best possible use of our skills, services, and collections, and will lead the improvement and expansion of library offerings based on assessed unmet needs. 
• Liaison areas will include the Department of Political Science, the International Relations Program, and Urban & Environmental Policy & Planning, among other assigned departments/programs.
• Focus on collections curation work, including some work on government documents.

 A successful candidate will: 

• Create deep, meaningful relationships with assigned academic departments, developing an understanding of the scholarly needs of their faculty and students.  
• Spend significant time outside the library attending and contributing to relevant campus and department events, with discretion to experiment and embed library service in support of patron need where and how it is most effective.  
• Support individual faculty research projects and assignment design; seek opportunities to offer more integrated, scaffolded, and high-impact information fluency instruction.  
• Propose and lead innovative initiatives to offer instruction beyond one-shot sessions (e.g., credit-bearing courses as part of the Tufts Experimental College, train-the-trainer workshops for faculty, multi-part retreats for thesis writers), focused on outreach and support for patrons with advanced research projects.  
• Build excellent collections in support of Tufts’ goals to be both student-centered and research-focused, including monograph selection, approval plan management, and database trials and analysis.  
• As part of the Collections & Liaison Services Department, help establish clear collections priorities, aligning them with the research and learning needs of Arts & Sciences and Engineering, increasing and elevating collections from historically underrepresented voices.  
• As part of the Collections & Liaison Services Department, plan, sequence, and help lead a number of collections review projects, moving towards sustainable collection curation.  
• Design and teach instruction sessions and offer individual research consultations that have a measurable impact on student learning and support both immediate student need and help develop transferable skills for students’ information lives outside and beyond Tufts.  
• Design and maintain instruction materials (e.g., research guides, websites, tutorials, handouts, and exercises) that effectively synthesize and demonstrate complex topics and that provide additional opportunities for self-guided learning.  
• Collaborate closely with colleagues across the Research & Learning division to co-teach, offer effective referrals, and support our cross-department work. 
  

This position is open to both early-career professionals and mid-career professionals. We welcome applications from candidates that meet our minimum requirements, and we encourage you to speak to your experience and knowledge—including in positions outside of libraries—and tell us how it may connect to some of the preferred qualifications for this position.

This full-time, full-year position is hybrid and includes work that can be done remotely as well as work that must be done on-site (e.g. classroom instruction and other programming, training, and collaboration). The person in this role is expected to commute to campus as needed.

What We're Looking For

Basic Requirements:

• Knowledge and skills as typically acquired by a Master's degree in Library/Information Science from an ALA-accredited program, or equivalent.   
• Desire to learn about patron needs, recommend solutions to continuously improve library service, and create a compelling, holistic experience of the library.  
• Ability to thrive in a collaborative environment as well as take initiative on independent projects.  
• Interest in and willingness to adopt the Tisch Library values of Community, Curiosity & Learning, Openness, and Social Justice. 
  

Preferred Qualifications:

• Minimum of two years experience providing subject liaison services (instruction, consultation, collection development) in an academic library or other public service environment. 
• Relevant subject expertise related to social sciences (e.g., related undergraduate or graduate degree and/or experience supporting social science disciplines.) 
• Experience with large-scale collections review projects.  
• Knowledge, awareness, and/or experience working with government documents collections.
• Experience leading peers in project or committee work.
• Some digital humanities and/or statistical software and methodology experience.

Candidates who are invited to interview with the search committee will be asked to provide a diversity statement in advance of that meeting.