Acquisitions and Collections Specialist

Occidental College Careers•Los Angeles, CA

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Acquisitions and Collections Specialist manages the purchasing, access, and lifecycle support for library resources in physical and electronic formats, and other materials needed in the Library. The Specialist places and tracks orders, reconciles and processes invoices in Oxy’s Library Services Platform, monitors expenditures, and provides regular budget reports to Library leadership. This role supports library selectors in using acquisitions tools and vendor platforms, negotiates licenses when needed, and activates eBooks and streaming content. The Specialist serves as a liaison to faculty regarding course reserves and resource requests and provides timely communication on order status and processing. The role is part of a collections team that jointly receives and processes physical and electronic materials and completes physical processing and minor book repair tasks. The team also performs complex copy cataloging for new and donated materials by creating MARC records and maintaining accurate holdings data in Alma and OCLC WorldCat and it supports collections maintenance, inventory, and weeding projects. The Acquisitions and Collections Specialist trains and directs student assistants in physical processing and other collections related tasks. This position is represented for purposes of collective bargaining by SEIU.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in related field to position duties or equivalent combination of education and experience.
Two years of library experience or a combination of education and experience that demonstrates knowledge of and experience with relevant library services, higher education purchasing practices, and/or technologies in an academic library setting.
Demonstrated knowledge of acquisitions workflows in an academic library, including ordering, receiving, invoicing, vendor account management, and resource activation.
Demonstrated knowledge of licensing and access workflows for electronic resources, including eBooks, streaming media, and other digital collections.
Proficiency with library cataloging and metadata standards, including AACR2, RDA, MARC formats, Library of Congress Classification, Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), and related cataloging rules and practices.
Proficiency with Library Services Platforms, such as Ex Libris Alma, and bibliographic utilities such as OCLC Connexion or comparable systems.
Familiarity with physical processing, collections maintenance, inventory, weeding, and related collection management practices.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications, Google Workspace, Adobe Acrobat, web editing tools, social media applications, and other productivity software applicable to position responsibilities.
Ability to organize, coordinate, and complete projects while maintaining accurate records, compiling statistics, preparing reports, and working with budget and cost data.
Ability to learn, interpret, and consistently apply detailed policies, procedures, workflows, and data standards.
Demonstrated attention to detail, accuracy, and quality, with the ability to anticipate and prevent potential problems, exercise sound judgment, and manage a wide variety of tasks efficiently and effectively.
Demonstrated organizational, logistical, planning, and time-management skills, with the ability to independently manage multiple priorities and projects in a high-volume, high-accountability environment with changing deadlines and confidential information.
Demonstrated oral, written, and electronic communication skills, along with strong interpersonal and collaborative abilities to work effectively with colleagues, vendors, students, and diverse constituencies.
Ability to provide leadership, training, and guidance to student employees and temporary staff, and to work effectively and professionally across functions, disciplines, organizational levels, and diverse groups.
Ability to self-motivate, work independently, and contribute effectively as a member of a collaborative team.
Demonstrated commitment to justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity.

Nice To Haves

Experience with analyzing and configuring acquisitions and cataloging workflows in Library Services Platforms, such as Ex Libris’ Alma/Primo or equivalent.

Responsibilities

Manage purchasing and request workflows for print, eBooks, streaming, and other library resources.
Creates and tracks orders in Oxy’s Library Services Platform and vendor systems.
Configures and maintains acquisitions tools and workflows to support library selectors and advance collection development goals.
Receives, activates, and processes new resources and reconciles invoices for payment.
Updates order, holdings, and item records in our Library Services Platform to reflect receipt, access, and processing status of new acquisitions.
Compiles statistics on purchases for reporting.
Basic and complex copy cataloging for all physical formats of library materials using MARC, AACR2, RDA, Library of Congress (LC) Classification, LC Subject Headings (LCSH), Library policy, and other relevant resources and standards.
Creates and edits MARC records and maintains bibliographic, holdings, and item data to support discovery and fulfillment.
Coordinates collections maintenance activities and collection management projects.
Completes physical processing tasks such as covering books with mylar, book repair, and applying spine labels and stickers to library materials.
Assists with inventory, shifting, relabeling, and weeding workflows, including withdrawal and missing materials processing in our Library Services Platform.
Provides training, guidance, and day-to-day oversight of student workers and casual employees, including scheduling, workflow coordination, and task prioritization.