Circulation Manager

American University•Washington, DC

1d•$23 - $27•Onsite

About The Position

The Circulation Manager coordinates day-to-day access services at the Pence Law Library and provides senior on-site coverage during assigned shifts, including evenings and weekends. Working with the Access Services Librarian and other Circulation Managers, the position supports circulation, course reserves, interlibrary loan, consortium lending, patron accounts, collection access, study spaces and equipment, marketing, outreach, and related patron services. The role uses Ex Libris Alma, resource-sharing systems, Microsoft 365, social media platforms, Springshare products, and other library technologies to manage workflows, maintain records, communicate with patrons, promote services, and support assessment. The position supervises assigned part-time staff and directs, trains, and supports part-time and student employees. It exercises independent judgment in resolving routine service, staffing, facilities, technology, and patron concerns; documents and escalates significant matters; and contributes recommendations on policies, procedures, communications, and departmental priorities. It is a full-time, 35-hour-per-week position with full on-campus presence and required regular evening and weekend hours. The established schedule may vary during examination periods, summer sessions, university breaks, holidays, staffing shortages, and emergencies. Depending on the shift, the manager may be the sole law library or law school staff member on site. The role is considered essential and may require coverage for open shifts or emergencies.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education, training, and relevant experience.
1–3 years of relevant experience.
Experience in library services, higher education, customer service operations, or a comparable environment.
Experience training employees, coordinating workflows, or leading shifts.
Advanced proficiency with word processing, spreadsheets, email, shared-document platforms, online databases, and other office productivity applications.
Ability to learn and effectively use integrated library systems, interlibrary loan systems, room-reservation platforms, social media tools, content-management systems, and other library technologies.
Strong written, oral, interpersonal, organizational, customer-service, and problem-solving skills.
Ability to create clear, accurate, accessible, audience-appropriate instructions, promotional materials, and digital communications.
Ability to manage competing priorities, maintain accurate records, protect patron privacy, and handle challenging individuals or situations with tact, professionalism, and poise.
Ability to work independently as senior staff on site, make timely decisions within established policies and delegated authority, and follow emergency and incident-response procedures.
Ability to lift and move library materials, equipment, and packages weighing up to 50 pounds, with or without reasonable accommodation.
Ability to work regular evening and weekend hours and provide on-campus coverage as required.

Nice To Haves

Juris Doctor.
Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) or comparable graduate degree; for library and information science degrees, graduation from an American Library Association-accredited program is preferred.
2–4 years of relevant experience.
Experience in an academic, research, or law library.
At least one year of formal supervisory or staff-management experience.
Experience using Ex Libris Alma, particularly fulfillment, circulation, patron services, requests, or course reserves.
Experience with interlibrary loan, document delivery, consortium resource sharing, or course reserves.
Experience developing marketing, outreach, social media, digital signage, or public engagement content.
Experience with Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Springshare products, Canva or comparable design tools, web content management systems, or online reservation systems.
Familiarity with legal education, legal research, or law library services.

Responsibilities

Coordinate daily circulation desk operations and provide desk coverage, including assigned opening and closing duties.
Perform and resolve circulation, patron-account, room-use, equipment, course reserve, and collection-access transactions; provide directional and informational assistance, basic research triage, and referrals.
Serve as senior library staff member on site during assigned evening and weekend shifts, respond to routine incidents, and contact appropriate personnel when matters exceed delegated authority.
Apply library policies, resolve routine exceptions and service concerns, and communicate recurring patron needs and operational problems to the Access Services Librarian.
Supervise assigned part-time non-student employees and provide day-to-day direction to student employees.
Participate in recruitment, interviewing, onboarding, scheduling, work assignments, timekeeping review, and semester staffing transitions.
Develop and deliver employee training, cross-training, procedures, checklists, and service standards; provide coaching and performance feedback and document concerns as assigned.
Coordinate shift coverage and communicate staffing, training, supply, and operational needs to the Access Services Librarian.
Process interlibrary loan and WRLC consortium borrowing and lending requests; pull, scan, ship, receive, and process materials; monitor requests, resolve routine exceptions, and communicate with patrons and partner institutions.
Receive and track faculty course reserve requests, create and update reserve records, process materials, and remove outdated reserve items at the end of each term.
Coordinate with faculty, liaison librarians, acquisitions, cataloging, and other library units to locate, purchase, describe, or provide access to materials; follow copyright, licensing, privacy, and document-delivery procedures and refer unusual requests for librarian review.
Use Ex Libris Alma and related platforms to maintain accurate patron, item, loan, request, fulfillment, and course reserve records.
Resolve routine patron-account matters involving borrowing status, overdue, lost, damaged, billed, or replacement materials within delegated authority.
Troubleshoot routine library-system, printing, scanning, reservation, and service technology problems and refer complex or recurring issues to the appropriate unit.
Create and maintain internal procedures, forms, tutorials, guides, webpages, FAQs, shared files, and other documentation; support testing and implementation of systems, technologies, policies, and workflows and train staff on approved changes.
Develop and contribute accurate, accessible, audience-appropriate content for social media, webpages, digital signage, newsletters, email, and print promotional materials.
Maintain a departmental content calendar and coordinate scheduled communications; promote library resources, services, collections, spaces, programs, events, course reserves, interlibrary loan, study aids, and student-support initiatives.
Participate in orientations, tours, tabling, welcome programs, student organization events, and outreach to faculty, journals, clinics, programs, and law school offices; track engagement and feedback and recommend outreach adjustments.
Monitor study rooms, reservation compliance, service areas, equipment, displays, signage, and furniture; respond to and document routine facilities, technology, accessibility, safety, security, and building-access concerns and report matters requiring additional assistance.
Perform and coordinate shelving, shelf-reading, inventory, shifting, collection relocation, and other stacks-maintenance projects; help address problems with item records, labels, signage, physical condition, availability, and collection organization.
Maintain departmental supplies and service equipment and collaborate with Access Services, Technical Services, facilities, and technology personnel on related workflows.
Compile and verify circulation, interlibrary loan, course reserve, room-use, seat-count, staffing, outreach, and social media statistics; identify trends and prepare reports or recommendations for the Access Services Librarian.
Participate in policy and procedure development, departmental planning, service assessment, workflow review, implementation projects, meetings, training, and professional-development activities.
Perform other related duties and special projects as assigned.