As the flagship higher education institution of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brigham Young University (BYU) strives to be among the exceptional universities in the world. At BYU, we are devoted to our faith and to our students. We take an active role in the University's Mission: "To assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life.” Our unique mission, deeply rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, provides countless ways to serve and make an impact. This, along with our remarkable culture of belonging, weekly devotionals, and endless opportunities for learning and growth—all situated within a beautiful and historic campus—make it hard to imagine a more inspiring place to work. Brigham Young University strongly prefers to hire faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Library Acquisitions Specialist The Library Acquisitions Specialist for Serials is responsible for ordering, processing, maintaining, withdrawing, and troubleshooting for all serial material entering the library, a total of over 255,000 items. This includes journals, conference proceedings, magazines, newspapers, periodicals and others in both print and electronic formats. What you will be doing in this position Ordering & Processing Performs bibliographic searching to ensure that duplicate materials are not ordered. Places orders that require independent judgement to determine appropriate vendor out of a few established options. Creates serial control record to match order details, correctly entering the order type, location, vendor, and material format information. Works with Serials cataloger to update or create new bibliographic record. Corresponds with librarians and curators to discuss and confirm options for formats, perpetual access, and limitations. Contacts vendors for missing items as well as those that must be replaced. Adds predictions for newly licensed titles. Checks in new serials volumes and verifies information such as title and frequency matches what is expected. If it does not, corrects as needed. Maintaining Adds new links and corrects broken links in both the catalog record as well as other library systems, including the OpenURL resolver. Updates date ranges for print and electronic access in both the catalog record as well as other library systems, including the OpenURL resolver. Corresponds with librarians and vendors concerning electronic journal access problems, digital publisher platform changes, digital content changes, or subscription changes. Adds notes to serials control record and bibliographic record in Workflows to document issues, resolutions, and other information. Changes frequency patterns and linking numbers in MARC. Corrects syntax problems in MARC holdings. Resolves most process issues within the department's control. Works with other areas in the library to resolve process problems relating to assigned responsibilities. Solves complex access problems that require critical thinking. Withdrawing Collaborates with the requesting librarian to make sure that all ramifications relating to serial location changes and withdraw requests are fully understood. Determines the status and appropriate disposition of the physical item being withdrawn. Verifies all items included in the withdraw request are serials and reroutes any monograph material appropriately. Performs appropriate physical processing to withdraw print serials, including verifying holdings, barcodes, and title changes within the call number. Removes links for cancelled titles that do not have perpetual access. Supervisory and Mentorship Responsibilities Provides leadership and training to student employees in the unit pool. Helps others learn from experience and development initiatives. Recommends readings, trainings, and other resources. Leads project teams of staff and students where the impact will be felt throughout the library. Provides detailed feedback regarding student performance when working with this individual on relevant projects. Professional Development Participates in unit, department, library, and university meetings. Attends relevant conferences and workshops as funding is available. Participates in other position-related professional development activities such as professional reading and professional association committee participation.
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Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
Number of Employees
501-1,000 employees