Open Education Librarian

UMass Amherst • Amherst, NY

53d • $63,250 - $79,924

About The Position

The flagship of the Commonwealth, the University of Massachusetts Amherst is a nationally ranked public land-grant research university that seeks to expand educational access, fuel innovation and creativity, and share and use its knowledge for the common good. Founded in 1863, UMass Amherst sits on nearly 1,450-acres in scenic Western Massachusetts and boasts state-of-the-art facilities for teaching, research, scholarship, and creative activity. The institution advances a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community where everyone feels connected and valued—and thrives, and offers a full range of undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees across 10 schools and colleges, and 100 undergraduate majors. We believe every member of our university community can contribute to our ongoing success by striving for the highest level of excellence as we seek breakthrough solutions to mounting environmental, social, economic, and technological challenges in our world. Job Summary The Open Education Librarian provides innovative and high-quality programming and services at UMass Amherst. Housed in the division of Data, Digital Strategies, & Scholarly Communication, the Open Education Librarian leads the Libraries’ programs and services supporting the creation, adaptation, and adoption of open educational resources, tools, and practices. Working with Libraries’ colleagues, campus partners, faculty, and graduate students, they will prioritize the development of robust, high-impact, and affordable course materials for learners at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, across the Commonwealth, and beyond.

Requirements

• Graduate degree in librarianship (from a program accredited by the American Library Association) or related field by time of hire, or combination of an advanced degree in a relevant subject area and experience in libraries, archives, museums, or similar institutions.
• For Librarian II, a minimum of 2 years of experience in an academic library, archives, museum, or similar institution.
• Experience providing library instruction and outreach programming in an academic library setting.
• Evidence of commitment to user-centered service to students and faculty in an academic institution contributing to student success.
• Participates in professional development, continuing education activities, professional and scholarly associations, as well as evidence of potential for active contributions to organizations at the Libraries, university, and community level.
• Demonstrated ability to take initiative, problem-solve, and demonstrate a commitment to inclusion, service excellence, innovation, and creativity.
• Demonstrated ability to build and sustain effective working relationships and work collaboratively in a diverse and fast-paced environment.
• Strong organizational, project, and time management skills to lead or coordinate multiple projects and work with minimal supervision.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.

Nice To Haves

• Demonstrated ability to communicate the academic library's role in supporting open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open scholarship and the ability to use this understanding to serve patrons in a research library setting.
• Fluency with software and workflows for adapting, creating, organizing, and providing access to open educational resources.
• Experience providing library instruction and outreach programming for faculty and graduate students in an academic library setting.
• Experience working with and creating open educational materials for underserved student populations, such as international students, English language-learners, first generation students, and transfer students.
• Experience with project management tools and/or techniques.
• Experience in academic publishing or editorial experience.

Responsibilities

• Provides expertise and guidance across the institution for creating, adapting, and adopting open educational resources (OER), tools, technologies, and practices.
• Leads Libraries’ open education initiatives, including, but not limited to, the Open Education Initiative program.
• Collaborates with library colleagues and campus partners (e.g. Center for Teaching & Learning, Instructional Design Engagement & Support, Information Technology, etc.) to assess, implement, and maintain platforms and tools that support the creation and use of OER and open pedagogy (e.g. PressBooks, Open Syllabus Analytics, Janeway, etc.)
• Oversees the planning, delivery, and evaluation of open education events, workshops, training opportunities, and other outreach internally for library colleagues, across the campus, and with local and regional organizations (e.g. the Five College Consortium, the Boston Library Consortium, etc.)
• Collaborates with campus partners (e.g. Center for Teaching & Learning; Instructional Design, Engagement, and Support (IDEAS), etc.) and student organizations, (e.g. Massachusetts Student Public Interest Research Group (MassPIRG), Student Governance Association (SGA), etc.) to strategically align the Libraries’ open education initiatives with campus, state, and national directions in open education.
• Collaborates with library colleagues and campus partners to collect, analyze, assess and report metrics on the Libraries and campus open education initiatives, programming, and tools.
• Aligns planning, priorities, goals, and services with the strategic initiatives of the Libraries and the University.
• Keeps apprised of key issues and trends in open education, open pedagogy, open scholarship and scholarly publishing, information literacy, instructional design, learning support services, online and distance learning, open access, and copyright/authors’ rights and regularly incorporates this knowledge into planning and sharing of information with library colleagues and campus partners as relevant.
• Represents the Libraries at specific library or university events to promote Libraries’ services, such as student-focused events, orientations, end of semester support activities for students, etc.
• Serves on internal committees as assigned and may be asked to represent the Libraries on campus committees, Five College Committees, and Boston Library Consortium Committees, and/or at other selected professional meetings and conferences.
• Participates in professional development and continuing education activities, including service in professional and scholarly associations, and presenting and publishing on work-related topics.
• Works a flexible schedule, which includes some evening, weekend, and holiday hours.
• Performs other related duties as assigned or required to meet the goals of the department, Libraries, and University.
• May supervise student employees.
• Commitment to support justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) within libraries and institution.
• Ability to build and sustain effective working relationships and work collaboratively in adiverse and fast-paced environment.
• Purposefully promote a One Library environment for all that encourages inclusion, personal growth, respect, self-reflection, curiosity, and continuous learning.
• Understands responsibilities with respect to conflicts of interest and behaves in ways consistent with both law and with university policy.

Benefits

• University benefits may differ based on collective bargaining agreements (unions).
• benefits for the Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP) members and benefits for MSP Librarians positions: Human Resources: Faculty & Staff General Benefits Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP) Benefits MSP Librarian Positions Benefits
• MSP Librarian positions are eligible for promotion, defined as a change in rank as a librarian from one rank to the next higher rank. The bargaining unit member who gets a promotion shall receive the base salary increase in line with the MSP collective bargaining agreement . You can view the MSP Collective Bargaining Agreement, particularly, article 20, to learn more about MSP Librarian Personnel Actions, including promotion, appointment, reappointment, and continuing appointment.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees