Reference Specialist/Department Assistant - part-time/28 hrs per week

Brigham Young University • Provo, UT

2d • $23 - $29

About The Position

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. Reference Specialist/Department Assistant - part-time/28 hrs per week The Reference Specialist and Department Assistant supports all basic operations and daily functions of the Science & Engineering Department. This position ensures that the best possible service is provided for library patrons at the Science & Engineering Help Desk. The position plays a key role in departmental communication and coordination, and provides office support to department employees in daily routines and special projects. What you will be doing in this position Reference Specialist Oversees reference services provided by student reference assistants, including in-person, electronic, and over the phone. Provides “next level” or more demanding reference service to university faculty, students, and other patrons, which cannot be provided by student employees. Interviews, hires, schedules, supervises, evaluates, and determines merit pay increases for reference students. Assesses the quality of reference service provided by student reference assistants and develops programs to improve patron interactions. Develops training materials, lesson plans, and weekly training meetings to manage student employee knowledge in subject content across the breadth of department responsibilities. Manages the wages budget for student employees who work at the help desk. Manages the Science & Engineering reference collection by: evaluating usage statistics deselecting and/or reallocating cascading titles supervising the re-shelving of reference works monitoring the physical condition of the collection, initiating conservation or preservation treatments as needed and as required by library standards Teaches library instruction and information literacy to first-year writing courses. Also substitutes for library faculty when needed in teaching library instruction and information literacy to advanced writing classes or course-integrated classes. Assists library faculty in building research guides. Works with department faculty to keep students, teaching faculty, and library colleagues informed of new acquisitions in all collections. Represents the Science & Engineering Department on the Reference Coordinating Committee (RCC). Administrative Assistance Acts as department liaison by facilitating communication within the department and between this department and others in the library. Works with the Department Chair to organize department meetings and events. Takes minutes at department meetings. Collects data as assigned. Drafts reports and documents as assigned. Maintains the department website and services pages. Assists in promoting department collections, services, and events. Assists department faculty in hiring research assistants. Serves as Workday Time Manager for all department student employees. Coordinates department projects and assists department personnel with reports, statistics, and various projects, such as collection assessment. Delegates projects to student reference assistants, when appropriate. Oversees daily operations, such as routing books and maintaining supplies. Manages department supplies budget. Holds the department credit card and campus card, monitors credit card and campus card purchases, and reconciles these purchases in Workday. Monitors charges made to patrons and trains staff on the proper use of university charging systems. Represents the Science & Engineering Department on the Department Assistants Committee (DAC). Continuing Education Maintains personal competency on the various subject databases and student/faculty resources. Attends training meetings for databases and software. Studies professional literature related to reference services and maintains a general knowledge about reference sources and research tools for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Attends conferences and workshops, as appropriate.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree OR equivalent combination of education and relatable experience.
• Ability to gain subject knowledge in the STEM disciplines at sufficient levels to assist the curricular and research needs of the university.
• Ability to provide reference assistance to patrons needing research help in the STEM disciplines (and sometimes other subjects) in a variety of media.
• Ability to teach research methods and library use to patrons and employees.
• Flexibility in adapting to changing organizational priorities and technological environments.
• Ability to communicate effectively and to work well with faculty, students, and the general public.
• Ability to model excellent customer service for frontline student employees.
• Supervisory experience in order to hire, evaluate, train, and supervise student employees working in several different roles.
• Strong organizational, leadership, and problem-solving skills.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in a STEM discipline OR a STEM background.
• 2 years of library experience.
• Masters of Library Science (or MLIS) OR Master’s degree in a STEM discipline.
• Working knowledge of library reference service.
• Understanding of theories, trends, and practices of reference work, as well as of general library functions and practices.
• Ability to apply emerging technologies creatively into reference services.

Responsibilities

• Oversees reference services provided by student reference assistants, including in-person, electronic, and over the phone.
• Provides “next level” or more demanding reference service to university faculty, students, and other patrons, which cannot be provided by student employees.
• Interviews, hires, schedules, supervises, evaluates, and determines merit pay increases for reference students.
• Assesses the quality of reference service provided by student reference assistants and develops programs to improve patron interactions.
• Develops training materials, lesson plans, and weekly training meetings to manage student employee knowledge in subject content across the breadth of department responsibilities.
• Manages the wages budget for student employees who work at the help desk.
• Manages the Science & Engineering reference collection by: evaluating usage statistics deselecting and/or reallocating cascading titles supervising the re-shelving of reference works monitoring the physical condition of the collection, initiating conservation or preservation treatments as needed and as required by library standards
• Teaches library instruction and information literacy to first-year writing courses. Also substitutes for library faculty when needed in teaching library instruction and information literacy to advanced writing classes or course-integrated classes.
• Assists library faculty in building research guides.
• Works with department faculty to keep students, teaching faculty, and library colleagues informed of new acquisitions in all collections.
• Represents the Science & Engineering Department on the Reference Coordinating Committee (RCC).
• Acts as department liaison by facilitating communication within the department and between this department and others in the library.
• Works with the Department Chair to organize department meetings and events.
• Takes minutes at department meetings.
• Collects data as assigned.
• Drafts reports and documents as assigned.
• Maintains the department website and services pages.
• Assists in promoting department collections, services, and events.
• Assists department faculty in hiring research assistants.
• Serves as Workday Time Manager for all department student employees.
• Coordinates department projects and assists department personnel with reports, statistics, and various projects, such as collection assessment.
• Delegates projects to student reference assistants, when appropriate.
• Oversees daily operations, such as routing books and maintaining supplies.
• Manages department supplies budget.
• Holds the department credit card and campus card, monitors credit card and campus card purchases, and reconciles these purchases in Workday.
• Monitors charges made to patrons and trains staff on the proper use of university charging systems.
• Represents the Science & Engineering Department on the Department Assistants Committee (DAC).
• Maintains personal competency on the various subject databases and student/faculty resources.
• Attends training meetings for databases and software.
• Studies professional literature related to reference services and maintains a general knowledge about reference sources and research tools for the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.
• Attends conferences and workshops, as appropriate.

Benefits

• 401k.
• BYU automatically contributes 8% at no cost to you. Additionally, if you contribute 5%, BYU adds an additional 4% (Rehires may qualify for different retirement plans)
• Employee assistance program, available to the employee and all members of their household
• May be eligible for tuition benefits after two years
• Access to the library
• Free on-campus parking
• Free UTA passes for employees, spouses, and qualified dependents
• Discounts at the BYU Store and for many events at BYU

What This Job Offers

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