Scholars Studio Manager

Davidson College • Davidson, NC

5d • Onsite

About The Position

The Davidson College Library seeks a collaborative and enthusiastic Scholars Studio Manager to join our award-winning team. The Davidson College Library seeks a collaborative and enthusiastic Scholars Studio Manager to join our award-winning team. There has never been a more exciting time to join our team! In fall 2027, the college’s new George Lawrence Abernethy Library will transform how our campus community learns, creates, and connects. The Scholars Studio Manager is a full-time staff role in the Davidson College Library, reporting to the Assistant Director of Instruction, Research, and Digital Scholarship (iNRDS). The incumbent will oversee the core operations and accessibility of the media creation spaces in the new Scholars Studio, ensuring they are functional, welcoming, and ready to support teaching, learning, and creative work. In our organization, we approach library employment as a cohesive, equitable, and high-impact learning experience; framing supervision as active mentorship, we empower supervisors to support student workers in reflecting on their academic experiences, personal growth, and evolving professional goals. In this context, the Manager will, among other responsibilities, mentor a team of student employees to help with the fundamental operations of the Scholars Studio. Additionally, the Manager will participate in the library’s consultation and instruction program by providing individual and class-sized instruction that helps our learners leverage media creation technologies to express their scholarship (or explore their passions) in ways that may be otherwise unfamiliar to them. Through collaboration with the rest of the Instruction, Research, and Digital Scholarship team, the Manager ensures the Studio is not merely a service point, but a transformative space where learners' ideas are mentored into leading scholarship through critical engagement with technology. Guided by our organizational values, our library works to advance the college’s purpose in developing disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service. We do this by offering expertise, space, resources, and services that facilitate research, provide access to, and foster the creation of knowledge. Our library staff play a critical role in expanding the global reach of traditional scholarship, preserving born-digital materials, supporting digital scholarship, and championing equitable and sustainable access to information. As Davidson embarks on a new transformative, campus-wide strategic plan, we are excited to explore how our expertise, programs, and resources will advance the college’s key priorities. We take pride in our strong collaborations with campus partners such as the John Crosland Jr. Center for Teaching and Learning, the Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and the Institute for Public Good—strategic alliances that highlight the library’s central role in the teaching and learning mission. We are inspired by the college’s public commitment to education and reconciliation. To create an inclusive learning community and to reflect the diversity of Davidson experiences, we collaborate on projects that tell the full history of our college, develop collections in partnership with students and faculty, and create meaningful community connections. We seek a thoughtful colleague who joins us in embracing a special set of responsibilities as we articulate the college’s relationship to the past, confront our present moment, and chart a hopeful future.

Requirements

• A combination of education, training, and experience that prepares you to lead a creative, student-centered media environment. This may include experience in media production, makerspaces, digital scholarship, teaching and learning, or creative technologies, as well as mentoring or supervising student employees. An ALA-accredited MLIS is valued, but not required.
• Experience with the tools and principles of media creation, including but not limited to videography, sound recording, and editing tools (e.g. Adobe Premier Pro, iMovie, Audacity, Unity).
• High School Diploma
• You are a thoughtful, open-minded, collaborative colleague with strong interpersonal and communication skills.
• You are committed to creating inclusive environments that support student success.
• You are motivated, adaptable, resilient, and able to change direction as the library landscape evolves.
• You cultivate an optimistic mindset.
• You are energized by teaching and working directly with students in both classroom and individualized learning settings.
• You have a curiosity for technology challenges and are comfortable troubleshooting hardware and software, liaising with colleagues in our technology group, and communicating with vendors for support as needed.
• You have a demonstrated appreciation for the values of a liberal arts education and student-centered learning.
• You are able to work independently and collaboratively in a team environment.
• You have excellent written and verbal communication skills and the ability to present information clearly and concisely.
• You are highly organized with strong project management skills.

Nice To Haves

• A commitment to active mentorship that supports student workers as they mindfully connect their academic experiences, personal growth, and evolving professional goals.
• Experience mentoring, supervising, or supporting college-aged students or emerging adults.
• Helped a diverse range of learners build confidence and skills with an assortment of technologies and approaches to media creation.
• Familiarity with the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy, critical information literacy, universal design for learning, and other inclusive pedagogies.
• Hands-on experience creating media, whether through work, teaching, creative practice, or personal projects.
• Facility with equipment in our circulating collection, such as (but not limited to) DSLR cameras, tripods, XLR and wireless microphones, Zoom recorders, and lighting.
• Familiarity with emerging trends in media creation as an expression of scholarship.

Responsibilities

• Establish and continuously improve the processes by which learners interact with the Scholars Studio’s media creation spaces: a media production space, editing suite, and podcast studio.
• Mentor, train, and supervise student employees to assist in the day-to-day operations of Studio spaces, circulation of media equipment, and tutorials.
• Orient learners to the media creation software and hardware offered through the Scholars Studio by providing individual and class-sized tutorials.
• Steward the circulating equipment collection, including routine kit maintenance, coordinating a replacement cycle, and leveraging circulation data and industry standards to to recommend purchases.
• Engage in continuous professional self-development and professional activities; participate in professional networks to maintain current knowledge of best practices and exploration of future trends.
• Actively collaborate in library project groups, participate in library research groups, serve on library steering groups, and contribute to ad hoc projects and initiatives as opportunities arise.
• Shepherd a growing extended reality (XR) program by stewarding related hardware and software and supporting outreach and education.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Education Level: High school or GED