ILLINOIS WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY

The Ames Library

University Librarian

Illinois Wesleyan University invites nominations and applications for the position of University Librarian. We are seeking a creative, energetic, and student-centered individual with an interest in engaging with issues of diversity, inclusion, and social justice in academic libraries. The successful candidate will start on August 1 2019. Salary is competitive and provides excellent benefits.

About Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU)

Illinois Wesleyan University (IWU) is a nationally ranked, private, residential, liberal arts institution known for its excellence in undergraduate education. The University enrolls approximately 1650 students from 32 states and 23 countries and employs more than 160 full-time faculty members and 280 staff members. Our intellectually vibrant community is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment that prepares students for democratic citizenship and life in a global society. The campus values and supports inclusion and diversity, evidenced by our recent award from the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education association (NASPA) presented to a college demonstrating achievement in celebrating and creating a welcoming and inclusive campus environment, and we are proud of our four-star rating on the Campus Pride Index. IWU has been named to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for seven consecutive years, demonstrating our campus commitment to the Bloomington-Normal community.

IWU faculty are active scholars who are devoted to teaching undergraduates and to including them in their research. Faculty are distinguished not only by exemplary teaching, commitment to student engagement, and mentoring, but also by their outstanding scholarly and artistic endeavors. With generous donors supporting our commitment to attracting and retaining top faculty, the University has filled seven endowed professorships in the last seven years which are among the 20 new professorships endowed during the capital campaign completed in 2014.

Illinois Wesleyan attracts exceptionally talented students who thrive in our engaged learning environment. With average class sizes of 16 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, students benefit from personal engagement with faculty and rich opportunities for experiential learning. Linking IWU’s strong academic programs to the larger community and the world, 50 percent of IWU students study abroad and nearly 500 students complete internships every year. More than 30 of these will be Freeman Foundation-funded summer internships in the Philippines, Japan, and elsewhere in Asia. 80 percent of our students volunteer in the community and across the U.S., and approximately 5 percent of IWU graduates go on to complete PhDs. Recent efforts using IRS data show graduates’ earnings in the top decile. Three of the nation’s most prestigious honor societies - Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, and Mortar Board - have chapters on campus. Our students graduate with the skills and experiences that employers and graduate schools value, as evidenced by the fact that 96 percent are employed or in graduate school within six months of graduating.

About Bloomington-Normal

The adjoining cities of Bloomington and Normal are frequently noted among best places to work and live, with a highly educated workforce, energetic cultural and recreational options, and a diverse economy, hosting the headquarters of insurance giants State Farm and Country Financial. IWU’s 82 acre tree-lined campus is a short walk from downtown Bloomington and borders its twin city, Normal. With a combined population of approximately 130,000, the twin cities, located two hours from Chicago and 2.5 hours from St. Louis, are served by Amtrak and the Central Illinois Regional Airport. Normal is the home of Illinois State University, which adds substantially to the number of faculty and students living in town. The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) ranked Bloomington #3 among small metros in the U.S. that are most attractive to young college graduates. Drawing from the AIER list, Huffington Post included Bloomington as one of the “11 Amazing Cities You’ve Never Thought to Live In, But Should.”

About The Ames Library

The Ames Library, opened in 2002, is the intellectual heart of campus, offering a learning

environment that is conducive to interaction, consultation, study, and reflection. Library faculty and staff are dedicated to serving the scholarly needs of the Illinois Wesleyan University community and pride themselves on providing excellent service through individualized research and consultation services, seamless access to collections, and engaging information literacy instruction. The Writing Center and Information Technology Services’ Help Desk are collocated in the library to provide students easy access to key academic services. The library is a member of the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC), Portico, and the Consortium of Research Libraries (CRL). IWU is also a governing member of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI) and has been a participant in the I-Share catalog since 1984.

Library faculty and staff have built strong student-centered programs in archives, information literacy, and scholarly communications; acquired excellent print and electronic resources; and ensured streamlined access to all the various tools and materials we provide to our campus community. As tenured and tenure-track faculty, librarians are welcomed in the classroom as partners in the educational and research endeavors of our students, actively engage with their profession through research and scholarship, and routinely contribute time and expertise to faculty governance. Library staff have met the challenge of taking on new responsibilities as technology and staffing levels shift in the library. Collectively, we consistently and continuously examine our services, collections, technology and personnel to balance the needs of the community with the financial realities of campus. Students have come to depend on the library to meet their needs for quiet study space, active collaborative spaces, research materials, and on-demand access to technology and software. Our relationship with Information Technology Services (ITS) remains a core element to our success, especially with regards to teaching and learning. The new University Librarian will come into an environment that values collaboration, collegiality, open communication, and collective decision-making.

Opportunities for the incoming UL include a recent revision of the IWU General Education program, a new First Year Experience program, a nascent Signature Experience program, and an interest in developing a Research Center in the library to colocate various students services and programs.

About the University Librarian

Reporting to the Provost & Dean of the Faculty, the University Librarian will bring a deep understanding of and commitment to the liberal arts, as well as a vision of how the library will successfully engage with and contribute to the mission of IWU.

Responsibilities include budget and strategic planning, facility management, supervising fourteen faculty and staff, and working with campus administrators, faculty, and campus offices to develop and maintain collaborative relationships. The UL must balance attention to internal library operations with cultivating connections across campus, while maintaining a student-centered focus for our facility, services, and planning. The UL must bring a sharp focus and perceptive understanding of how academic libraries fit into the global information landscape, how academic libraries can engage with issues of social justice and diversity, and how to foster a healthy culture of experimentation and collaboration. The UL will be expected to serve as the University Copyright Officer, provide consultation, instruction, and collection development services to an academic department, and contribute to campus-wide faculty governance.

Required qualifications include:

• Master’s degree in Library Science or in Library and Information Science or in a related subject
• Record of progressively responsible leadership experience in libraries or an equivalent combination of education, training and experience
• Commitment to diversity and inclusion
• Awareness of the challenges facing liberal arts institutions and their libraries
• Awareness of trends in scholarship/scholarly publishing, teaching & learning, and how libraries are responding
• Ability to make evidence-based decisions, taking into account user needs and expectations
• Ability to advocate for change to different sets of constituencies
• Proven ability to successfully collaborate with faculty, information technology, and/or campus administration
• Excellent communication skills
• A track record of scholarly and professional contributions to their field

Preferred qualifications include:

• Additional graduate study or education
• Experience at a liberal arts institution
• Experience working with undergraduates
• Experience working with diverse populations
• Experience with managing projects and space planning

Application procedures

Please submit the following:

• A cover letter addressing your qualifications,
• A separate statement describing how your administrative experience, research, teaching, and/or service has provided preparation for contributing to our commitment to address issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and/or other issues of historic marginalization
• A curriculum vitae
• Contact information (names, addresses, telephones, email addresses) for three professional references
  
  

For best consideration, please send all nominations, inquiries, and expressions of interest, in confidence and electronically, by October 1, 2018 to:

Stephanie Davis-Kahl

Chair, University Librarian Search Committee

sdaviska@iwu.edu

Illinois Wesleyan University is strongly committed to recruiting, supporting and fostering a diverse, inclusive, and civil community of outstanding faculty, staff, and students. We seek candidates who have a demonstrated commitment to supporting and building our community in these dimensions. Illinois Wesleyan University is an EEO Employer.