Director, Reference and Research Services
Department: Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library at UCLA
Rank and Salary: Salary and appointment level based on experience and qualifications.
Assistant Law Librarian ($80,800 – 145,500)
Position Availability: ImmediatelyDescription of Institution and Library
The UCLA Law Library serves the law school faculty and students as their basic library and study resource for teaching and research. There are approximately 1,000 law students, approximately 100 full- and part-time faculty, and more than 100 law school staff. The School has a varied and demanding curriculum, highly productive faculty, an extensive clinical and externship program, and a co-curricular program that includes an active Moot Court program and 13 law reviews. The Law Library also supplies the legal literature resources for other UCLA faculty, students, and staff with a need for such materials. Heavy use of the Law Library is made by members of the community, including lay people and members of the bench and bar.
The Law Library is one of the larger professional school libraries on campus. It currently has a staff of 17 librarians (including this position) and 15 staff personnel, as well as many part-time student employees. It contains more than 550,000 bound volumes and documents and more than 84,000 microforms. The administration of the Law Library is headed by the Director of the Law Library, who reports to the Dean of the School of Law. The day-to-day functions of the Library have been divided into four sections, each headed by a director: Access and Information Services, Technical Services, Scholarship Support and RA Program, and Reference and Research Services. There are 7+ FTE librarians who report directly to the Director, Reference and Research Services, and another 3 librarians who provide additional reference support. The Library also hires a large number of law students as research assistants who are assigned to work on various projects for faculty as well as numerous other student employees throughout the library. The Law Library has a beautiful facility that opened in the fall of 1998.
Position Duties
The Director, Reference and Research Services is expected to work with the Director of the Law Library and the other divisional directors to function as the library’s management team. Divisional directors’ responsibilities include the development, implementation and monitoring of their division’s programs, services, policies and procedures as well as organization, allocation and supervision of personnel and fiscal resources in the division, and coordinating those programs, services, policies and procedures with those of the other law library departments, programs and sections.
The Director has responsibility for managing the Reference and Research Services department. Responsibilities include:
1. Recruits, supervises, and evaluates 7+ FTE reference librarians.
2. Manages extensive faculty reference and research services.
3. Expands and coordinates student outreach and instructional programs, including developing instructional programs for first-year law students, managing library interns, and teaching a formal Advanced Legal Research class in the Law School, as well as offering law librarianship courses in the graduate-level Information Studies program.
4. Responsible for planning and implementing programs that expand and improve reference and research services for faculty and students and other library patrons.
5. Directly participates in delivering reference service by assisting users in legal research to utilize print, microform, and digital information resources and in teaching legal research classes, including Advanced Legal Research as well as online training and other workshops and classes given throughout the year.
6. Coordinates the preparation of instructional materials and exercises for these classes and other written materials to help facilitate the use of the Library and encourage the utilization of available resources.
7. Coordinates library orientation programs and ensures the availability of current law library research guides.
8. As a member of the management team, the Director will be asked to represent the law library on other law school and Library System committees and at various meetings and other law school functions.
Required Qualifications
1. J.D. and M.L.S. degrees (or the equivalent) and relevant academic law library experience with evidence of progressively increasing responsibilities.
2. Demonstrated leadership skills and supervisory experience with an interest in long range planning and other administrative functions.
3. Solid knowledge of legal bibliography and scholarly research.
4. Demonstrated competence in delivering legal research services.
5. Demonstrated interest in and commitment to teaching and developing the law library’s teaching program. Ability to lecture effectively, teach in large- and small-group settings, provide individualized instruction, participate in curriculum development, and use a wide range of educational technologies inside and outside of the classroom.
6. Firm commitment to law librarianship and to providing a high level of services to faculty and students in a demanding academic environment.
7. Demonstrated ability to contribute to making the library hospitable and responsive to the needs of the Law School community, including excellent interpersonal, communication, problem-solving and mediation skills and the ability to provide leadership for and work effectively with library colleagues, faculty, students and library patrons.
8. Ability to identify and manage changing needs and priorities.
9. Demonstrated proficiency and capabilities with personal computers and software, the Web, and library-relevant information technology applications.
10. Working knowledge of standard computer office applications such as Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint or other productivity software.
11. Excellent organizational, time, and project management skills.
12. Excellent oral and written communication skills and interpersonal skills.
13. Ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively both as a team member and independently and to promote teamwork among colleagues.
14. Commitment to fostering a diverse educational environment and workplace and ability to work with a diverse student and faculty population.
15. Capacity to thrive in the exciting, ambiguous, future-oriented environment of a world-class research institution and to respond effectively to changing needs and priorities.
16. Commitment to professional issues, demonstrated through strong interest in local/national committee work, research, publication.
General Information
This position is in the Assistant Law Librarian title series, a non-represented academic title series in the University of California system. Assistant Law Librarians at UCLA are academic appointees, and generally have professional backgrounds in libraries. Candidates will have demonstrated skills and abilities in leadership, administration, strategic planning, analysis, innovation, creativity, and flexibility and should possess the ability to view issues from a broad library-wide perspective and to function effectively in a fast-paced, team-based environment.
Academic appointees are entitled to appropriate professional leave, two days per month for vacation leave, one day per month of sick leave, and all other benefits granted to non-faculty academic personnel. The University of California has an excellent retirement system and sponsors a wide variety of group health, dental, vision, and life insurance plans in addition to other benefits. Relocation assistance provided.
Application Procedures
Anyone wishing to be considered for this position should apply to Cindy Spadoni, Search Committee Chair, UCLA, Hugh & Hazel Darling Law Library, 1106 Law Building, Box 951458, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1458;
E-mail applications encouraged and can be sent to spadoni@law.ucla.edu. Applications should include:
1. a cover letter describing qualifications and experience;
2. a current resume/vita detailing education and relevant experience; and
3. the names and addresses for at least three professional references, including a current or previous supervisor.
Candidates applying by March 3, 2008 will be given first consideration. UCLA welcomes and encourages diversity and seeks applications and nominations from women and minorities. UCLA seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the people of California, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to offer our students richly varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.
UCLA is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/ADA-compliant employer. Under federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally authorized to work in the United States as established by providing documents specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Employment is contingent upon completion of satisfactory background investigation.
Visit the UCLA Library Employment Opportunities
Web site at http://www2.library.ucla.edu/about/employment.cfm
