Wanted: Tomorrow's Librarian

The title "librarian" conjures up a certain stereotypical image for many people- shhhhing, middle-aged women pushing wheeled carts with stacks of books. I am not a library sciences expert, but let's imagine the college librarian of the future very differently. We recently posted a job opening for a director of off-campus library services. After re-imagining that role and reading postings from other institutions, I drafted the following thoughts about tomorrow's director of libraries. What would you add? If you are a librarian, would this job appeal to you? By the way, we are still accepting applications. https://indwes.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=1448&site=1

Are you an information sciences professional who is looking for an opportunity to lead a team of academic librarians? With a long history of loving and educating anyone possible, IWU N&G invites you to consider joining us in a rewarding career serving adults in faith-based learning environments, both online and face-to-face. If the following four initiatives excite you, you may be our next director of Off-campus Library Services (OCLS), blazing a new trail with a team of eight librarians. 

1) Diverse access. The successful applicant will create welcoming environments (both online and face-to-face) for learners from a wide variety of cultural and academic backgrounds. The ideal candidate should have experience improving student access and performance. The director of OCLS will support students and other librarians in the use of asynchronous/synchronous technology to augment instruction.

2) Open Education Resources. The director curates OER and ensures that instructional designers and academic leaders are aware of textbooks and databases of content that increases student access to affordable materials. He/she will lead utilization of 3rd party software intended to catalog, store and retrieve resources, especially related to new academic offerings (degrees) in development. 

3) Digital scholarship. The director supports the team of off-campus librarians in their knowledge of digital scholarship projects, digital collections software, emerging digital strategies including curation, data visualization, text analysis, research platforms, metadata schemas, web accessibility standards, and digital resource management.

4) Information literacy. The director of OCLS is a thought leader in information literacy, consulting with faculty during academic curriculum development with the goal of improving learners’ information literacy. He/she will lead the IWU team of Off-campus librarians and blaze a new trail in supporting teaching, learning, and faculty/student scholarship. 

What would you add? If you are a librarian, would this job appeal to you? By the way, we are still accepting applications. https://indwes.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=1448&site=1