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Director of Libraries

Employer
College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
Location
Saint Joseph, Minnesota
Salary
Negotiable
Date posted
Dec 5, 2022

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Position Type
Executive, Executive Directors
Employment Level
Executive
Employment Type
Full Time

The Libraries and Archives Department at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University invites applications for the full-time, benefit-eligible position of Director of Libraries. 

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University seek an innovative, strategic, and collaborative leader to serve as the next Director of the CSB and SJU Libraries. Reporting directly to the Provost, the Director provides leadership and direction for the Libraries and Archives. They are responsible for all aspects of library and archives administration, including long term planning, policies and procedures, personnel management, facilities management, budgets, and ongoing assessment of library resources and services. The Libraries and Archives are a key partner in academic and co-curricular programming, and the Director collaborates closely with Academic Affairs to promote innovative teaching, learning, and research in the liberal arts. With the library buildings on both campuses serving as service hubs, the Director also maintains partnerships with other academic support offices and building partners to ensure an integrated experience for our faculty, staff, and students. We are seeking a Director who is a creative problem-solver and who possesses a managerial approach that motivates, inspires, and fosters collegial working relationships within a diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice framework. The successful candidate will possess broad intellectual curiosity and a vision for successfully guiding a leading liberal arts college library into the future.

The College of Saint Benedict (CSB) is a liberal arts college for women, and Saint John's University (SJU) is a liberal arts college for men and a graduate School of Theology and Nursing for both men and women and is also the home of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library and the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research. The campuses are located in the central lakes area of Minnesota, surrounded by more than 3,000 acres of pristine forests, prairies, and lakes. The campuses are minutes away from St. Cloud, an increasingly diverse regional center with a population of over 100,000, and 70 miles from Minneapolis and St. Paul. Some CSB and SJU faculty and staff choose to reside locally, while others commute from the Twin Cities. Both St. Cloud and the Twin Cities offer a wide range of fine arts, cultural, dining, recreational, and sporting opportunities.
 
CSB and SJU are Catholic colleges in the Benedictine tradition enlivened by values of community, hospitality, stewardship, and justice. The schools are dedicated to cultivating an equitable, inclusive community founded on respect for all persons. Students, staff and faculty from many diverse belief systems and backgrounds collectively bring a rich dimension to the academic, cultural, and religious experience at CSB and SJU. Learn more in our Institutional Statement on Diversity and in our brochure regarding Higher Education in the Catholic and Benedictine Tradition.
 
With a total enrollment of approximately 3,200 students, CSB and SJU are unique in all of higher education, distinguished by their commitment to the holistic transformational development of women and men within the context of a unified, coeducational experience. All students, faculty, and staff have the opportunity to experience and engage with the two institutions. For further information, see http://www.csbsju.edu/about.
 
CSB and SJU offer competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits program.  

ABOUT THE CSB AND SJU LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES
The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Libraries and Archives support student learning, faculty research, and the intellectual curiosity of all members of our community. We are committed to supporting student success, lifelong learning, community engagement, and diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice efforts. The Director leads a dynamic team of twenty administrative and support staff across five Libraries departments: Learning and Research, Access Services, Technology Services, Collection Development, and Archives. The Libraries hold more than 690,000 physical items, including Artists’ Books and other special collections (https://www.csbsju.edu/libraries/special-collections), and provide access to over 580,000 electronic periodicals and eBooks. The total annual library budget is approximately $2.8 million dollars, including rules and restrictions unique to each of our multiple budget areas/budget lines.

Libraries facilities consist of Clemens Library and the Benedicta Arts Center Music Library at CSB and Alcuin Library and the Dietrich Reinhart Learning Commons at SJU. Both Alcuin and Clemens have been recently renovated. Alcuin Library, originally designed by architect Marcel Breuer in the 1960s, was renovated and the 22,000-square-foot Learning Commons added through a $25 million project showcased in American Libraries Magazine in 2018 (see https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2018/09/04/2018-library-design-showcase/). The Learning Commons includes state-of-the-art media labs, a recording studio, classrooms, and meeting spaces like The Schu coffee shop, and building partners now include Instructional Technology, The Writing Center, The Study (CSB and SJU’s academic skills center), World Languages Center, The Saint John’s Bible Gallery, and HMML (Hill Museum & Manuscript Library). Clemens Library’s renovation in 2019 brought campus partners like Information Technology Services and the Experience Hub into the building. Our library locations are vibrant campus centers for scholarship, creativity, and collaboration.

The CSB and SJU Libraries also maintain oversight of the College of Saint Benedict Archives, located in Corona Hall, and the Saint John’s University Archives in Alcuin Library. Both archives’ collections include official records, publications, photographs, and other print and digital materials documenting the histories of our institutions. You can find out more about the CSB and SJU Libraries and Archives by visiting https://www.csbsju.edu/libraries and https://www.csbsju.edu/libraries/special-collections/collections/archives.

Responsibilities

Leadership

  • Manages operations for the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University Libraries and Archives.
  • Provides strategic data-driven vision, direction, budget oversight, and operational support for administrative and support staff.
  • Leads a department of 20 employees; directly supervises five managers and an office coordinator. Supports excellence in staff training, mentoring, and professional development. 
  • Fosters a collegial work environment. Promotes an organizational culture of transparency, inquiry, innovation, collaboration, service, mindful stewardship, Benedictine hospitality, and respect for persons.
  • Fosters a learning and working environment that is accessible, inclusive, and welcoming and remains actively engaged in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice initiatives.

Planning and Assessment

  • Ensures the Libraries and Archives’ services and spaces support the diverse needs of our community.
  • Leads the Libraries and Archives in aligning plans with institutional missions and priorities.
  • Strengthens opportunities for student learning through the application of innovative services, policies, and technologies.
  • Advances forward-thinking collection development, resource sharing, and preservation plans.
  • Maintains a strong culture of library assessment and evaluation that serves to inform decisions, improve operations, and demonstrate impact.

Communication and Advocacy

  • Advocates for the Libraries and Archives and helps communicate their value, impact, and needs with stakeholders on and off campus.
  • Communicates their plans and strategic vision for the Libraries and Archives with all library employees.
  • Acts as the Libraries and Archives’ liaison to senior college administrators and works closely with the Provost and CSB and SJU’s leadership team. Serves on or appoints Libraries and Archives’ representatives to institutional committees.
  • Represents the Libraries and Archives to internal and external stakeholders as an advocate for the Libraries and Archives’ central role in the College and University.

Collaboration and Service

  • Develops and maintains partnerships with academic departments, programs, and other campus units, including Information Technology Services and offices in the Experience Hub and Academic Strengths Network, to better support the learning, teaching, and research needs of the CSB and SJU community.
  • Maintains and strengthens collaborative efforts with consortia and other regional cultural heritage partners, including Minitex, the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange (CMLE), Minnesota Library Association, the Minnesota Council of Academic Library Directors, and the Oberlin Group of Libraries.
  • Contributes to the Libraries and Archives, College and University, profession, and community through active participation in committees, meetings, professional associations, research, and/or other activities.

 

Qualifications

Required

  • Master’s degree from ALA-accredited program of library or information science, or equivalent international education credential.
  • Effective leader with experience managing a team.
  • Understanding of trends and best practices in academic librarianship, higher education, and archives work.
  • Excellent writing and public speaking skills.
  • Experience building and maintaining strategic partnerships with internal and external stakeholders.
  • Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice.
  • Familiarity with a range of technologies used by libraries and archives, including instructional technologies, digital multimedia, data reporting tools, and library management systems.
  • Aptitude for learning and applying new information, technologies, and practices.
  • Ability to manage a complex budget.

Preferred

  • Advanced degree or other significant experience in a relevant discipline.
  • Understanding of the functions and purpose of undergraduate liberal arts education and the role libraries and archives play in that experience.
  • Grant writing and grant implementation experience.

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