Middle Eastern/African Studies Librarian: UNC Chapel Hill University Library

AVAILABLE: May 1, 2010

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill seeks an innovative, collaborative, and service-oriented individual for the position of Middle Eastern/African Studies Librarian. The individual in this position serves as the subject librarian for the Middle East and African Studies departments, and other academic disciplines and units as assigned. The individual in this position will develop and maintain close relationships with faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates in the assigned subjects and academic units to ensure the highest and most effective level of library support for their research, teaching, and learning.

The Middle Eastern/African Studies Librarian participates in a team of subject librarians who share responsibility for developing high quality collections and delivering specialized reference, research and instructional services. Within this context, they participate in long-term planning, conduct on-going assessment of collections and services, develop web-based guides and other research and learning products, collaborate on special projects, and serve on committees and task forces as needed.

The librarian in this position has primary responsibility for selecting and managing collections in all formats and languages for these subject areas. In addition, the Middle Eastern/African Studies Librarian works with colleagues in media, special collections, digital publishing, and curation units to develop and promote the library’s unique resources and digital services whenever appropriate. For specialized research materials dealing with specific countries, UNC libraries shares responsibility with Duke University libraries. UNC has primary responsibility for Persian language countries and Northern and Western African countries.

Librarians at UNC are expected to be actively involved with local library consortia; participate in regional, national, or international professional and scholarly organizations; and maintain an awareness of emerging research tools, methodologies, and trends in scholarly communication.

The successful candidate joins a creative team of subject librarians under the direction of the Head of the Global Resources and Area Studies Department. The department is also responsible for Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, and Slavic and Eastern European Studies.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required: ALA accredited master’s degree in library or information science, or other internationally accredited master's degree in library or information science. Familiarity with Farsi. Strong commitment to public service. Ability to think creatively in developing and promoting the use of collections through services, such as workshops, course-integrated instruction, and other outreach efforts. Excellent English oral and written communication skills. Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well with a diverse population of faculty, students, and academic colleagues.

Preferred: Advanced degree or significant study in relevant subject(s) or language(s). U.S. library experience, particularly in collection development and methods of material acquisition in countries outside the U.S. Reading knowledge of relevant regional languages.


The University and The Libraries
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the country's oldest state university. UNC-Chapel Hill has an enrollment of approximately 27,000 students, employs more than 3,100 faculty, offers 77 doctoral degrees as well as professional degrees in dentistry, medicine, pharmacy and law, and the Library collections include over 6 million volumes. The Library is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for Research Libraries, the Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) and SOLINET. The TRLN libraries, including the Health Sciences and Law libraries at Chapel Hill plus the libraries at Duke University, North Carolina Central University, and North Carolina State University, have combined collections of over eleven million volumes.

The Region
The Triangle region is one of the most desirable places to live and work in North America and offers its residents a wide array of recreational, cultural, and intellectual activities. The mountains or the seashore are less than half day's drive from Chapel Hill.

The University of North Carolina is an equal opportunity employer and is strongly committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.

Salary and Benefits
This is a twelve-month academic librarian appointment; salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience. Standard state benefits of annual leave, sick leave, and State or optional retirement plan. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, librarians enjoy the benefit of academic status and are members of the faculty council.

Deadline for Application
Review of applications will begin on March 1, 2010. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled, but preference will be given to applications received by the begin review date.

To Apply
Please visit http://jobs.unc.edu/1002317 and complete the online application. Please include a letter of application, a resume and the name, mailing address, email address, and telephone number of three professional references.