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Digital Social Sciences Librarian

University of Notre Dame
On-site
United States

The University of Notre Dame Hesburgh Libraries seeks a Digital Social Sciences Librarian to develop and provide services that support faculty, researchers, and students in the discovery, use, preservation, and visualization of social sciences data.

 

Through the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship, the Hesburgh Libraries are transforming scholarship at Notre Dame by empowering the ND community to critically engage with and utilize emerging digital technologies. To advance the Center’s mission to provide access to digital scholarship expertise and resources across all Notre Dame disciplines and audiences, the Digital Social Sciences Librarian is responsible for coordinating and managing high-quality social sciences services and resources. 

 

As part of a highly collaborative team in the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship, the Digital Social Sciences Librarian provides instruction and outreach related to finding, accessing, creating, manipulating, managing, and visualizing social sciences data to meet the diverse needs of the Notre Dame community. The position fosters relationships with departments, research institutes, and centers, and collaborates with a variety of partners in the Hesburgh Libraries, as well as experts and learners in a variety of fields across campus.

 

The Digital Social Sciences Librarian reports to the Director of the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship.

 

Responsibilities:

 

  • Works in collaboration with the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship team and other Libraries and campus colleagues to provide expert social sciences support for researchers at all levels.

  • Provides in-depth research consultations across an array of relevant topics under the umbrella of the social sciences disciplines, methods, and tools.

  • Serves on and shares in the work of the Research Data Services Team, including the review of data management plans.

  • Mentors NFCDS Pedagogy Fellows, Postdoctoral Research Associates, and other positions housed within the NFCDS as a part of the other Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship team.

  • Stays abreast of trends related to social science librarianship in academic libraries via professional development and research, and regularly incorporates this knowledge into planning and sharing of information with relevant Libraries/campus colleagues.

  • Creates and maintains research guides, online tutorials, and web content to support assigned methodological and disciplinary areas.

  • Creates and maintains high-quality internal documentation of social science librarianship-related resources and activities.

 

Please note that the job duties listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification and are not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, tasks, and responsibilities. Specific duties and responsibilities may vary depending on department or program needs without changing the general nature and scope of the job or level of responsibility. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned, including the potential to serve in a subject liaison/selector role.

 

Serves as the subject librarian for Economics.

 

Outreach & Instruction 

 

  • Designs and instructs/co-instructs workshops and course-integrated social science and relevant data literacy sessions on topics related to social sciences data collection, data cleaning and preparation, analysis, visualization, specialized software, relevant research data management concepts, ethics, openness, and open government data that cater to the needs of diverse audiences and learning outcomes.

  • Contributes to event planning and other related activities for relevant Libraries and NFCDS endeavors (e.g., GIS Day, Love Data Week).

  • Participates in outreach to promote Libraries and NFCDS resources and services.

  • Engages with campus and external affiliates, including but not limited to, the Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society, the Computing and Digital Technologies Minor, and City of South Bend/Mishawaka connections.

 

Institutional and Professional Involvement

 

  • Engages with and contributes to professional and/or campus conversations and communities relating to digital scholarship and other relevant topics.

  • As a member of the Libraries Faculty, participates in faculty and professional activities in the Hesburgh Libraries, the University of Notre Dame, and library or other relevant professional organizations.

  • Serves on Libraries and University committees, task forces, and teams.

  • Engages in professional development, scholarship, and professional service.

  • Develops interdisciplinary collaborations and research opportunities with faculty that align with the University's and the Libraries' strategic directions.

 

Salary and Benefits

 

Faculty appointment, salary, and rank are nationally competitive with peer Association of Research Libraries (ARL) members and commensurate with experience and qualifications, with a minimum starting salary of $72,000 commensurate with qualifications and experience.  Per the University’s Academic Articles, librarians at Hesburgh Libraries qualify for non-tenure library faculty appointments.  Candidates may learn more about Library faculty status through the University’s “Academic Articles” and the Hesburgh Libraries’ information circular “Criteria for Library Faculty Appointment and Promotion”. Both documents are available in the “Library Faculty Positions” section of Hesburgh Libraries’ Employment Opportunities web page, at https://www.library.nd.edu/employment/

 

In addition, the University of Notre Dame offers an outstanding benefits package. Candidates can view summaries of benefits at Human Resources’ Benefits Summaries web page, at https://hr.nd.edu/employment/benefit-summaries/. For this role, view the summary entitled “Regular Faculty {Full-Time}.”

 

Finally, the University of Notre Dame supports the needs of dual career couples and has a Dual Career Assistance Program to assist relocating spouses and significant others with their job search. Candidates can view summaries of this program at Human Resources’ Dual Career Assistance Program web page, at https://hr.nd.edu/employment/dual-career-assistance-program/

 

Environment

 

The University of Notre Dame is a highly selective global Catholic doctoral research university with very high research activity whose idyllic campus is located in northern Indiana’s Michiana region, and about 90 miles east from Chicago. For more information about the University of Notre Dame, please visit the University of Notre Dame homepage at http://nd.edu/.

 

The Hesburgh Libraries at the University of Notre Dame advances institutional priorities by utilizing a talent process that maximizes professional and personal potential, implementing innovative services that further intellectual inquiry, and facilitating access to knowledge across a wide range of scholarly resources in numerous disciplines and formats.

 

As the primary library system on Notre Dame's campus, Hesburgh Libraries is a dynamic organization that features the flagship Hesburgh Library. Hesburgh Library, along with the Main Building and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, is one of three iconic buildings that define the skyline of the Notre Dame campus. It also features the world-famous Word of Life mural (affectionately known as “Touchdown Jesus”).

 

The Hesburgh Library building houses the Navari Family Center for Digital Scholarship, the Medieval Institute Library, Rare Books & Special Collections, University Archives, and the Visual Resources Center. The Hesburgh Libraries organization also includes three specialty libraries located across the Notre Dame campus (Architecture Library, Business Library, and Music Library).

 

In 2022, the Hesburgh Libraries developed a new mission, vision, and strategic framework [pdf] designed to help advance Notre Dame's aspirations to become one of the world's leading research universities while prioritizing human and professional flourishing. Within this new framework, each member of the library community plays a key role in advancing strategic goals and objectives, sustaining critical operations, and defining shared values.

 

The Hesburgh Libraries organization employs nearly 200 people, including more than 50 library faculty members, and has been a longstanding member of several organizations, including Association of Research Libraries (ARL), Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), Northeast Research Libraries Consortium (NERL), HathiTrust, and the OCLC Research Library Partnership.

 

Additional information about Hesburgh Libraries can be found on the Libraries’ website https://www.library.nd.edu/employment/. For additional information about working at the University of Notre Dame and various benefits available to employees, please visit http://hr.nd.edu/why-nd



Required Qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in library and information science from an ALA-accredited program (or international equivalent) or terminal degree in another relevant discipline. Degree must be completed prior to the candidate's starting date of employment.
  • Demonstrated commitment to and support for a culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

  • This position requires an understanding of social science research methods, data applications, legal and government information.

  • Familiarity with the research process in a range of disciplines, especially in social sciences fields such as Economics, with particular focus on the research lifecycle of data.

  • Knowledge and current experience with research data services, census, ICPSR and government information.

  • Demonstrated competence with one or more methods, tools, and data domains relevant to the position.

  • Strong desire and demonstrated ability to learn new skills, tools, and technologies as may be necessary at position start as well as to adapt to future developments.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Experience supporting researchers in an academic or similar advanced research environment.

  • Familiarity with research data management and preservation practices, trends, and issues in higher education.

  • Knowledge and experience with STATA.

  • Experience providing Economics or other social science disciplinary support in a research library context.

  • Knowledge of one or more programming languages relevant to the position (e.g., SPSS, Python, R)

  • Awareness of ethical issues and desire to integrate such considerations into teaching/outreach/research/general position responsibilities (e.g., accessibility issues in tools/outputs/program/instructional design).

 

Diversity and Inclusion

We expect that the successful candidates will increase the diversity of voices within research libraries, higher education, and cultural heritage institutions. Through their materials, applicants should clearly demonstrate how they have embodied, fostered, or implemented an equitable culture that considers diversity to be a competitive advantage.

 

While the University of Notre Dame welcomes and actively seeks Catholic intellectuals, what the University asks of all its scholars and students is not a particular creedal affiliation, but a respect for the objectives of Notre Dame, and a willingness to enter into the conversation that gives it life and character. Therefore, the University insists upon academic freedom that makes open discussion and inquiry possible.

 

The University of Notre Dame is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to building a culturally diverse workplace. Moreover, Notre Dame prohibits discrimination against veterans or disabled qualified individuals, and requires affirmative action by covered contractors to employ and advance veterans and qualified individuals with disabilities in compliance with 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-300.5(a).