Digital Resources Librarian
Position #219
Librarian/Information Services Professional

Information Development & Management
Information Services Division
University of Southern California


POSITION SUMMARY
The University of Southern California is seeking an energetic, highly 
motivated Digital Resources Librarian. The successful candidate will 
join Information Development & Management with primary reporting 
relationship to the Project Manager, Collection Information Systems and 
secondary with the Director, Electronic Resources. Information 
Development & Management is the group whose responsibility it is to 
foster development of staff and projects related to the middle-space 
between the traditional library and IT organization. A key goal of this 
group is to develop a cadre of professionals who are comfortable 
working in this middle space and recognize the opportunities present 
when the talents of librarians, computer scientists and other 
information professionals are brought together to solve problems 
involved in information delivery and access. As part of this group, the 
successful candidate is responsible for building relationships with 
other professionals in order to create a climate in which innovative 
services and programs can be developed and flourish.

The Digital Resources Librarian actively collaborates with other 
professionals at USC to develop services and programs related to its 
digital collections and to promote use of current and emerging 
technologies as applied in digital libraries within the university and 
profession. In order to foster a community of practice interested in 
digital libraries within the university, the incumbent will coordinate 
the activities of ISD’s Digital Library Roundtable, a group of faculty 
and information professionals who work with digital collections and 
meet monthly to discuss issues and emerging technologies. She/He will 
invite speakers and set the agenda for its meetings in collaboration 
with DIM staff and Roundtable members.

Her/his core responsibilities will include serving on collection 
development councils as required to facilitate selection of electronic 
resources and other materials in digital format such as digital 
collections created by university faculty, staff and partner 
institutions; and prioritizing new digital archives for creation and/or 
migration to the Web.

She/He will coordinate the evaluation of resource overlap among 
aggregators in collaboration with selectors; manage licenses and 
intellectual property rights of digital resources; gather and analyze 
usage statistics; and work with the appropriate departments to see that 
electronic resource information is current.

A major responsibility of this position will be evaluating policies and 
procedures related to the selection of electronic resources and digital 
archives and the maintenance of the Electronic Resources Database. 
She/He will make recommendations on process improvements and work with 
the appropriate departments to implement changes and coordinate 
migration of the current Electronic Resources Database to the 
Collection Information System (CIS) currently under implementation.

Another key responsibility will be serving as program manager for the 
CIS. In this role, she/he will coordinate the programmatic needs of the 
CIS with teaching faculty, ISD personnel, and external partners 
including outreach and investigation of new collection options and 
system enhancements. Working with appropriate departments, especially 
the library systems group which is responsible for the CIS’s technical 
infrastructure, the Digital Resources Librarian will prioritize 
collections and enhancements for their inclusion in the system; create 
proposals and budgets for system enhancements and collection creation; 
negotiate for the resources needed to complete this work; coordinate 
training of contributors; publicize acquisition of new collections and 
new system features.

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Founded in 1879, USC is an international center of learning, enrolling 
more than 30,000 FTE undergraduate, graduate, and professional students 
on the University Park and the Health Sciences campuses and offering 
degrees through its College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, Graduate 
School and 16 professional schools. It ranks in the top 10 among 
private research universities in the United States in federally funded 
research and in voluntary support. USC is one of only four private 
research universities in the western United States elected to 
membership in the Association of American Universities, a group that 
represents the top one percent of the nation’s accredited universities 
and which accounts for nearly two-thirds of all federally sponsored 
research.

INFORMATION SERVICES DIVISION
The University Libraries are an integral part of USC’s Information 
Services Division (ISD), a unified organization with the explicit goal 
of providing highest quality and fully integrated computer, telephone, 
and research services. To accomplish its goal, the ISD is structured 
into three primary components: Resources and Services (which includes 
Information Development & Management), Infrastructure Core, and the 
Center for Scholarly Technology, with central support units in 
Administrative Services, Operations, and Advancement.

USC’s libraries house, in Doheny Memorial Library, Leavey Library, and 
twelve specialized subject libraries, collections of more than three 
million volumes, over 5,000,000 microforms, 3,000,000 photographs, 
nearly 44,000 linear feet of manuscripts and archives, and subscribe to 
over 120 electronic databases and more than 14,000 journals in print 
and electronic formats. Annually, reference transactions number close 
to 50,000 and approximately 1,100 instructional presentations are made 
to 16,000 participants.

USC is a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center 
for Research Libraries, the Digital Library Federation, the Statewide 
California Electronic Library Consortium and the Greater Western 
Library Alliance. Additional information about the University of 
Southern California and the Information Services Division can be 
obtained at http://www.usc.edu and at http://www.usc.edu/isd.


EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS
The successful candidate will have a strong commitment to meeting the 
needs of the University’s scholarly community; a strong customer 
service orientation; an ability to interact effectively with students, 
faculty, and staff from diverse cultural backgrounds; an ability to 
manage multiple priorities and meet deadlines in a dynamic, changing 
environment; and a willingness to take risks in approaching solutions.

Required: Graduate degree in library science from an ALA-accredited 
institution or equivalent combination of relevant advanced degree and 
academic research library experience; enthusiasm for working with 
technology; knowledge of emerging information technologies such as XML 
and their application in a research library environment; experience in 
managing digital libraries and electronic resources and developing 
digital collections; knowledge of intellectual property and licensing 
issues as related to electronic resources and digital archives; 
familiarity with standards applicable in digital libraries such as 
Dublin Core, EAD and METS; experience collaborating with librarians and 
a variety of information technology professionals on complex projects; 
ability to work effectively as part of a team; and excellent oral and 
written communication skills.

Desirable: Knowledge of scholarly publishing environment. Experience in 
systems administration, analysis and/or management. Experience in 
leading projects in an academic environment; experience collaborating 
with librarians and other information technology professionals on 
complex projects. Experience in specialized collection development with 
electronic resources.

APPOINTMENT RANK/SALARY
Librarian II or Librarian III ($45,000-$60,000); appointment rank and 
salary commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Librarians at USC have faculty status, with the option for appointment 
on either the Continuing Appointment track or the renewable Contract 
Status track. Appointment to the Continuing Appointment track requires 
the potential to meet the University’s requirements for the granting of 
continuing appointment, which requires demonstrated excellence in 
librarianship, substantive and continuing contributions to the 
profession, and university and community service. Appointment to the 
renewable Contract Status track requires the potential to demonstrate 
excellence in librarianship and effectiveness in meeting contract 
standards and provisions.

BENEFITS
The position is full-time on a 12-month contract. Benefits include a 
choice of university sponsored retirement programs, 22 paid vacation 
days per year, a choice of medical and dental plans, and tuition 
assistance.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE	
Candidates should submit a letter of application, resume, and six (6) 
references including their email addresses and other contact 
information to:

Nannette Edelman, ([log in to unmask]) Coordinator
Search Committee
ATTN: # 219
Information Services Division
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA90089-0182

Review of candidates will begin immediately and will continue until the 
position is filled. Because this is a faculty appointment, candidates 
eligible for appointment to Librarian III may be asked to provide three 
additional references to Nannette Edelman, Coordinator, Search 
Committee.

Review of applications will begin mid-November 2003 and continue until 
the position if filled.  For more information about this position 
please contact Deborah Holmes-Wong, Chair, Digital Resources Librarian, 
Search Committee at [log in to unmask]

USC is an EO/AA employer.


Rev. 10/9/03